Supercharged Supply Chains

Foreword

Why You Should Read This Book

This book is about what works – what works now, and what will work in the future.

It assumes you want to manage your business effectively: to get both tangible financial benefits and intangible benefits like improved control of the business.

At Oliver Wight, we keep a sharp eye out for advances to improve planning and execution systems. The new technologies such as blockchain, machine learning, image recognition, natural language processing, 3D printing, drones, and advances in autonomous vehicles have had enormous impact. But planning and execution systems are not high on the list of applications disrupted by these technologies.

Why is that?

Planning and execution systems work because they are a valid simulation of the real world. They are a model of the business inside a computer. In more recent terminology, they are a “digital twin.”

Those things that represent a valid simulation of reality tend to be stable over time.

For example, the laws of thermodynamics were formulated in the nineteenth century. These laws were not the invention of a single person. Rather, they were the result of extensive experimentation and work by many leading scientists. The laws have not changed since. This is because the equations are a valid representation of the physical world – how heat behaves. The behavior of heat has not changed in the last century and a half, and it's not likely to change in the future.

Double‐entry bookkeeping is another example. ...