10PL Logistics?

There is a discussion on the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) Group on LinkedIn. The concept of a 10PL was raised and asked folks what they thought about this concept. There was not much given except for one power point slide that gives a one line definition of each nPL from 1 to 10.

So, what is a 10PL? Why go from 3PL and 4PL all the way to 10PL? Why stop at 10? This concept certainly warranted our study and scrutiny.

In the graphic, a 10PL was defined as: Supply Chain becomes self-aware and runs itself.

The Supply Chain becomes self-aware and runs itself. We all started laughing when we read this. So much for study and scrutiny. Self-aware? Really? Are we living in a Terminator movie. The ERP becomes self-aware and takes control from all the people in the supply chain. Robots make the product, store them, picks them, and loads the trucks. Trucks run by computer. No people needed. No management needed. The self-aware supply chain runs itself.

3PL and 4PL means 3rd and 4th Party Logistics. The idea of a 3PL was definitely a breakthrough concept. The concept developed in the 1980s and 90s from two developments. First, was trucking deregulation in the US. With the Motor Carrier Act of 1980, allowed for more competition in what was to that point a heavily regulated industry. The logistics industry was very segregated into warehousing, trucking, and railroad. There was no overlap. Deregulation opened the doors for service providers to offer more services, bundled services, to their customers. Ambitious logistics companies looked to be a one stop shop that could provide all the services clients might need.

Another jolt of adrenalin to this concept was the IT revolution and the rise of ERPs in the same era. Before, information was a limiting factor in logistics (think of the famous Beer Game). The idea of tracking shipments was simply a dream. The internet was something from science fiction. Even EDI did not enter the picture until the mid-1990s. Information was exchanged on paper via mail and later by fax. With the improvement in IT capabilities, information was instantaneously available all across the Supply Chain making integration of logistical services... possible.

We might be laughing ahead of ourselves. People laughed at Galileo and Copernicus. People did not understand Deming when he was first touting his Fourteen Points. Maybe a self-aware supply chain that runs itself will be a reality. If this can be done in the supply chain, why not in every aspect of our lives? There will be no jobs for people. Without jobs, people will not have income. How then will they be able to purchase goods and services?

This 10PL concept mostly strikes us as a great marketing concept. A web search only showed one company that is claiming to have authored and leading the charge on this effort. There is not a lot out there about it except from this company.

This company, and we are not giving them any free publicity, claimed that they "the undisputed leader in 10th Party Logistics (10PL) services, was shockingly left off the program for the Council for Supply Chain Management Professional’s (CSCMP) Annual Global Conference 2012."

We did not find it all that shocking.

Comments

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