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10.13.06
Supply Chain Integration Solutions
 By
John Mehrmann
Let's take a quick look and analyze your position in the Supply Chain. You are either the one driving the truck, the one pumping the gas, or the one paying the other two.
It does not matter if you are a vendor, supplier, manufacturer, dealer, service supplier or customer, the cost of freight either impacts the amount you charge, the amount you are reimbursed or the price you pay. It is safe to assume that you are the center of the universe for your personal Supply Chain and that suppliers and customers revolve around your business. That was easy, now let's move on.
A zeitgeist must first understand how the threads of history have been woven to reflect the patchwork quilt of the current generation, and only then endeavor to peer into the next. Let's take a moment to contrast emerging communication technologies as reflected with Supply Chain Solutions and transportation.
The Pony Express
The famous Pony Express operated from April 1860 to November 1861. The cost of mail was $5 per 1/2 ounce, later reduced to $1 per 1/2 ounce. The quickest run took 7 days and 17 hours to carry President Lincoln's inaugural address from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California.
In 1825, British inventor William Sturgeon exhibited a device that laid the foundation for electronic communications, the electro-magnet. By 1830, an American, Joseph Henry used Sturgeon's device to send an electric current over one mile of wire which caused a bell to strike. By 1838 Samuel Morse gave a public demonstration of an electromagnetic device that embossed dots and dashes on a piece of paper. Five years later, Congress funded development to construct an experimental telegraph line. On May 24, 1844, the message "What hath God wrought?" was transmitted from the Supreme Court chamber in the United States Capitol to an office in Baltimore and officially opened the first completed telegraph line. Western Union built a transcontinental telegraph line in 1861, and suddenly news by wire traveled faster and reached more people than the parcels by Pony.
On March 10, 1876 Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. Telephones quickly surpassed telegraphs as lines were installed, because it brought instant communication and connectivity to the common man. Instant communication by phone quickly replaced Morse Code and Mail to stay connected.
Consolidated Freight, Low Rates and Speed
In 1907 James Casey borrowed $100 from a friend to establish the American Messenger System in Seattle, Washington. The 19 year old founded his company on the principles of courtesy, reliability and low rates. By 1913 his company acquired it's first automobile to consolidate shipments and carry more goods. In 1919 the company changed it's name to United Parcel Services, and in 1922 it acquired a Los Angeles company with innovative "common carrier" services. In 1929 UPS was the first package delivery company to use airlines, serving all US states by 1978.
On the first night of continuous operation In 1971, 14 Federal Express jets delivered 186 packages overnight to 25 cities. By 1981 Federal Express introduced the overnight letter and expanded service into Canada. In 1985, bar code labeling was introduced to trace packages. By 1995 FedEx acquires air routes with international authority to serve China. Ten years later FedEx announces development of a new Asia Pacific hub in China, and around the world flights Eastbound and Westbound.
The first recorded transcripts of a "Galactic Network" are attributed to J.C.R. Licklider of MIT in 1962. In 1964 Leonard Kleinrock of MIT published a book on the theoretical feasibility of communications using packet switching rather than circuits. The concept of open architecture networking was introduced by Kahn in 1972, and subsequently became known as a program called "Internetting". In 1991 Modems transmitted data at 14.4 kilobits per second. Speeds doubled to 28.8k by 1994, and eventually to 56k. Meanwhile, Bob Metcalf and David Boggs had developed the Ethernet at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) in 1973. Xerox, DEC and Intel invested in development and agreed to make the technology free to anyone to build. By 1981 the technology emerged from the laboratory to the public as 3Com shipped the first Ethernet Hardware. As the ability to move parcels overnight has improved dramatically, so has the ability to transmit packets by increasingly high speed connections.
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About the Author:
John Mehrmann is a freelance author, industry expert and President of Executive Blueprints Inc, an organization dedicated to developing human capital and personal growth.
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