DC Velocity - May 2020

56 DC VELOCITY MAY 2020 www.dcvelocity.comA RECURRING THEME IN THIS COLUMN OVER THE YEARShas been the sometimes thankless nature of logistics and supply chain work. As we’ve noted time and again, the staggeringamount of effort it takes to keep global commerce flowing goeslargely unnoticed and unappreciated.

That’s not to say those of us who work in (and cover) thisindustry and profession do not recognize—and are not gratefulfor—all the work that goes into a well-oiled logistics operation.We know there’s nothing simple about getting everything whereit’s supposed to be, when it’s supposed to be there, damage free,and at the right price.

But this is not a career for people who needa lot of strokes. In logistics, you don’t get manypats on the back, high fives, or “Atta boys” (or“Atta girls”). The best indication that you’vesucceeded at your job on any given day is thatyour phone didn’t ring because all of yourcompany’s stuff was where it was supposed tobe when it was supposed to be there.

If logistics is often taken for granted by thebusiness community, it’s nearly invisible tothe population at large. On the rare occasionLong Beach. Or a fried-chicken chain is forced to shutter most ofits outlets because of a poultry shortage.

To the general public, logistics is almost like tap water. Youturn on the faucet, the water comes out, you use what you need,and then you turn the faucet off. You don’t think about theplumbing in your house that routes the water to the faucet. Youdon’t think about the water lines running underground fromthe street to your home. You don’t think about the municipalwater system that runs through your community. And you certainly don’t think about the wells that are fed by aquifers that arerecharged by the hydraulic efforts of Mother Nature. No, you justthink about filling your glass with water and turning off the tap.

And so it is with logistics—a profession whose inner workings,
and practitioners, might as well be invisible. That is, of course,
until something goes wrong.

Well, something has indeed gone wrong, terribly wrong, in the
world these past five months. At this writing, we
remain in the grip of a pandemic that is wreaking
havoc worldwide, threatening peoples’ lives and
pushing the world to the brink of economic collapse.

It is causing millions of people to isolate themselves
from their fellow human beings.
And, of course, it is testing companies’ global sup-
ply chains in ways heretofore unimaginable.

This has put logistics and supply chain on the public’s collective radar. Suddenly, everyone is talkingsupply chain—whether it’s politicians, government officials, orthe talking heads who populatemainstream news outlets.

But this time, it is different.Supply chain isn’t in the newsbecause of a disruption that’s creating a shortage of iPads a weekbefore Christmas. It’s not in thenews because a labor strike iskeeping ships from offloading atthe nation’s busiest ports.

No, this time, supply chain andlogistics is in the news because ithas become a life or death matter, logistics and supply chain professionals are finally being recognizedfor the work they do. The good work. The criticalwork. The life-saving work.

It is not for a reason anyone would have wishedfor. Nonetheless, the novel coronavirus has shined alight on the importance of supply chain and logisticsnot only to business but also to the lives of everysingle human on this orbiting rock.