t is tough to wiggle away from this simple fact.

The world is facing

shortages on hundreds of fronts. Yes, it is true; we didn't prepare very well
or even see this coming; add in the hurdles and pitfalls experienced from
the Covid-19 pandemic. Semi-conductors might be the most obvious, but
here is a broader list, some of which are utterly confusing: Chlorine, gas
(petrol in the UK), ketchup, timber, steel, other metals, tennis balls, nurses,
ammunition, medical supplies, and paper bags. We have all see then may
lay to stockpile toilet paper and even domesticated animals. 

LONG BEACH, CA - OCTOBER 2: Container ships remain anchored outside of the ports
of Los Angeles and ... [+]
 GETTY IMAGES

Over sixty container ships are queueing outside the Los Angeles docks at
the writing of this story, mainly because there aren't the skilled people to
bring them in and unload them or even drive the contents away. We have
significant inflation on base materials, people costs, and even industrial
space rents as most of us still are working from home. In an amazing turn,
warehouse rental space prices are exploding just when we can't fill them for
the shortages we have. This problem won't be going away quickly, so the
problem is going away quickly.
PROMOTED

Logistics isn't just an issue in the US. Ask anybody trying to fill an
automobile with gas in the UK that they can't get, and you will see why the
Army is now stepping in to drive gas containers. It feels like the 1970s in
the UK again. Fifty years later, this is a problem that the modern supply
chain should have solved. Traditional supply chain ideas have got us into
this mess. When businesses run lean on inventory, focus on core
components, and stretch turn rates to be as fast as possible, issues like this
are bound to appear. Interconnect lots of waypoints into the supply chain
like cogs in a wheel, going faster and faster. 

The challenge with this is the same as opening the back of an analog watch
and putting something in between one or two cogs. The whole system
literally stops. The moment is on us to change this completely. Imagine an
intelligent watch where each cog could adjust itself if something got in its
way or if something caused another cog to get jammed.

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a watches inner workings

 GETTY
That would be an intelligent engine inside a watch, adjusting to a changing
environment if and how it needed to. Maybe one cog would drop out and
have other cogs connect directly and change its rotation to keep telling the
time correctly.