This is great! We need to hear more stories about “the day of small beginnings” as I like to call it. Too often we read marketing buzz and press releases on the glory of a great achievement. That’s great and all, but every human achievement starts with people and there are usually some interesting dynamics around how something goes from zero to something. We need more stories around the underlying climate preceding the best innovations. THAT will inspire and spark excitement to build. There are plenty of lessons learned that can be shared in that regard (Paul Graham and Y Combinator essays do this). Who else has an early day supply chain story to share?

“In 2011, Amazon’s total revenue reached nearly $48 billion, and it was already clear to the senior leadership that the company’s scale would require the automation of buying and the management of inventory; monitoring spreadsheets was not a long-term solution. Indeed, even then the sheer range of products offered by Amazon meant the “illusion of control” was already kicking in among the groups managing inventory, says Bhatia. In fact, Bhatia notes, the sheer complexity and scale meant the challenge was beyond the scope of any team, let alone an individual.”

I recommend Jason Miller (MSU SCM head) and Warren Powell’s posts from LinkedIn. Both are widely recognized thought leaders in the quantitative SCM space.