There are a lot of talented people and a lot of excitement
about supply chain management and logistics there. I consider it a real honor to participate in educational programs
and work with my friends in Latin America.
QHow would you describe the state of supply chain education in Latin America?
A They’ve got some really good programs down there. I spoke at a conference in Mexico last March … the
speakers included [University of Kentucky professor] Tom
Goldsby and [Cranfield University professor] Martin
Christopher—so they’re playing in the big leagues when it
comes to education.
Some of the bright, successful doctoral students who have
been educated in U.S. and European schools have gone back
home to teach, and some are establishing supply chain programs there. One example is Sebastian García-Dastugue, a
former student of [Ohio State University professor] Doug
Lambert’s who is now teaching at the Universidad de San
Andrés in Argentina.
QWhat do you think the future holds for supply chain practitioners in South America?
A Brazil was hurt a little bit by the recession, but it’s still a booming economy, and people who were poor are
now entering the middle class. So they need to figure out
how to service all this new demand. This is happening not
just in Brazil but throughout Latin America.
Rich Thompson
WHEN RICH THOMPSON WAS APproached in 2007 by the Staubach Co. to
head its Logistics Practice Group, he was, to
say the least, skeptical. With 20 years of
experience, he was more than qualified for
the job. But he wondered how expertise in
supply chain management would fit with
the needs of a huge real estate services
organization.
He needn’t have worried. In 2008,
Staubach merged with the powerhouse real
estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL). Today, Thompson
heads the firm’s global Supply Chain & Logistics Solutions
operation, a group that has been elevated in importance
and influence within Chicago-based JLL.
As Thompson discovered, the supply chain division has
indeed had a critical role to play in JLL’s industrial development decisions and in its success.
QWhat is the role of your division, and your job in par- ticular, within the framework of a large commercial
and industrial real estate organization?
A As head of the global Supply Chain & Logistics Solutions consulting practice, I work daily with 65
professionals across the United States,
Mexico, and Canada. The primary focus of
my job is supporting our corporate clients
with supply chain consulting strategy
through implementation services to save
them time and money and to mitigate risk.
When I was approached three years ago to
develop and grow our supply chain consulting capabilities, I thought, Why are they calling me? Why is a commercial real estate firm
interested in supply chain issues?
It didn’t take me long to realize that it made all the sense
in the world. It became clear that a commercial real estate
firm could not consider itself a trusted business adviser on
industrial real estate—plants, warehouses, land, distribution centers—without knowledge and experience in supply
chain management.
Logistics can account for as much as 80 percent of a project’s total operating costs. Developing a thorough understanding of your client’s supply chain strategy is critical in
being able to deliver optimal solutions.
Q
The conventional wisdom has been that the industrial property segment skirted much of the damage
