The next big thing in Logistics
By Splatty • Mar 29th, 2007 • Category: Misc Logistics, Seafreight, Supply Chain Management
What is the next big thing in logistics? Having been in the logistics industry for quite sometime now and having seen some major strides (but nothing earth shattering) over the past few years, this is a question that I constantly ponder.
According to an interview on Forbes.com by Robert Malone and Adrian Gonzalez; Adrian mentions that he believes the next big thing in logistics will center around solving data quality issues.
It is solving the data quality issues that continue to plague most companies, a problem that will only get worse if companies don’t address it seriously today. Whenever I ask companies what was the most difficult or time-consuming part of a software implementation process, “Collecting and cleaning up the data” is almost always the answer I receive. And when companies fail to achieve the expected benefits from a software application, poor data quality is often the culprit. These answers haven’t changed in the eight years that I’ve been with ARC, which is very discouraging.
I found his thoughts interesting on the topic of what he believes has been the biggest thing to happen to logistics industry. Even though we have seen some major developments over the past few years, he believes that the biggest thing to impact the logistics industry was the invention and standardization of the shipping container by Malcolm McLean.
The impact on port productivity in the decades that followed was dramatic. Simply stated, global trade as we know it today would not be possible if the time to load and unload a ship was still measured in weeks instead of hours.
Hard to argue with that. If you are interested in learning more about the history of the ocean container, I would suggest picking up a copy of the “The Box - How the shipping container made the world smaller and the world economy bigger”.
Follow this link for the entire Robert Malone interview.
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Having worked both sides of the fence, I can tell you that data quality is indeed a huge issue for shippers. Large and complex supply chain organizations increasingly rely on technology in their operations and so much of the data driving the technology is based on what is provided by their service providers, whether they are 3PLs, ocean carriers, or customs brokers. I can’t tell you how frustrating - and time consuming - it is to fix data quality issues on both ends.
[...] little over a year and a half ago I published an article entitled, “The Next Big Thing in Logistics”. In the post I referenced an article by Robert Malone of Forbes.com describing what he envisioned [...]