Every day we deliver and unload a few tons of JC Penney merchandise. On Wednesday the load consisted of a dozen or so pallets with stacked boxes of mostly furniture, and well more than a thousand pieces of clothing on hangers, complete with theft protection tags in place. Seems like Prom season is coming up because there were a lot of Prom dresses as well as summer clothing! (It’s still January!) The inside of the trailer has a couple dozen hanging rods across the width, for the full length of the truck, as long as my house in NH – 53 feet. I looked at the manufacturing label on some of the pieces – Pakistan and Vietnam – which is pretty amazing. For the first time in my life I’m part of a global supply chain. Somewhere near the end.
Those Prom dresses had been likely shipped in cargo containers carried by ocean going vessels from Asia to Los Angeles. Some other truck had then delivered them to the Spanish Fork distribution center where I’m guessing they sort them into loads of exactly what each store needs for the next few days. We carried them the final miles to the store where some high school girls would buy them, wear them once, and let them sit in closets until someone decided to throw it in the trash or give it Goodwill twenty or thirty years from now. I wonder what the time constant is on this supply chain? How long between someone makes the fabric, to cuts and sews the clothing, until I deliver it to the stores?
In industrial design and engineering, there is a current movement for cradle-to-cradle design – plan for the entire lifecycle of the product including its eventual disassembly and recycling of the components into something new. I’ve been thinking about that regarding Energy Gliders for the past couple years. Our goal is to make all the components completely recyclable. It makes me wonder about clothing. Is clothing recyclable?
DC,
ReplyDeleteGood on ya mate! Song of the open road...just don't piss off Victor. As a new member of the global supply chain check out John McPhee's Uncommon Carriers, good read.
Comment please on your mobile tech tools. What computer are you packing and how do you connect to the web. Be safe. Call if you get to Seattle.
Wade
Hey Dan,
ReplyDeleteAs usual, I take my laptop with me everywhere I go. The truck stops have pay-for WiFi. Most truckers have smart phones of one sort or another. C.R.England uses an in-truck communication system built by Qualcomm that provides us with a touch-screen and keyboard allowing us to log-in, send messages back to corporate, and get and accept loads. It uses satellite communications and is interlinked with a GPS that tracks our every movement, making keeping on top of DoT requirements much easier.