Keeping the world turning
August 1st 2009 Our increasingly complex industry sometimes masks the simplicity of its fundamentals: moving stuff from A-B within a given time frame without screwing it up.
So honed has the process become that it is the exception when things are late. In effect, efficiency as standard, universally. How does that happen? Through (largely unheralded) professionalism across the supply chain.
One person currently benefiting from globally consistent logistics is (at risk of sounding like Vicky Pollard) my cousin’s boyfriend, James Bowthorpe. He’s attempting the ultimate A-B, cycling solo around the world in a bid to break the record and raise £2million for Parkinson’s. His asset management consists of eating enough calories to sustain his body through 18,000 miles in 150 days, and keeping the bike running. The latter, a bespoke belt-driven tourer, has required parts for maintenance along the way. Some of these have been shipped from the UK to arrive at a specific location, thousands of miles away, at a precise time, or risk compromising the entire world-record bid. And so far, so efficient.
Bowthorpe has now covered Europe, the Middle East, India, South East Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and is currently in America, pedalling 130 miles per day. It’s literally a Herculean challenge, requiring almost superhuman willpower, stamina and belief, and one few will ever undertake.
Certainly, without the global logistics network that the world takes for granted, it is one few would ever make.
www.globecycle.org
Brendan Coyne
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