Who moves the world? Training in logistics, from an invisible sector to a key profession

When a supermarket receives fresh fruit first thing in the morning, a factory avoids halting production due to a lack of components, or a hospital has the necessary materials at the right moment, behind it all there is often invisible but decisive work: logistics. In recent years, this field has ceased to be a secondary component to become a key element of the global economy and a profession with ever-increasing strategic weight within companies.In Catalonia, this shift has been accompanied by a growing offer of master's degrees and postgraduate courses linked to logistics and the supply chain. This is the case, for example, of the master's degree in Supply Chain Management and Technology at La Salle URL; the online master's degree in Logistics Management at the UOC; the master's degree in Supply Chain Management, Technology and Sustainability at UPF-BSM; the master's degree in Logistics, Supply Chain and Maritime Business at TecnoCampus, or programs such as the master's degree in Logistics and Supply Chain Management that the UAB promotes within an international consortium, among others. This long list of degrees reflects the extent to which the sector has ceased to be a peripheral specialization to consolidate itself as its own training field, increasingly connected with technology, sustainability, and global business management.An increasingly complete profile

“Before the pandemic, logistics was a more invisible area in the company, almost always in the background”, Concha Gaudó, director of the master’s degree in Supply Chain Management and Technology at La Salle Campus Barcelona, points out to ARA. As she explains, the disruptions of recent years, from covid to geopolitical uncertainty, have placed the supply chain “at the center of strategic decisions for many organizations”, and this has also transformed the type of professionals that are in demand.

For Gaudó, today companies are looking for much more hybrid profiles than before: people capable of understanding operations, but also technology, business, and data analysis. Logistics, he maintains, can no longer be a hindrance, but must act as “a competitive advantage for the company”, and this requires training professionals with more strategic vision, adaptability, and transversal leadership. In the same vein, Eduard J. Alvarez-Palau, academic director of the online master's degree in Logistics Management at the UOC, underlines to this newspaper that the sector today demands “much more hybrid” profiles. As he explains, it is no longer enough to know operations: it is also necessary to understand the international context, master technology, know how to analyze data, manage risks, and make decisions aligned with new demands such as sustainability.  Data, technology and strategic vision

Today, working in logistics and supply chain demands much more than mastering the operational part. It is necessary to understand the supply chain in an integral way, know how to read data, use technological tools and make decisions aligned with the general objectives of the company. Therefore, the consulted experts agree that the sector requires profiles capable of combining technical knowledge, analytical capacity and strategic vision. Concha Gaudó underlines that today it is “imperative” to understand how to use tools such as planning systems or artificial intelligence to make better decisions, even if one does not need to be a technical specialist in everything. She also adds another central challenge: resilience. In an environment marked by uncertainty, she defends, professionals must be able to make supply chains more robust, flexible, and prepared to react quickly to unforeseen events.  Alvarez-Palau adds an even broader perspective. According to him, companies need profiles with a solid foundation in purchasing, procurement, production, storage, transport, and distribution, but also with skills to work with indicators, forecasts, and tools such as ERP, traceability, automation, or advanced analytics. To all this, he says, we must add leadership and interpersonal skills such as leadership, change management, communication, and the ability to coordinate teams and diverse actors. The talent that companies are looking for

This paradigm shift has also altered what companies expect from sector professionals. They are no longer just looking for profiles capable of ensuring operations run smoothly, but for people who understand the supply chain from end to end and can turn it into a competitive tool. This implies combining technical knowledge with analytical capacity, mastery of technology, and an increasingly transversal strategic vision.