GOODQUESTION Readers Weigh In
What’s Your Controversial Take on a Supply Chain Issue? Nearshoring? Not So Fast
THE CURRENT GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN IS UNSUSTAINABLE. A sustainable model embeds environmental, social, and governance best practices into how raw materials are sourced, turned into products, and delivered to market. Global supply chains have been focused on achieving financial efficiency. The result is messy and fragile supply chain systems. –Abishek Bhat Vice President, Business Development Trigent Software FORCED STANDARDS, EVEN IF IMPERFECT, make more sense. While historically standards have been determined by the free market (VHS vs. Betamax, etc.), the pandemic demonstrated alarming gaps in all supply chains. We need to act quickly and we do not have enough time for the free market to crown a winner. –Michael Johnson CEO, Metrc MANUFACTURERS AND LOGISTICS PROVIDERS FACE A CRUCIAL CHOICE : They must either (1) engage in candid discussions with their economic development and governmental leaders to invest in the supply chain workforce or (2) embrace an accelerated adoption of automation. The challenges in the supply chain workforce cannot be left unattended. –Craig Turner President, World Trade Center Buffalo Niagara THINGS WOULD RUN SMOOTHER IF MORE GOVERNING ORGANIZATIONS INTERVENED when major bottlenecks occurred. I don’t believe
Nearshoring will not be around for the long term. It’s a short-term reaction to turmoil in overseas sourcing points. In the long term, raw materials will always be sourced from wherever demand can be met at the lowest cost. –Eric Elter Director, Information and Technology Services, KDL Logistics Nearshoring or ally-shoring will prove difficult if not impossible. As much as companies would like to decouple from certain countries, there are powerful reasons (manufacturing expertise and scale) why they will simply have to deal with sourcing from higher-risk countries. –Tony Pelli Practice Director, Security and Resilience, BSI
on the impact of these technologies, I see governments enacting laws to ensure the future of work is sustainable, equitable, and beneficial for all mankind. –Ann Marie Jonkman PMP, Senior Director, Global Industry Strategies, Blue Yonder THE BILLIONS OF DOLLARS completely automate the brokerage industry won’t prove to yield a high return on investment. The billions of dollars spent by large incumbent brokerages on technology to create efficiencies and better serve their clients and carriers is where real value will be created in the industry. –Zach Jecklin Chief Information Officer, Echo Global Logistics SPENT BY STARTUPS on technology with the intent to
any single company or union should have the power to control a process when it hinders the entire supply chain. –Eric Vasquez Owner, Veterans Logistics Group THE RUSSIAN INVASION OF UKRAINE and subsequent war have been tipping points in weakening global supply chains—but climate change has been undermining their resilience since long before that. War might get resolved, but climate change is still the biggest long-term threat to supply chains and is excluded from decision-making. –Himanshu Gupta CEO and Co-Founder, ClimateAI IN THE NEXT 10 YEARS we will see a heavy unionization of roles due to automation and artificial intelligence standards becoming the norm. Based
6 Inbound Logistics • August 2023
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