Supply Chain Network Expansion in the Current Day and Age
The world with its vast 8 billion people and millions of industries is all interconnected through many nodes and edges. People, businesses, governments, organizations, etc. are all connected. With billions of connections that span distances of tens of thousands of miles, how is the world so efficient at providing supply chain solutions to businesses and industries. In this post, I would like to look into the connectivity of the world through international supply chains and routes. Mostly about its development and how it has changed in recent years in terms of social and economic networks.
The term supply chain dates back to the earliest civilizations. In Mesopotamia, supply chains were built to support the shift from agricultural-only societies to more technologically developed civilizations. In addition, one major supply chain route is the famous Silk Road, which connected Europe with the rest of Asia for thousands of years. This increased cultural diffusion and supported economic growth for all major civilizations at the time. If you want to look at this in terms of nodes and edges, each city that is connected on the Silk Road such as New Delhi, Beijing, Jerusalem, Egypt, etc. is a node, and the routes that connect them as the edges. The distance traveled is immense and the distance between nodes may vary depending on the geological location of the city route, however, these nodes and edges connected the world for the last millennia and led to future technological growth for interconnectedness.
Looking to the current day and age, our supply chains span worldwide with millions of routes, nodes, edges, and major hubs for industries. With the expansive development of shipping, air freight, and safer road networks, the world is connected in a much better light and allows for industrial and economic growth for all. One change to the node and edge network in the current day and age is that there are billions of nodes since almost every person has their own supply chain. People can now order items through their phones, send emails across the world, and sell clothes from their closets directly to other consumers. These changes reflect the current state of the supply chain network and showcase the vast connectivity that it has had in recent years.
Some challenges related to the current supply chain network is that there are many factories that are struggling with production as well as labor shortages that are slowing down shipment times all across the globe. Changes are constantly being made to the network such as implementing new nodes and hubs for transportation, utilizing newer technologies, and increasing the labor force for supply chain corporations. Over time, new nodes/hub cities will be created and major changes will be made to the supply chain to support the expansive growth of the world.
Data and Inspiration: https://unctad.org/publication/international-supply-networks-portrait-global-trade-patterns-four-sectors