Covid-19 was a wake-up call for every industry that relies on the global supply chain to produce and deliver their products. Rolling lockdowns that started in China in 2020 meant manufacturers the world over struggled to source the crucial components they needed to make everything from cars to electronics to pharmaceuticals.
The procurement woes that have persisted for more than two years now are reshaping the supply chain and logistics industry in the U.S. Moving manufacturing closer to home to reduce transportation costs, boosting skilled labor to staff expansion projects and preparing professionals to use data analytics to help their employers reduce risk and gain a competitive advantage are all trends Douglas McWilliams has spotted for 2022 and beyond.
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McWilliams is an assistant professor in the Department of Management at the University of West Georgia’s Richards College of Business. The department offers a bachelor’s degree in management with a concentration in supply chain management to prepare students for a variety of careers in the industry.
These professionals are in high demand. Employment of logisticians, for example, is projected to grow 30% from 2020 to 2030, much faster than the average for all occupations. According to the Harvard Business Review, the U.S. supply chain contains 37% of all jobs, employing 44 million people. These jobs have significantly higher than average wages and account for much of the innovative activity in the economy.
“For American producers, the pandemic exposed some weaknesses, and now they’re looking at opportunities to reduce the odds of supply chain disruptions in the future,” McWilliams said. “As they make changes, they’ll be looking for supply chain management professionals to help them execute on a variety of objectives, whether that’s diversifying the sourcing of raw materials or analyzing the design and operation of an assembly line to improve production efficiency.”
With nationally ranked infrastructure for roads, rail, air, ocean and IT to efficiently reach domestic and global markets, Georgia bills itself as being “keenly attuned to its supply chain industry.” International supply chain players include Coca-Cola, Delta Air Lines and The Home Depot. More than 450 Fortune 500 companies have a presence in the state. Additionally, more than 140 supply chain and logistics technology firms have been identified as a recognized cluster within the Georgia’s rapidly growing technology community, the state reports.
UWG is one of several higher education institutions in Georgia providing educational opportunities for careers in the supply chain and logistics industry. Its bachelor’s degree gives students the chance to boost their average annual pay in the field to $87,280, compared with $49,689 for a high school graduate.
McWilliams recently talked with the Atlanta Business Chronicle about how recent supply chain and logistics trends are increasing the need for more skilled industry professionals.
Some companies that have outsourced manufacturing to other countries to take advantage of cheap labor now are weighing whether that still makes sense. Toward the end of 2021, the cost of ocean freight soared by 500% year over year from Asia to the West Coast, and delivery times rose by 42%.
According to the industry organization Reshoring Initiative, nearly 1,800 U.S. firms were intending to reshore their whole business or at least parts of it in 2021, which will result in 220,000 newly created jobs on American soil. In 2010, only 6,000 new jobs were created in the country as a result of reshoring activities.
A boost in reshoring will create more demand for professionals who can assist manufacturers in reimagining how old facilities can be transformed with new designs and technologies, optimizing workflows, making operations more nimble, making processes more productive, and building strategies for supply chain resilience.
“Higher transportation costs have given manufacturers an opportunity to reassess the advantages of bringing production closer to home,” McWilliams said. “Professionals who have insight into the intricate pieces associated with the supply chain can help companies establish and maintain operations that have more agility than you can have overseas.”
Boosting skilled labor
Higher-education institutions like UWG continue to look for ways to boost their supply chain degree program offerings because these professionals are also needed to support businesses expanding in Georgia. Some companies with a strong logistics component that are bringing thousands of new jobs to the state include car retailer Carvana, electric vehicle company Rivian Automotive, sports apparel maker Nike, wire and cable manufacturer Southwire Co. and semiconductor components maker SKC.
Nearly every business or organization already operating in Georgia is looking for skilled workers in a tight talent market, McWilliams said. For example, you might not think of a hospital, pharmaceutical company or the military as a supply chain operation, but they all have needs within their organizations to manage this process so they can procure life-saving machines, critical drug ingredients and the necessary equipment to defend the country’s interests.
“The supply chain is in everything,” McWilliams said. “As students hear more about the supply chain, they realize they can be a part of it no matter what industry their career interest is in. In Georgia, if you want to work at Norfolk Southern, Coca-Cola or the Atlanta airport — each of those places will have opportunities to grow a career in supply chain and logistics.”
UWG has established partnerships across all of Georgia’s industries to give students access to internships, guests speakers and mentors and academic projects to facilitate the achievement of mutually compatible goals.
Data driven
The supply chain and logistics industry has moved beyond its old-school reputation of loading trucks and driving them from point A to point B. Data analytics has transformed the sector and allows a business to better predict customer demand and maintain optimal inventory levels and workflows.
The growth of big data in the supply chain is only going to continue. According to Mordor Intelligence, the supply chain big data analytics market was valued at $3.55 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow to $9.28 billion by 2026. “The power of data is becoming evident to businesses of all shapes and sizes, from financial service to automobile manufacturing, health care, [non-government organizations] and more. It is increasingly becoming essential to make the best use of big data analytics in a supply chain to generate more profound insights,” the market intelligence organization wrote in a recent overview.
Knowing the U.S. has a shortage of more than 190,000 data science professionals, UWG will continue to help its students build the skills that allow them to use data for optimal sourcing, procurement, manufacturing, inventory management, sales, supplier selection and modes of transportation. In addition to its supply chain bachelor’s degree concentration, the university offers a Data Intelligence and Business Analytics (DIBA) degree, which, according to the state of Georgia, allows “students to build these analytics skills even earlier in their career development. The result of these programs is that graduates have the expertise needed to fill positions in supply chain analytics and tackle the big data challenges of the supply chain and logistics industries.”
“Offering a supply chain concentration and the new analytics degree at the bachelor’s degree level opens up many opportunities beyond entry-level positions,” McWilliams said. “This will boost the pool of talent that is able to use data to help companies spot trends, improve the accuracy of their demand forecasts and be more proactive about anticipating risks and the future needs of consumers. The result is these professionals will have a direct impact on increasing sales, building production efficiencies and supply chain resiliency and, ultimately, improving profit margins.”
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