Manufacturing and Supply Chains in the Future

“The questions we know how to ask today are not the questions we need to ask for the future,” said one of the speakers at last week’s National Association of Manufacturers Leadership Council in New Orleans. This statement gave me pause. If we are only asking questions about today, can we identify the path for moving forward towards the future?

This NAM Manufacturer’s Leadership Council’s theme was “Manufacturing 2030” and was focused on what’s next for manufacturing.

Of particular interest was a presentation by the futurist, Dr. Masuro Guillen, the Dean of the Business School at Cambridge University in the UK. He presented megatrends to watch as guideposts. For example:

• By 2030 the world will have 35 cities with more than 10 million people in each

• There is a clear migration to urban areas in Asia and Africa and a clear migration out of urban areas in the U.S. and Western Europe

• The Geo-political environment is likely to influence what we manufacture and where

• Integration of different technologies such as robots to 3D printing is becoming the way to address multiple challenges and have them work together

• The introduction of nanotechnologies in food, medicine, textiles, environmental science, and others will create solutions that are faster, cheaper, more efficient, and customizable

• The move to local production/reshoring will make products more sustainable and boost local economies

• Small and medium-sized businesses will drive innovation across all industries. Sustainability will become a greater and greater focus

• Artificial Intelligence is the key to development in many industries

• The use of digital twins will become commonplace to be able to model reactions and solutions before new processes and technologies are deployed

• 80% of the net worth around the world will be with people above the age 60. Products must address the needs and preferences of this age group to be successful.

Lateral thinking – connecting the dots across multiple technologies, processes, and industries - will become an essential skill for professionals. The focus will be on solutions, not technologies. Individual trends are becoming less important than how multiple trends come together.

Managing a world that continuously becomes more complex will be the challenge for professionals in all disciplines, including supply chain professionals who already deal with geopolitics, multiple technologies, global sourcing, and black swan events.

With these trends in mind, what should supply chain professionals be thinking about and asking about now, to plan for the future?

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