As stated in their preface the authors of this book are committed "to continue the creativity, rigor, and design aspects of facilities planning while rejecting cookbook and checklist approaches". As facilities, especially aspects like quality and quantity of resources, layout and material flow, etc. play a decisive role for the competitiveness of enterprises in nearly all industries the importance of the book's topic is without question. In the book's 4th edition the authors position the topic of facilities planning in a strategic perspective with a special focus on the role of a facility in a supply chain. Consequently the whole planning process is built on the criteria of supply chain excellence which fully meets the requirements of present day networked and globalised world