People in fulfillment history
The inventors, founders, and engineers behind the ideas in this wiki, and what each one changed.
Pre-190032 people
- 1775Benjamin FranklinFirst US Postmaster General, 1706–1790
- 1785Oliver EvansBuilder of the first automated mill, 1755–1819
- 1817David RicardoEconomist, theory of comparative advantage, 1772–1823
- 1825George StephensonRailway engineer and locomotive builder, 1781–1848
- 1833Isambard Kingdom BrunelEngineer of railways and steamships, 1806–1859
- 1837Rowland HillPostal reformer, Penny Post, 1795–1879
- 1838Antoine-Henri JominiMilitary theorist who named logistics, 1779–1869
- 1839William HarndenFounder of the US express business, 1812–1845
- 1840Samuel CunardFounder of the Cunard Line, 1787–1865
- 1848Vilfredo ParetoEconomist behind the 80/20 principle, 1848–1923
- 1850Henry WellsCo-founder of Wells Fargo, American Express, 1805–1878
- 1850William FargoCo-founder of Wells Fargo, 1818–1881
- 1854Elisha OtisInventor of the safety elevator, 1811–1861
- 1861Henry GanttCreator of the Gantt chart, 1861–1919
- 1863Richard SearsCo-founder of Sears, Roebuck, 1863–1914
- 1868Frank GilbrethPioneer of motion study, 1868–1924
- 1868Thomas RobinsInventor of the belt conveyor, 1868–1957
- 1869Cornelius VanderbiltSteamship and railroad magnate, 1794–1877
- 1869Ferdinand de LessepsDeveloper of the Suez Canal, 1805–1894
- 1871Margaret KnightInventor of the flat-bottomed bag machine, 1838–1914
- 1872Aaron Montgomery WardMail-order catalog pioneer, 1843–1913
- 1874Heinrich von StephanFounder of the Universal Postal Union, 1831–1897
- 1878Gustavus SwiftMeatpacker, refrigerated rail pioneer, 1839–1903
- 1878Lillian GilbrethIndustrial psychologist and engineer, 1878–1972
- 1879Robert GairInventor of the pre-cut paperboard box, 1839–1927
- 1886Clarence BirdseyeInventor of quick-frozen food, 1886–1956
- 1892Rudolf DieselInventor of the diesel engine, 1858–1913
- 1893Frederick McKinley JonesInventor of truck refrigeration, Thermo King, 1893–1961
- 1893James J. HillBuilder of the Great Northern Railway, 1838–1916
- 1895Julius RosenwaldPresident of Sears, Roebuck, 1862–1932
- 1896Gottlieb DaimlerEngine pioneer, first motor truck, 1834–1900
- 1899Alexander WintonAuto pioneer, early car hauler, 1860–1932
1900–194528 people
- 1904A.P. MøllerFounder of the Maersk shipping group, 1876–1965
- 1905Richard SutcliffeInventor of the underground conveyor, 1849–1930
- 1907Jim CaseyFounder of UPS, 1888–1983
- 1909Agner Krarup ErlangFounder of queueing theory, 1878–1929
- 1909Alfred WeberEconomist of industrial location theory, 1868–1958
- 1909Shigeo ShingoLean consultant, SMED and poka-yoke, 1909–1990
- 1910Tjalling KoopmansEconomist of transportation optimization, 1910–1985
- 1911Frederick Winslow TaylorFather of scientific management, 1856–1915
- 1912Leon Leonwood BeanFounder of L.L.Bean, 1872–1967
- 1912Taiichi OhnoArchitect of the Toyota Production System, 1912–1990
- 1913Ford W. HarrisOriginator of the EOQ formula, 1877–1962
- 1913Henry FordFounder of Ford Motor Company, 1863–1947
- 1914August FruehaufInventor of the semi-trailer, 1868–1930
- 1915Kaoru IshikawaQuality expert, fishbone diagram creator, 1915–1989
- 1916Clarence SaundersFounder of Piggly Wiggly, 1881–1953
- 1917Eugene ClarkFounder of Clark Equipment, maker of the Tructractor, 1873–1942
- 1917George C. ThorpeMarine officer, author of Pure Logistics, 1875–1936
- 1919Keith TantlingerEngineer of the shipping container system, 1919–2011
- 1924Genichi TaguchiEngineer of robust design methods, 1924–2012
- 1924Sakichi ToyodaLoom inventor and Toyota Group founder, 1867–1930
- 1924Walter A. ShewhartFather of statistical process control, 1891–1967
- 1926Ingvar KampradFounder of IKEA, 1926–2018
- 1937Kiichiro ToyodaFounder of Toyota Motor Corporation, 1894–1952
- 1938Joseph NumeroCo-founder of Thermo King, 1896–1991
- 1939George RaymondPallet pioneer, founder of the Raymond Corporation, 1890–1967
- 1939Leonid KantorovichPioneer of linear programming, 1912–1986
- 1941Frank L. HitchcockFormulator of the transportation problem, 1875–1957
- 1942Brehon B. SomervellCommander of Army Service Forces, 1892–1955
1945–197943 people
- 1946Ken ThomasFounder of TNT, 1913–1997
- 1947George DantzigInventor of the simplex method, 1914–2005
- 1950Eiji ToyodaToyota president and chairman, 1913–2013
