Everything, Everywhere, All at Once: How can we create more responsible supply chains?

For people in countries with the means, it’s possible to get many products and services (everything), delivered to almost any location (everywhere), often within the hour (all at once).

It could be argued that in developed economies, we have reached the zenith of consumption driven economic growth – and the negative impact on society and the planet can no longer be denied.

With social inequities between the richest and poorest within and between countries increasing, planetary boundaries being exceeded and human slavery still prevalent, is it not time to consider a different way of doing business? Can we decouple production from consumption to find more responsible ways to do business?

Reflecting on the changes in supply chain strategy over the past 30 years or so, Professor Godsell’s lecture will present a vison for how we can create a more responsible future for supply chains and what it would require from individuals, businesses and policy makers.

Jan Godsell is the Dean of Loughborough Business School and Professor of Operations and Supply Chain (O&SC) Strategy.

Her work pursues more responsible consumption and production by aligning product, marketing and supply chain strategy with customer needs. Enabling responsibility, sustainability, resilience and productivity through end-to-end supply chain design is a key focus of her research.

Since the age of 15, Jan knew she wanted to be a pioneer for UK manufacturing. Sponsored by ICI, she completed a Master’s in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacture and Management with Japanese at Birmingham University. This included a year studying Japanese at Nanzan University in Nagoya.

Jan’s experiences as a Chartered Engineer working for ICI, (Astra) Zeneca and Dyson led to her move into academia when the latter sponsored her Executive MBA at Cranfield School of Management.

After completing her PhD and becoming a Reader at Cranfield, Jan joined WMG at the University of Warwick as a Professor of O&SC Strategy where she founded the SC Research Group and SCs in Practice Industrial Forum.

She joined Loughborough in 2021.

She currently holds advisory roles for the Made Smarter Innovation challenge, the UK National Manufacturing Forum and the World Economic Forum Global Futures Council for Advanced Manufacturing Value Chains.