Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies 2017

In 2017 John Allen and the Horizon Inventory team have been invited by the University of Sydney Business School’s Institute of Transport and LogisticsStudies (ITLS) to deliver a guest lecture as part of the leadership and policy seminar series.

The lecture - on the 12th of December - will discuss the topic of does Santa Claus really have such a difficult job?
One might think that Santa Claus really does have to address some major challenges each year. After all he has to make deliveries to every child all around the world in under 24 hours. But if we think about it, maybe it is not that hard. After all Santa knows exactly when all the deliveries have to be made, exactly where, his 'customers' will be (all tucked up in their beds) and exactly what is to be delivered as the boys and girls send in written requests weeks before Christmas. Sure it is a bit of a delivery challenge, but Santa also has 364 days to prepare for what is really a build and deliver to order business.

Contrast that with the logistical challenges when the boys and girls break their toys. Then you don't know which toys or parts will break, when they will break or where they will be needed. You do however know that the favourite toys do need to be fixed fast, or there will be tears. Now that is a challenge!

So have some sympathy for Santa. Yes he does have some challenges for one night each year but managing the aftermarket supply chain for the rest of the year can be much more challenging. Maybe if you ask the right questions, this Christmas can position you for much better answers in 2018.

Horizon Inventory is very pleased to be contributing to the development of future innovators and leaders of logistics.