James Drogan

Following is a brief exchange between a student in the current capstone course and me.

Me

Increasingly, it seems, the competitive arena is shifting in the direction of correct decisions at an increasingly fast pace whilst delivering increased value to the customer.  A ship or port, no matter how modern, deep of draft, and large of area, will loose out if it is slow of mind and action; or, if in the acceleration of decision making it tramples on customer service.

This suggests a premium on organization and control systems.  The technology and other hard assets may be the easy part.  Conceiving and designing new systems involving the fundamental redesign of work in the port and terminal may be what provides a competitive edge.  This is what smart people do aided, of course, by smart machines.  Advances of this nature will likely require new terms of engagement amongst various parties.

Student

Professor I completely agree with you. There might be a belief that technology can just come and take the place of so much and make things easier but it goes deeper than that. In fact, more efforts are needed now almost to re-invent the wheel from a technology standpoint. I was just having this conversation with my colleagues the other day about our supply chain system that was implemented about 4+ years ago and how to this day we are constantly trying to re-design it to meet the standards of customer service that should provide. So much has to be visited, so much to be taken into consideration, we are truly dealing with a different animal this day and age.