Supply Chain Facts You Never Knew..

Want to blow the minds of your colleagues? Need some new pillow talk? Here are 12 facts about supply chain that you never knew…
 

1. Amazon has around 100,000 robots in use in their distribution centres across the world.
    
2. The world’s largest container ship is the 21,412 TEU OOCL. It’s 399.87 meters long, which is around 4 football pitches. It cost $950m USD to build.
    
3. In 1964 the British and French governments announced the plan to build the channel tunnel. Also this year, Black and Decker became the first company to use MRP.
    
4. 1 in 12 people in the UK works in the logistics and supply chain sector.
    
5. Each year, the UK food supply chain generates £112bn of value for the UK economy.
    
6. APICS has over 45000 members across the globe, compared with 200,000 CIPS members.
    
7. Around 300m tonnes of plastic are manufactured globally each year.
    
8. The word ‘logistics’ first appeared in written form as early as 1898.
    
9. Henry Ford designed the first mass production line in 1913. Since then, Ford has manufactured over 350 million vehicles.
    
10. In the UK, the most imported products include machinery, fuel, and food. Imports total over £400bn…that takes a lot of supply management!
     
11. The first 2 CIPS branches were in Birmingham and Leeds and were opened in 1932. Back then, the annual membership cost an equivalent of £3.15.
     
12. The HGV Driver is becoming an endangered species in the UK, with a shortage of up to 60,000 drivers and only c. 20,000 entering the industry each year.