前一段时间,教授理查德•拉明的一个最著名、最有影响力的采购和供应链的学者,第一次写有点激怒他的想法。在未来,他说,大部分工作由采购功能将由计算机来完成。拉明谈到“一个黑盒,一个男人,和一只狗。”The black box would carry out all the routine procurement work – establishing internal requirements and specifications from internal stakeholders, talking to suppliers’ black boxes to agree pricing, delivery schedules, managing the purchase to pay process and so on. The man (or woman - let's not be sexist) would be there to turn on the black box every morning. And the dog was there to attack the man if he tried to turn off the black box when he shouldn’t! Lamming also explained that there would be a role for globetrotting deal-makers who would identify new sources of supply and manage key relationships. But the vast majority of work would be automated, and supply chain relationships would be largely black box to black box.