The future of Supply Chain : I have a dream

Today is November 15, 2032.

I open my eyes and face a new world.

Lavoisier seems to be still relevant. Nothing has been lost, nothing has been created, but everything has been transformed. Or rather, everything has evolved.

The Supply Chain has become THE major field in which companies invest to develop.

Steve Jobs, by appointing Tim Cook – his head of operations – as his successor, had understood everything long before the others did…

Amazon and Jeff Bezos as well. I still remember the half-mocking, half-dreamy smiles when we discovered the patents regularly filed by the American firm… all crazier than each other!

This enormous airship that passes over my head as I write these few words must have been one of them. It has become the indispensable tool of “flying warehouses” where robots pick up automatically packed items that are delivered by drones: food, household appliances, clothing or other items.

Moreover, all logistics operations are now automated, without exception.

Forecasting, procurement, stock management, order preparation, deliveries: robotization has revolutionized every link in the chain. Logistics centers have become huge boxes that are perfectly controlled and optimized thanks to technology, drones, robots and autonomous vehicles. Even the driving of the airship would be automated!

Wherever you are located, delivery in 15 minutes has become the standard. Each home has an aerial delivery zone where you can have your last order dropped off: pizza, smartphone, items designed in a “digital store” and freshly created a few minutes earlier via a 3D printing system.

Excerpt from the movie “Ready Player One” by Steven Spielberg (2018)

Also, the development of “Big Data”, or rather “smart data” has fundamentally changed our consumption habits and improved our quality of life! And to think that at one time we had to go to the supermarket to fill our cupboards! Today, the VMI (Vendor Managed Inventory) and its predictive algorithms apply to individuals. They satisfy our consumption needs in perfect autonomy, to the point of directly filling our cupboards and refrigerator. So much time saved in our daily lives that we can devote to what we enjoy!

Our lives have become ultra-optimized. All the activities previously carried out by human beings, but without any real added value, have finally disappeared. Machines help us to do this. We were afraid of the place they would take but they have finally transformed our daily lives by considerably increasing our quality of life.

Our jobs have obviously evolved. Previously confined to the management of transport and warehouse operations, we are now the pilots of all the company’s flows, whether they are physical, financial or information flows.

The situation of the job market demonstrates this… To this day, 19% of the positions occupied are in the Supply Chain field! Only IT is doing better with 26%. But the preponderance of these 2 fields is undeniable. The result is compulsory education from a very young age. Supply and Demand are only just beginning to stabilize… for many years, it has been a real challenge to recruit competent profiles in the field!

The world has changed for the better. Our professions have reinvented themselves and our lifestyles have completely changed. We would never have been able to accomplish all this without harnessing the power of technological advances, coupled with the open-mindedness and capacity for evolution of the human being.

The alarm clock is ringing. My iPhone 8 reads 6:40 a.m.

Today is November 15, 2032.

I open my eyes and face a new world.

Lavoisier seems to be still relevant. Nothing has been lost, nothing has been created, but everything has been transformed. Or rather, everything has evolved.

The Supply Chain has become THE major field in which companies invest to develop.

Steve Jobs, by appointing Tim Cook – his head of operations – as his successor, had understood everything long before the others did…

Amazon and Jeff Bezos as well. I still remember the half-mocking, half-dreamy smiles when we discovered the patents regularly filed by the American firm… all crazier than each other!

This enormous airship that passes over my head as I write these few words must have been one of them. It has become the indispensable tool of “flying warehouses” where robots pick up automatically packed items that are delivered by drones: food, household appliances, clothing or other items.

Moreover, all logistics operations are now automated, without exception.

Forecasting, procurement, stock management, order preparation, deliveries: robotization has revolutionized every link in the chain. Logistics centers have become huge boxes that are perfectly controlled and optimized thanks to technology, drones, robots and autonomous vehicles. Even the driving of the airship would be automated!

Wherever you are located, delivery in 15 minutes has become the standard. Each home has an aerial delivery zone where you can have your last order dropped off: pizza, smartphone, items designed in a “digital store” and freshly created a few minutes earlier via a 3D printing system.

Excerpt from the movie “Ready Player One” by Steven Spielberg (2018)

Also, the development of “Big Data”, or rather “smart data” has fundamentally changed our consumption habits and improved our quality of life! And to think that at one time we had to go to the supermarket to fill our cupboards! Today, the VMI (Vendor Managed Inventory) and its predictive algorithms apply to individuals. They satisfy our consumption needs in perfect autonomy, to the point of directly filling our cupboards and refrigerator. So much time saved in our daily lives that we can devote to what we enjoy!

Our lives have become ultra-optimized. All the activities previously carried out by human beings, but without any real added value, have finally disappeared. Machines help us to do this. We were afraid of the place they would take but they have finally transformed our daily lives by considerably increasing our quality of life.

Our jobs have obviously evolved. Previously confined to the management of transport and warehouse operations, we are now the pilots of all the company’s flows, whether they are physical, financial or information flows.

The situation of the job market demonstrates this… To this day, 19% of the positions occupied are in the Supply Chain field! Only IT is doing better with 26%. But the preponderance of these 2 fields is undeniable. The result is compulsory education from a very young age. Supply and Demand are only just beginning to stabilize… for many years, it has been a real challenge to recruit competent profiles in the field!

The world has changed for the better. Our professions have reinvented themselves and our lifestyles have completely changed. We would never have been able to accomplish all this without harnessing the power of technological advances, coupled with the open-mindedness and capacity for evolution of the human being.

The alarm clock is ringing. My iPhone 8 reads 6:40 a.m.