A Supply Chain Christmas

Written by Amanda Strouse

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the land,

Not a worker was working, not an office was manned;

Except for the North Pole, where elves worked at the speed of light,

Planning, tracking and tracing Santa’s route for the night,

Down south, eyes were shut, dreaming of presents arriving so quick,

For it was the job of these supply chain management elves and Saint Nick;

After many hours sliding down chimneys and flying across the globe,

Santa, full of cookies, returned to the North Pole and hung up his robe;

But before he was able to celebrate and take a break,

Eli the supply chain management elf noticed a shipping mistake;

“There was a delivery mix-up, please accept my apology,

“I just found it thanks to Santa’s tracking and tracing technology;

“Kids in an orphanage will wake up and cry and pant,

“Because their toys were accidently dropped off at a car manufacturing plant!”

“Oh no!” Said Santa. “How will we get this taken care of tonight?”

Eli got brave and volunteered to switch the freight;

“Rudolph, the head air freight reindeer, will guide me through the dark sky,

“And we will return the toys while everyone sleeps,” said Eli;

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In an instant Eli was gone, Rudolf leading the way with his shining nose,

At the car shop in Detroit, Eli gathered the wrapped toys, stuffed animals and clothes;

They flew to the orphanage in Los Angeles and landed softly on the house,

Eli replaced the car parts with the toys as quietly as a mouse;

And after the car parts were brought back safely to Detroit,

Eli and Rudolf sighed with relief and happiness for their exploit;

At the North Pole, they were greeted with cheers and applause,

Even happier than the supply chain management elves was Santa Claus;

He said, “I can’t thank you enough for fixing that Christmas mess!”

Humble Eli chuckled, “We couldn’t have done it without our tracing technology and Santa’s GPS!”