ABSTRACT
We start our voyage into the world of liquid logistics with a survey of liquid logistical techniques currently in use. This is just the beginning of the journey. Once we have gone over current practice, we can look further afield and push to new horizons. However, we have several objectives in looking at where things stand now:
There is value in seeing the techniques that other people and other industries use for handling liquids. Improvement or innovation often occur after people observe how something is done that is completely unrelated to their own interests, and then adapt some of the underlying principles to their own needs. The area “outside the box” already exists; we just need to be willing to look there to take advantage of it. Consider Hermann Hollerith, who adapted the method for controlling weaving looms to develop a machine to process the 1890 U.S. census, or Lord Timothy Dexter, who used New England bed warmers as molasses strainers in the West Indies earlier in that century. Knowledge from outside our own area of focus can be very valuable. Our r eview here does not really even go so far outside the box. The intention is to provide insights into the various ways that liquids are currently handled from a logistics perspective, and then to provide ideas about how they may be handled in other fields.
