ARRIVING TODAY

A survey of the logistical innovations that bring a product to your doorstep with the tap of a keyboard.

In his first book, Wall Street Journal technology columnist Mims follows the trail of a USB device, an everyday piece of computer equipment, from its construction in a Vietnamese factory (and back even further, to the extraction of the elements that went into making its intricate interior) to its arrival at a buyer’s home. This device is only one of “100 billion—the number of parcels shipped every year, worldwide, as of 2020.” The author goes on to recount the lives of the people in the global supply chains that make it possible for the designers to get their inventions—also well explored—to market. Mims also chronicles the relevant history, from the scientific management theories of Frederick Taylor (and the alienation left in their wake) to the construction lines of Henry Ford (ditto) and the “centuries of experience, craft, and technology accumulated by sailors and naval architects” that allow a crew of 30 to 40 individuals to pilot a vessel three football fields long, stacked with thousands of containers, across entire oceans. Mims writes in a digestible style that conveys a pleasing you-are-there quality, and he does not shy away from describing the vast economic inequalities involved in the movement of commodities and the indifference of many managers toward their workers—from injuries to psychological impacts—since they can be trained in hours and discarded if they do not hit their “make rate.” Inevitably, there is plenty of predictive analytics, load-balancing algorithms, fulfillment engines, and dynamic route planning—right down to a minimum of left turns for delivery trucks. Remarkably, Mims makes docking a cargo vessel and loading conveyor belts, and even making that left turn, well worth close examination.

A surprisingly absorbing foray into the optimization of product flow.