thoughtleaders JOEL D. ANDERSON
nars—all C-level oriented.
In addition, we have really ramped up our government
affairs and advocacy work. We feel that the days of deregulation are over. If the government is going to look at more
aggressively or intrusively regulating the supply chain, we
want to be there to try to make sure those regulations working their way through Congress and regulatory agencies won’t
negatively affect trade and commerce.
QWhat does the future hold for your members—both in the near term and the long term?
AIt looks like people are starting to move inventories. You know, our industry totally relies on consumer behavior.
The long and short of it is, if consumers buy, our people do
well. If consumers don’t buy, our people don’t do well because
it is velocity through the warehouse where our guys and gals
make the money. I mean, storage is nice, but it’s their move
into value-added services that has significantly increased our
members’ role in the supply chain, and that is influenced by
consumer behavior.
To a great extent, two items affect the long-term profitability of our members. One is regulations on international trade
and commerce. In other words, how free is free trade? If international trade can flow freely, then we have an opportunity to
be real creative in helping our manufacturers and shippers
outsource, resource, insource—you know, whatever it takes to
get the right amount of the right product to the right customer on time. Number two is encouraging our consumers to
buy things. Almost everything else is secondary to that because
if consumers are going to buy, then freight is going to move
and we are going to have an opportunity to make money.
QWhat advice would you give a young person who’s inter- ested in pursuing a career in the logistics profession?
AI’d tell them it’s all about following up and following through. Do what you say you’re going to do and then
let people know you did it. Reliability is probably the number
one thing in success because reliability builds trust.
QRecognizing that a lot of our readers are customers of your members, is there anything else you’d like to share
with them?
AI think the major point I’d like to make to your readers is how inventive and creative today’s 3PL is, so that if
they haven’t looked at that—at letting that 3PL at least examine their supply chain for ways to reduce costs and boost
order fulfillment performance—they should, because the
entrepreneurs in our business are incredibly creative. That is
what is so thrilling about being in this business. The people
doing supply chain fulfillment now are just so incredibly,
incredibly creative. The way they are using technology, the
way they are managing their work force. It is just fun to
watch. So if they haven’t tried it, I would suggest your readers
put a toe in the water and give it a try. I think they will be very
impressed with the results. ;
