Over the past year, the number of vacancies in supply chain management rose by as much as 10 per cent from a year earlier. The growing demand for supply chain professionals is said to be due to growth in manufacturing and e-commerce activities. Moreover, companies are fully engaged in optimising their supply chains. This is according to a labour market analysis by Yacht.
The figures also show that demand for procurement managers lags behind supply chain managers. The demand for procurement managers fell by 19 per cent and 7 per cent in the past two quarters compared to a year earlier, while the demand for supply chain managers actually increased by 16 and 10 per cent, respectively. According to Yacht, this shift can be explained by new delivery concepts and the focus on optimising planning and logistics. "Professional procurement remains of great importance, but integral process focus and chain cooperation seems to be the answer to the dynamics within the industry and logistics services for the time being," said Hilbrand van der Kooi, Business Development Manager SCM&P at Yacht.
Planner and engineer in demand
Supply chain planner and supply chain engineer positions were particularly in demand. These positions showed a 30 per cent growth. These vacancies are mainly filled by recent college graduates and university-educated supply chain professionals. "The industry and logistics service providers that are now faced with themes such as E-commerce, Big Data and, in the not-too-distant future, developments such as 3D printing, can make good use of these high potentials to develop new services," Hilbrand van der Kooi said.
Labour market tightness
The structural growth in the number of vacancies within supply chain management since 2013 is leading to labour market tightness in several regions. Especially in Amsterdam, Utrecht and South-East Brabant, there are more vacancies available than there are trained professionals. "Further raising the profile of the field among students and encouraging mobility among employed professionals is very important for these regions to facilitate further development of activity," Van der Kooi said.
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