Blogindlæg -

“The elongated, take-make-dispose supply chain is under threat”

In a recent interview, Mike Wilson, global head of Logistics and Manufacturing at Panalpina, and newly chaired honorary visiting professor at Cardiff Business School, talked to professor Aris Syntetos, from the School’s Panalpina Research Centre, about manufacturing and supply chain trends, Sino-US trade conflicts and who will be the ultimate winners in global logistics.

“The elongated, take-make-dispose supply chain that has been the mainstay model for the last number of decades is under threat. It won’t all change overnight, but we are certainly experiencing the change today. Supply chains are going local. […] The trade wars we are seeing only accelerate this migration,” says Wilson in the interview.

Wilson argues that the previous constraints to manufacturing and supply chains are being quickly removed and he cautions global manufacturers to think seriously about where best to position their production capabilities. According to Wilson, speed and proximity to market have become much more critical, giving companies more options and choices in where to manufacture products.

“Technological advances in the digital age help to mobilize manufacturing, and time to market becomes the key element in the product life cycle. Original equipment manufacturers have long since outsourced manufacturing and supply chains, and will therefore need help to redesign and implement new strategies for both,” says Wilson.

He predicts the rise of the multi-disciplined mixed use facility: “Micro-factories combined with distribution close to the points of consumption. When we consider the nature of e-commerce and the expectation that goes with it, then moving manufacturing and supply chains as close as possible to consumers makes so much sense.”

Wilson is convinced that the real winners in all this will be the organizations that can help provide the services that come with the movement of manufacturing and supply chains: “From advisory services that help with distributed manufacturing and supply chain redesign, to new digital services in manufacturing and flexible models of distribution close to the point of consumption; these are the core competencies required for adapting to the new world.”

You can read the full interview here and watch a video about Panalpina’s research partnership with Cardiff University here.

Related links

Emner

  • Konsulentvirksomhed

Kategorier

  • supply chains
  • cardiff
  • china
  • logistics solutions
  • manufacturing
  • 2018
  • americas
  • distributed manufacturing
  • 3d printing (3dp)
  • logistics manufacturing services (lms)
  • asia pacific
  • panalpina centre for manufacturing and logistics research
  • united states of america (usa)

Kontakt

Christian Krogslund

Pressekontakt Senior Director, Corporate Marketing & Communication +45 28 44 22 35

Relateret materiale

Panalpina opens new Logistics Manufacturing Research Centre with Cardiff Business School

Panalpina and Cardiff Business School have strengthened their partnership with the launch of a new Logistics Manufacturing Research Centre. The center will conduct leading research into the fields of distributed manufacturing, 3D printing, the circular economy and the impact of digital manufacturing on global supply chains. The new center has already secured its first research grant.

The new world of manufacturing

​Manufacturing products in Asia and shipping them across the globe is no longer sustainable – neither from a competitive nor an environmental perspective. In the new world of manufacturing, take-make-dispose supply chains are morphing into distributed, circular and sustainable supply chains. The drivers behind this development are product modularization, the makerspace movement, and 3D printing.

Where lean thinking and new technologies meet

Could 3D printing herald a new era of lean supply chains? This is the title of a recently published article of the Lean Management Journal (LMJ) that highlights Panalpina’s ongoing research into the global supply chains of the future. The article's authors, Panalpina's Hrishikesh Pawar and Fevos Charalampidis, are convinced that the trend towards truly lean supply chains is about to accelerate.

Rallying behind the makerspace movement

How often have you taken your car to the garage for a simple repair only to have to wait days or weeks for a spare part to arrive? We have all experienced the frustration, but now the answer is easy: We can simply make the part when we need it. Well, it isn't quite so easy, hurdles remain, but today we're basically able to manufacture a product where and when we want it, thanks to the makerspace.