2020 is one of the most difficult and challenging years in modern history. So far, 2.2 million people have officially died of COVID-19 and more than 100 million people have been infected. Fundamental changes have taken place in our way of working, living, and entertainment, leading to rapid development in some regions (such as our consumption, buying and working methods) after a few years, while others have taken a step back (such as fighting global poverty). struggle).

Trend 1: Green Logistics

Sustainability has been our driving trend for some time. At the same time, it also took a turn for the better last year, and it has obviously grown from the "Sustainability Department" to the focus of attention of the entire company and the entire society. While becoming more environmentally friendly and contributing to the environment, it is also cost-effective, improves customer loyalty, promotes growth, and is also an important reason for talent signing and wishing to join the company. According to the Harvard Business Review, companies that focus on sustainability are growing almost six times faster than companies that do not focus on sustainability.

As people gradually realize that transportation is an important factor in greenhouse gas emissions, green logistics has received great attention for many years. Designing value chains for advanced energy management systems, electric and solar vehicles to cut their overall carbon footprint will quickly emerge.

Supply chain executives will also evolve from focusing on "realization" and "cost of sales" to becoming the center of sustainable development. I think we will see the rise of sustainability chain officials. Combined with this, I see greater cooperation between all parties in the industry to share information and assets together to optimize environmental impact.

Another area emerging in green logistics is the circular supply chain, which will begin to replace the linear supply chain. Enterprises that adopt the circular supply chain method will benefit from long-term cost reduction, waste reduction and environmental impact. The main driving force for adopting this approach is to enact stricter regulations on recycling and waste disposal, which is why people are becoming more and more important to their customers, who are more and more concerned about their ecosystem footprint.

Trend 2: Supply chain resilience

One thing that is spurred by the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic is the resilience of suppliers. From the perspective of supply, but also from the perspective of autonomy and national security, some people question the agility and flexibility of the value chain. In the past decade, people have talked about the trend of bringing rationalized supply chains and production closer to the market, but COVID-19 is the next development direction here. In a highly automated supply chain world, and to some extent in a "green supply chain" world, the first reasons for moving from offshore and offshore procurement to low labor cost markets and then to the consumer market are very meaningful. With the improvement of the level of fully automated manufacturing, labor costs have become secondary, while energy, taxes, and business convenience,

3D printing is a technology that will further enhance flexibility. In this way, customers' requirements for shorter and shorter lead times can drive the ever-changing demands in the supply chain. The other areas we see are the sentiments of "domestic manufacturing" and local production. The development of the Internet of Things, big data, predictive analysis and artificial intelligence has achieved completely different levels of speed, conversion and efficiency. This greatly improves the flexibility of the supply chain, makes the supply chain more customer adaptable and individualized, and improves cost-effectiveness, reducing waste and oversupply.

Trend 3: mid-channel services and reduced contacts have become the new normal

Today's customers want flexible orders. Those companies that can give an mid-channel experience will be able to best meet the needs of their customers. Whether customers are shopping online or in real stores, they all need to choose; delivery methods, in-store or curbside pickup methods, or pickup at other locations, these have all become part of doing business.

The mid-channel approach provides customers with a personalized experience, which is the result of the joint efforts of marketing, sales and logistics. Logistics and supply chain are responsible for always satisfying orders from any channel. tactless delivery is the new normal. It provides a variety of delivery methods, which are based on the customer's want to decrease physical contact. Major development is underway to use robotics and artificial intelligence-based applications to advance robot delivery to the next stage. Initially, development has been in B2C, but we have seen some B2B emerge.

Trend 4: Technology and 5G

Technology is the driving force of transformation. I highlighted this trend in my article about 2020 trends last year. Since then, despite the emergence of COVID-19, large-scale development around 5G has continued around the world, and the deployment of 5G and its use cases and currencies are very extensive. By the end of this decade, it is well known that 5G will change the business landscape.

The full potential of the Internet of Things (IoT) tracking inventory will eventually be released under 5G. The goods can be equipped with cheap and cheap sensors, and the goods can be tracked from the factory floor to the entire transportation process, to the warehouse, to the shelf storage, and the itinerary of the goods can be recorded. One of the most disruptive uses of 5G networks is driverless transportation. 5G may make this possibility a reality, which will have a huge impact on the logistics industry.

Every business relies on results to function, and logistics companies process even more data than most. Because latency is much lower, companies will be able to distribute and exchange larger data than ever before. They can process it closer to the source instead of dialing out to a remote server. This means that the company will be able to build a lean distributed cloud network to link its logistics operations together. The collaboration potential of keeping multiple suppliers and partners on the same page in real time using only 5G is enough to change the rules of the game.

In general, we are striving for a highly transformative, fast-growing and exciting future. Supply chain leaders must create an environment that attracts people with an infinite mindset. It is natural to learn, relearn and learn again. Employees need to be more and more savvy in the interpretation, analysis and conceptualization of information, and to collaborate around information. This requires highly agile, cognitive and curious employees. In addition, it puts forward new and important requirements for the type of leadership and its maturity to fully use and truly release the power of people and organizations.