The Wealth of Nations

The Wealth of Nations supplied two ideas that still shape logistics: specialization raises output, and open trade lets each region make what it makes best. Smith opened the book with a pin factory where making a pin was split into about 18 operations; ten workers dividing the tasks could make about 48,000 pins a day, against a handful each could make alone. He also argued against heavy tariffs and trade restrictions. Zone and wave picking, dedicated pack stations, and global sourcing all follow from these ideas, and today's tariff debates still revisit his case against protection.

• Zone PickingEach picker works one area of the warehouse
• Wave PickingOrders released to the floor in timed groups
• Units per HourUPHUnits handled in one labor hour

• David Ricardo1772–1823 · Economist, theory of comparative advantage

• Industrial Revolutionc. 1760–1840 · Machines and factories replace hand production
• Establishment of the U.S. Customs Service1789 · Congress sets up 59 districts to collect import duties
• Zollverein1834 · German states drop tariffs among themselves

• Treaty of Nanking1842 · Opium War treaty that opened China's treaty ports
• Repeal of the Corn Laws1846 · 1846 UK repeal of grain tariffs that began free trade
• Cobden-Chevalier Treaty1860 · 1860 Anglo-French treaty that cut tariffs and spread MFN

1. Adam Smith: Economic growth britannica.com
2. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (Project Gutenberg) gutenberg.org
3. Division of labour en.wikipedia.org