Amidst the blare of the US elections many of us probably didn’t notice the opening of Berlin’s new airport on 31-Oct. With its opening delayed by a good 9 years and budget overshot by $4 billion, the capital city’s airport stands out as an exception in a country reputed for engineering & planning excellence.

The Supply Chain Research Group at the University of Tennessee, defines supply chain management as “the systemic, strategic coordination of the traditional business functions within a particular company and across businesses within the supply chain,

Few days back, I was in an unplanned call with Sanjiv. As the call wound up, I concluded my argument saying, “…after all, data is polysemous.” It was quite uncharacteristic that Sanjiv let me conclude that way because he has a nose for debatable ideas and data being labeled polysemous is at the least contentious.

As the year entered its final quarter, I was revisiting some predictions pundits had made for 2019. It’s an interesting exercise I go through every year. Estimating soothsayer accuracy is not the objective.

Even if you live in a cave, chances are you haven’t missed the noise around ‘Supply Chain Visibility.’ The terms are many: “Control Tower”, “Operational Intelligence”, “Situation Room”, “Supply Chain Cockpit”, “Predictive ETA”, and so on. From software vendors to analysts to users, each group has coined its own terminology.

The supply chain is a complicated beast. From warehouse fulfillment through to the point of sale, there are a number of processes that can break down at any time and impact your business.

Recently archeologists found evidence suggesting that our seafaring history goes back at least 130,000 years. How our ancestors of that period navigated the vast oceans is not yet known. Till GPS, accurate clocks and reliable weather forecasts became common place, exploration was difficult and risky.