One Earth. One (human) race.
Regardless of our political, environmental, and social views, we can all agree that our natural resources are limited, and our rate of consumption is limitless. One is feeding the other. What happens when we run out of resources? In sci-fi movies, we come together to defend Earth from the bad guys – alien species from other planets who want to take and consume all our natural resources. In reality, we are attacking ourselves. What do we do when the enemy is us?
As the Third Industrial Revolution slowly closes its door, we reflect on what we have learned. It has taught us how to mass manufacture a product efficiently through technology and get it to market quickly. As our demand for products keeps growing, the product life cycle is getting shorter and shorter. Now it is common for a product to become obsolete in a year. The Third Industrial Revolution taught us the concepts of Just In Time, Lean Manufacturing, and Kanban. All focus on moving materials from the warehouse through the production line efficiently to build a product. These concepts all assume that materials are readily available in warehouses. But what happens if materials are not ready in the warehouse due to shortages and long lead times? The production lines are halted. And these concepts become just talking points.
As we edge toward the Fourth Industrial Revolution, we know it is unrealistic to curb our demand for products, but we can maximize our uses of resources. We need to think along the entire product continuum — from mining natural resources through manufacturing a product to the product’s end of life. We need to know that we explored every avenue possible to reduce waste at every stage of the process. We need to embrace this new idea: Think of companies in the same industry as a community working together toward the common good – reducing waste.
Companies need to break away from linear supply chain thinking and the mindset of secrecy. Now, advances in technology allow companies to come together, sharing inventory information while remaining anonymous in trading (buy/sell), using a circular supply chain.
I leave you with this:
Coming together is a beginning,
staying together is progress,
and working together is success. – Henry Ford