Matt Whitaker’s Big 5 Supply Chain Issues
By John Salustri
The supply chain remains a global issue. Appropriately, we turned to one of IAMC’s global members–the Northampton, UK-based Matt Whittaker–to enlighten us. Here are what the managing director of Property Services for Bis Henderson Group sees as the major sticking points in this ongoing, worldwide problem.
Somewhat surprisingly, number one on the list has nothing to do with transportation or labor (We will get to those. Don’t worry). But in an era where space is at a record-breaking premium, “nothing else matters if you don’t have a building,” says Whittaker. “In the prime UK logistics markets, vacant space is below three percent. It’s never been lower, and rents have never grown at the rate they’re growing now.”
And now we can turn to the more common hurdles to a smooth, effective supply chain. So, transportation is next. “For one, the price of fuel is a challenge,” he says, one exacerbated by the ongoing Russia/Ukraine war. “We have to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels,” says Whittaker, and he states frankly that, “if the war hasn’t made that abundantly clear, well, we’re not as smart as we think we are. We’re killing our planet.”
Tied into the transportation issue is “labor, a challenge all over the world,” says Whittaker of his Number Three supply chain issue. “By comparison, Brexit will be seen as a political bus stop against the major upheaval caused by COVID-19,” which dramatically and permanently changed the staffing market. “Economic influences have been overshadowed by a major cultural change. We’re all re-evaluating how we lead our lives, including where and how we work. Plus, wages, as a result, are being driven up because of the menu of choices workers now have.” He says that the UK unemployment rate is currently “sub-four percent” in some areas.
Fuel and labor are not the only transportation issue we’re faced with. So is an aging metropolitan infrastructure. “Our older cities were designed four and five hundred years ago,” he says and are so difficult to service. “If Rome or Paris were designed today, they would look very different,” with an eye toward “reducing congestion and carbon emissions,” to the obvious benefit of commerce and the community.
Logging in at Number Five is automation. Not the lack of it, but rather the emphasis that is put on tech applications as an umbrella solution. “People got carried away with it, and the media coverage doesn’t help.” There are applications in which automation shows true value, such as “high-volume infrastructure installations like UPS,” he says. Otherwise, there is “always going to be a more integrated combination of human and machine interface. We’re a long way off in logistics before we see fully automated sheds.”
And while that integration is reflective of the current talent shortage, Whittaker ends on a high note: As more automation comes into the marketplace, “we’ll have to upskill some of our blue-collar workers and provide a higher wage environment. And that’s a good thing.”