The employment report released this morning by the Bureau of Labor Statistics may add to the concern that supply chain professionals will be replaced by automation in the future.
According to Ken Cotrill, a writer with the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics (MIT CTL), that day may be closer than we think.
He notes that robots have been an integral part of the industrial landscape for many years. Advances in the technology are now making these units more flexible and versatile. The upshot from a supply chain perspective is that the new generation of factory robots makes production systems more agile and helps companies to compete in fast-changing markets.
This article appears in the Winter 2014 issue of Supply Chain Frontiers, the newsletter of the MIT Global SCALE Network.
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Patrick Burnson, Executive Editor
Patrick is a widely-published writer and editor specializing in international trade, global logistics, and supply chain management. He is based in San Francisco, where he provides a Pacific Rim perspective on industry trends and forecasts. He may be reached at his downtown office: [email protected].
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