Buckle Up: 2023 Will Be A Year Filled With Change

I generally spend 20-60 minutes a day reading articles about supply chain and supply chain technology from a wide assortment of writers. Today's articles seem to indicate that there will be plenty of changes, or as some like to say: DISRUPTIONS.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Freight Broker C.H. Robinson Ousts CEO Bob Biesterfeld. Changing CEOs can be wonderful, or not. I wish them well and expect the business to follow the macro economic picture which is slowing in a number of industries. As a $23B company they should be able to weather this storm.

FreightWaves posted an article that can be summarized as: Supply Chains need people, Covid-19 in China is removing workers, shipping will be disrupted. The details can be found Viewpoint: Supply chain tells the truth about China’s COVID problem

And on the lighter side, and because of the issues facing the transportation ecosystem of players, Boomberg published a story about the continuing large sums of money being spent on supply chain technologies. A Tech ‘Golden Age’ Awaits Supply Chains Limping Out of the Pandemic

My take: Smart companies, especially those that are in the supply chain services business should be looking at ways to reduce the cost of providing services through digitization and automation. Resiliency will be key this year and, well, forever. Covid-19 isn't the last pandemic we will experience. Mr. Biesterfeld isn't the last CEO to move on to another chapter. The transportation ecosystem has been lacking proper platforms for clean, accurate, timely data for way too long. Get on board, buckle up, and enjoy the ride!