The number of vacancies within Supply Chain management has risen by no less than 46 percent in one year. Especially the demand for planners, supply chain engineers (57%) and logistics managers (64%) was on the rise, according to figures from Yacht. This would bring the sector back to pre-crisis levels.
The increase can be attributed to economic growth within the industrial sector. Especially the investments in e-fulfilment are creating a growing demand for professionals, with explosive growth especially in the logistics hotspots. In the region between Rotterdam, Breda, Tilburg and Venlo, the number of vacancies rose by as much as 75 per cent in a year's time. Due to the economic growth, companies in this region are investing extra in storage distribution capacity. "The exceptionally high demand for supply chain professionals is creating a considerably strained labour market in these regions," says Hilde van der Kooi, Business Development Manager at Yacht.
Challenges posed by e-commerce
Currently, 'only' 14 billion worth of products are sold over the internet in the Netherlands, but in the future this would increase sharply. Indeed, companies have e-fulfilment high on their priority list. According to Yacht, this creates the following challenges:
- providing 24/7 online services
- processing a high volume of small orders
- handling a wide variety of delivery addresses
- processing return flows
- continuously innovating on service
Training
Yacht also points to the change in the skills of logistics managers. In e-fulfilment, chain cooperation between parties plays a major role. Logistics training would currently still focus too much on technique and process, and too little on skills such as being able to lead and motivate a team. "There is still a nice challenge for this education in the field of soft skills," Van der Kooi said.
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Editorial LogistiekProfs
