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The prophets of lean turned the manufacturing world on its ear. Now they want to do the same for distribution—with just a roll of masking tape and a stopwatch.
In a lean distribution operation, the men and women working in the warehouse seek out the waste in everything they do, eliminate it, and then do it again.
With the country struggling with issues like war and terrorism, a record-setting deficit, and skyrocketing health care costs, transportation is not high on the national agenda. But that hasn't deterred leaders of the National Industrial Transportation League from undertaking what may prove a quixotic quest: the development of a national transportation policy.
If you just can't wait to see what the future holds, you're not alone. Scientists, business leaders and even MIT researchers are pondering how the world will change and what it means for our lives, our businesses and, yes, our supply chains.
What we've learned in the last three years was that we were right about the challenges facing our readers, but that we underestimated how much tougher their jobs would soon become.