Supply Chain Predictions From MIT

MIT's Center for Transportation and Logistics has always served an interesting role somewhere between academia and the private sector. I've come to think of it as a more academic version of AMR Research (in fact, executives have moved between the two organizations). Most recently in Supply Chain Digest Chris Caplice, Executive Director of the Center, chimed in with his supply chain predictions for 2010. I'll quote a few here and provide my own commentary, but I'd suggest reading the entire column if you have a minute. Chris begins by noting that "the most obvious prediction for 2010 is that the level of uncertainty in the financial markets, commodity prices, consumer demand, and virtually every other facet of the economy that supply chain managers are concerned with will only increase." And this, of course, makes "all aspects of a supply chain manager's job more difficult. It increases the need for more flexible and sophisticated forecasting methods, contractual arrangements, operational models, sourcing strategies, etc."