- 1950W. Edwards DemingStatistician and quality management pioneer, 1900–1993
- 1951Armand V. FeigenbaumOriginator of total quality control, 1922–2014
- 1951Joseph M. JuranQuality management pioneer, 1904–2008
- 1951Kenneth ArrowEconomist, optimal inventory policy, 1921–2017
- 1951Ruben RausingFounder of Tetra Pak, 1895–1983
- 1952Bernard SilverCo-inventor of the barcode, 1924–1963
- 1952Norman Joseph WoodlandCo-inventor of the barcode, 1921–2012
- 1953Gillis LundgrenIKEA designer, flat-pack pioneer, 1929–2016
- 1954George DevolInventor of the industrial robot, 1912–2011
- 1956Dwight D. EisenhowerUS President, Interstate Highway backer, 1890–1969
- 1956Joseph EngelbergerFather of robotics, Unimation founder, 1925–2015
- 1956Malcom McLeanFather of containerization, 1913–2001
- 1956Robert G. BrownDeveloper of exponential smoothing, 1923–2013
- 1957Alfred FieldingCo-inventor of Bubble Wrap, co-founder of Sealed Air, 1917–1994
- 1957Charles C. HoltDeveloper of trend exponential smoothing, 1921–2010
- 1959Herbert ScarfEconomist, (s,S) inventory policy, 1930–2015
- 1960Sunil ChopraSupply chain professor and author, b. 1960
- 1961Donald J. BowersoxLogistics educator, Michigan State, 1932–2011
- 1961Jay ForresterFounder of system dynamics, 1918–2016
- 1961John D. C. LittleMIT professor, proved Little's Law, 1928–2024
- 1962Peter DruckerManagement thinker, 1909–2005
- 1962Sam WaltonFounder of Walmart, 1918–1992
- 1965Mærsk Mc-Kinney MøllerMaersk leader in the container era, 1913–2012
- 1967George PlosslInventory control author and MRP advocate, 1918–2004
- 1967Oliver WightMRP II and Class A pioneer, 1929–1983
- 1968Chang Yung-faFounder of Evergreen Marine, 1927–2016
- 1969Adrian DalseyCo-founder of DHL, 1914–1994
- 1969Larry HillblomCo-founder of DHL, 1943–1995
- 1969Victor ScheinmanInventor of the Stanford Arm, 1942–2016
- 1970Gianluigi AponteFounder of MSC, b. 1940
- 1973Alan HabermanGrocery executive who led UPC adoption, 1929–2011
- 1973Charles WaltonRFID pioneer, 1921–2011
- 1973Fred SmithFounder of FedEx, 1944–2025
- 1973George LaurerIBM engineer who designed the UPC, 1925–2019
- 1975Amancio OrtegaFounder of Zara and Inditex, b. 1936
- 1975Joseph OrlickyPioneer of material requirements planning, 1922–1986
- 1976Sol PriceFounder of Price Club, 1916–2009
- 1978Jacques SaadéFounder of CMA CGM, 1937–2018
- 1979Michael AldrichInventor of teleshopping, 1941–2014
- 1979Philip B. CrosbyQuality expert, Zero Defects, 1926–2001
1980–199918 people
- 1984Eliyahu GoldrattCreator of the Theory of Constraints, 1947–2011
- 1984Michael DellFounder of Dell Technologies, b. 1965
- 1985Michael PorterStrategist, creator of the value chain, b. 1947
- 1986Bill SmithFather of Six Sigma at Motorola, 1929–1993
- 1988David GlassWalmart CEO, logistics leader, 1935–2020
- 1990James P. WomackLean thinking author, LEI founder, b. 1948
- 1991William G. PagonisGulf War logistics general, b. 1941
- 1992Marc RaibertFounder of Boston Dynamics, b. 1949
- 1993Wang WeiFounder of SF Express, b. 1970
- 1994Jeff BezosFounder of Amazon, b. 1964
- 1994Masahiro HaraInventor of the QR code, b. 1957
- 1996Jakob HattelandCo-founder of AutoStore cube storage, b. 1951
- 1996John J. Bartholdi IIIWarehouse science researcher at Georgia Tech, 1947–2019
- 1998Tim CookApple CEO, former operations chief, b. 1960
- 1999David Simchi-LeviMIT supply chain professor, b. 1955
- 1999Jack MaCo-founder of Alibaba Group, b. 1964
- 1999Jeff WilkeBuilder of the Amazon fulfillment network, b. 1966
- 1999Kevin AshtonCoined Internet of Things, Auto-ID Center, b. 1968
2000–201914 people
- 2000Tim SteinerCo-founder and CEO of Ocado, b. 1969
- 2003Mick MountzFounder of Kiva Systems, b. 1965
- 2003Peter WurmanKiva Systems co-founder and CTO, b. 1965
- 2003Raffaello D'AndreaKiva Systems co-founder, robotics engineer, b. 1967
- 2004Richard LiuFounder of JD.com, b. 1973
- 2005Yossi SheffiDirector of MIT Transportation and Logistics, b. 1948
- 2006Tobi LütkeCo-founder and CEO of Shopify, b. 1980
- 2007Rick CohenFounder of Symbotic, C&S chief, b. 1952
- 2008Xu YangtianFounder of SHEIN, b. 1984
- 2009Tony HsiehCEO of Zappos, 1973–2020
- 2012Rodney BrooksRoboticist, iRobot and Rethink founder, b. 1954
- 2013Dave ClarkBuilder of the Amazon delivery network, b. 1973
- 2013Ryan PetersenFounder and CEO of Flexport, b. 1980
- 2016Marc LoreFounder of Diapers.com and Jet.com, b. 1971