Key Trends In
Logistics
By Gary Master
Co-founder Agile Business Media LLC
Publisher, DC Velocity Magazine & CSCMP’s Supply Chain Quarterly Executive Producer, Move It!
What do I want to Accomplish
Today?
• Discuss underlying changes in our world today
• Examine some key logistics trends
• Identify the need for local WERC groups
We Live in a Changing World!
Truth be told, we have
always lived in a changing
world what is different
today is the speed of that
change.
We live in a changing world
• Social Media’s influence
• Retail
• Interaction as a society
• Governments have fallen
• Governments changing overnight
• Global warming or weather extremes
• New Health Threats- getting medicines to impacted
regions and replacing labor in the supply chain
• Terrorism
• A “True” Global Economy
• Changing demographics- the greying of the labor force
• Emergence of New Technologies
• Pirates
• US government polarization
• Movement towards Green and more legislation
• Consider having to overcome all of these changes to deliver to a consumer that now
knows what they want, when they want it and what price they are willing to pay!
Logistics is the key to making
change possible!
Think about how we
get our . . .
•
Food
•
Medicine
•
Water
•
Clothing
•
Building supplies
•
Cleaning supplies
•
Retail specialty items
•
Toys
•
Baby products
•
Fuel
•
Automobiles
Logistics- You are the key to the
future of mankind!
In order to love change we must
first understand it.
Key Changes in Logistics
• Omni-Channel Distribution and Amazon’s impact
• Labor shortage
• New “disruptive” technologies
• A greater visibility of logistics in the boardroom
• Others not discussed today
• Outsourcing of functions (cont. growth)
• Energy cost reductions sought
• Sustainability
• Emerging markets
• Have to demonstrate ROI more than ever
An Introduction to Omni-Channel
Staying relevant in an Amazon
world!
• Not too long ago life as a retailer was fairly simple. Build a brand, build some stores, setup distribution for your
stores and you were set. Over simplified yes, but the point is . . . life was much simpler then.
• Then came along the Internet, E-commerce and mobile devices like tablets and smart phones.
• The World changed . . . Instead of the retailers holding the power now consumers hold the power as they are smarter than ever! Today’s consumer knows what they want,
This is the world that we live in
today!
• One year ago 59% of the general population checked their mobile device before getting out of bed
An Intro to Omni-Channel
• We as an industry face an awesome opportunity! With $319 Billion in online sales projected for 2013 and 6.9 billion mobile devices the opportunity to satisfy demand from this new type of customer has never been greater! • So . . . The newest buzz word is Omni-Channel and it is
seen as the way to satisfy these new demand patterns and to increase both sales and lift profit margins for
companies.
• At a recent national conference for retailers 65% of
respondents stated they don’t know what to do to handle this new demand yet or they are in the infancy of
An Intro to Omni-Channel
• Omni-Channel distribution is truly the latest buzzword in fact in makes “going green” look like just another color. • Is this hype justified and what exactly is Omni-Channel
distribution? Is Omni-channel distribution different from multi-channel distribution or Omni-channel fulfillment and all-channel distribution?
• Let’s start with the hype and see what some of our readers are saying about this subject.
69.7% 30.3%
53.3% 46.7%
71.3% 28.7%
54.6% 45.4%
Labor Shortage
• Consider in 2013 . . . 25,000 truck driving jobs will go unfilled! This will only get worse! Some projections show a shortage of 110,000 in 2014.
• This is not only true for the trucking community we have companies on the supplier side that can’t find enough engineers, installers or sales people.
• One study indicates there will be more than 200,000 logistics and supply chain job openings that will remain open by 2018. Sure pay will go up to help “solve” this issue, but the fact remains we have two problems with these numbers and there are not enough applicants to fill the positions with the right skills and not enough applicants that can pass drug tests.
• Warehouse and DC decision makers can’t find enough shift workers or skilled people. Working in a DC with new technology increases the need for specific skills.
• The above are true in a slow growth economy. With economic growth forecast through 2018, the labor shortage will become even worse and every company must re-evaluate their retention of employees and recruitment strategy.
Disruptive Technologies
• 3D Printing
• Google Glasses
• Augmented reality
• Too many others to mention like Premium rail service and goods to person technologies
• These are just some of the new technologies that are already here and being studied for how they can help attract new workers and be implemented in the supply chain
10 years ago who would have
thought?
Logistics has a key place in the
Boardroom
• Logistics has never been sexier!
• Move It! and its growth being picked up in Japan on Japanese public TV
• We love Logistics- UPS
• Transportation providers advertising in Forbes, Fortune and other prominent business magazines
• Logistics operations being show by Amazon in commercials
What does this all mean to WERC
and local efforts within WERC?
• The importance of organizations like WERC has never been greater. Leading the way in:
• Research
• Trend analysis
• Networking on a national and local level
• Bringing suppliers and Shippers together
• Having an independent third party to help organize
practioners/shippers and the supplier community to focus on making a difference in the world
• I realize that they are way too many organizations out there, but WERC with its focused mission and audience is highly respected and at the center of most discussions today across organizations.
What can a local WERC group
offer?
• Individual growth through “in person” education and networking
• Take away corporate strategies and tips from local level discussions that can help the overall company
• An ability to network for business leads or career development
• An ability to share with a local group the challenges of the day or time
• An ability to “breakout” of social media and meet in person for less cost and time commitment than traveling across the country for a major event.
Ways to Increase the success of the
Local efforts
• In my opinion, we are a society on social media steroids and that has led to us being the most connected yet alienated societies ever.
Ways to increase the success of
the Local efforts
Human beings were created to network and have social interaction. While social media is good “face to face”
meetings are still the best venue and are actually preferred by most individuals. It is a fact that most people won’t say things in person that they will say in social media. Also, you can “read” the impact of your comments in person and you can’t “read” them in social media until they have taken you off their friend list or blocked you.
With limited travel budgets and time local events offer a tremendous value if they have solid programming that can lead to the “perfect” world of a local group that meets in person and keeps in touch via social media
