As countries like Ecuador and Japan again deal with earthquakes, other countries around the globe reevaluate the importance of double options for supply chains around the world. While these countries devastated by earthquakes primarily work to rescue survivors, they also struggle with efforts to get the supplies they need to their most populated cities, as well as remote locations. Supply chain staffing experts around the world understand the necessity of planning for emergencies and having alternative supply chain jobs in place in more than one location.
In fact, supply chain management and supply chain staffing are such important issues in the global distribution of goods that colleges from Seaton Hall University to Rutgers University not only tout the national rankings of their programs, they also add summer course offerings in this both popular and necessary major.
While we may think very little about where all the things that we want come from, supply chain staffing experts are constantly in search of new graduates and experienced executives who can manage and direct the inventory of companies around the world. And while we may feel slightly inconvenienced when our favorite pair of yoga leggings is not available on the rack in our size, an entire industry works to predict the needs and wants of consumers in America and other countries as well.
As high school graduates across America prepare to walk across the stage and accept their diplomas, a growing number of companies are hoping that in addition to selecting careers as software developers and solutions architects, they will also consider supply chain staffing options.
To Understand the Importance of Supply Chain Management Consider the History of America
A particular spot in the center of the U.S. provides a brief history of the transportation of goods and services across this country. Located in Kearney, Nebraska, an arch that crosses Interstate 80 looms above an area that has been for many years one of the busiest sections of American interstates. When it was completed in 1986 it became the second longest interstate in the country. Its route directly covers much of the same area as the Lincoln Highway, the first road across America.
Because of its central location and miles of straight terrain, the area that travels just south of Kearney is also the site of many other trails famous in American history: the Mormon Trail, the Oregon Trail, and the California Trail. Just as early Americans used these trails to transport themselves from the East Coast to the dreams of the west, these same trails also offered opportunity for stage coaches and push carts to provide the necessary goods those adventurers would need.
In a time when the early Americans traveled with everything they would need for life in a new part of the country, a central route was essential. As trading posts and towns opened along the way, these routes became essential to the “supply chain” of the pioneers who were willing to explore the western lands. And although today’s supply chain managers have the advantage of computers, the internet, and varied other means of transportation, they still have to be able to determine what is needed in particular locations and when it is needed. And while many supply chains make use of rail and air transportation, many trucks driving on roads like Interstate 80 through Nebraska are still at the heart of America’s economy.
A supply chain staffing employee and logistics manager must, like the pioneers hundreds of years before them, must still anticipate the needs of consumers and the timely delivery of those necessary supplies. Supply chain and logistics recruiters attempt to find the best personnel who have been trained in analyzing economic trends as well as the essentials of delivering goods.
The Numbers Are Staggering as Logistics Engineers Create the Internet of Things
It is impossible to begin to understand the implications of transporting the goods that Americans use on a daily basis without looking at the change in one number. In 2011, 12 million RFID tags, computer read markers that are used to capture data and track movement of objects in the physical world, were sold in America. By 2021, it?s estimated this number will increase to 209 billion as the Internet of Things launches.