Monika Dommann - University of Zurich

Material Flow: A History of Logistics

During the last 24 months a previously exclusively technical term – “the supply chains” – gained our daily attention. Last year the grounding of the ship container Ever Given blocked the Suez Canal for an entire week. Because of the Shanghai lockdown one of the world’s largest electronics manufacturing hubs near Shanghai is grinding to a halt and prompting worries about the global supply chains. As a result of the Chinese lockdown and the war in the Ukraine around 12 percent of all the global shipping got stuck. But when and how became concepts like “supply chains” management and “Just-in-Time” (JIT) management so central in economics? How did the science of logistics shape warehouses, labor, cities and landscapes? The lecture concerns a history of logistics from the 19^th century to the presents and looks behind the hidden structures of modern consumer societies.

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Gathering begins an 17:45 near room 449

Chair: Shaul Katzir