Harry Potter and the Magical Supply Chain
By Alex Batty, MHI Marketing Communications Coordinator |@mhi_alex
At work we’ve started decorating peoples’ work space for their birthday. The head of the decoration squad does some reconnaissance and finds a personalized theme. Mine ended up being Harry Potter.
If you haven’t guessed by now, I’m a not-so-secret nerd. And I’m okay with that. It means that I discovered some short form online storytelling where someone is imagining if there was an IT guy at Hogwarts (magic high school, if you’re not familiar). And then this post appeared:
SUPPLY CHAIN IS EVERYWHERE!
So I thought I would indulge my not-so-inner geek and take a look at transportation, logistics, and supply chain in the world of Harry Potter and how we might match that in the real world.
Owl Post
In the world of Harry Potter, they send mail and packages by owl. Yes, it’s exactly how it sounds. Other birds can be used, but the predominant shipper is owls. Most of the time, a single owl will deliver the mail items, but in some cases of overlarge packages, multiple owls will team up. Don’t ask me how they fly in sync. It’s magic. Also magic is the way that the owls somehow know exactly who and where the letter is going, without any prompting.
In most instances, owls are owned by a singular person or family. Packages and letters are sent off immediately, and door-to-door, using a personally owned tool, eliminating distribution centers. There are small instances of “rental” owls (like at the school or a village post office) but it seems that they are alternatives rather than the main option for delivering packages.
The two main ones we see are in the school and in the village. At the school, all owls are free for use, included in attending the school, and live in a dedicated room (called, quite obviously, the Owlery). In the village Post Office, they have two to three hundred owls, ranging from Great Grey Owls to tiny Scops (for “local deliveries only”), hooting down from color-coded shelves, with color based on how quickly the owl (and the package) will arrive at their destination.
So how does this differ from what we have here in the real world? Other than delivery vehicle (which is not that far from reality – carrier pigeons and the Pony Express were a thing, remember?), the major difference is the elimination of a third party. And, as the original post pointed out, it’s straight to your door. They beat us to drones.
One particular object you can send through the mail is something called a Howler. This is a letter that is enchanted so that when you open it, it shouts its contents at you.
But we in the real world have got this one covered. Voicemail. Done and done.
Flight
While both the wizarding world and the real world have flying transportation, the wizarding world seems to avoid enclosed flight. Broomsticks, flying animals, and even enchanted non-magical vehicles exist, though the latter are pretty illegal under magical law. We in the real world would seem to have the edge for mass transport via flight, both of people and objects. But since the magical world seems to be based on personal transport rather than relying on third parties who specialize in transport, they get along just fine.
To be fair it would also seem that brooms are mainly used for sports or for those who don’t want to Apparate (an explanation is coming, don’t worry).
Enchanted Ford Anglia
The Ford Anglia is a car produced by Ford UK, which is probably why, if you’re based here in the States, you don’t recognize the model name. But it is a real car.
However, in the second book (or movie depending on your preference) this car makes a move to magical. This particular car flies. And can be invisible. And has an expanded interior, as in fits-eight-people-six-steamer-trunks-two-owls-and-a-rat-comfortably expanded, but you can’t tell from the outside.
Which is super illegal under magical law. You’re not supposed to use magic on objects regular folk might use. But I would totally love a flying car. Make it a nice version of one of those DuckBoat things, so that it can hit air, land, and sea, and I would absolutely be about that. So would supply chain. Imagine investing in one vehicle rather than three?
Hogwarts Express
Magical folk do still have ground transport! But it’s mostly for underage peeps who can’t use magic without a parent. They use the same thing we do: a train.
As someone with a secret passion for passenger trains, I would definitely ride it. This one in particular is to get to magic school. But in the real world US, we mostly use trains for moving freight, and it’s more popular on the East coast.
Ministry Toilet Network
I’m… glad we don’t have this one. To get into the Ministry of Magic (magical government HQ, kind of like Parliament) from the street, you have to stand in a toilet (magic, never used, water is fake), and then… flush yourself in. It is as weird as it sounds. Let’s not adopt something like this.
Instant Transport
Unfortunately, magic allows for instantaneous transportation that science just hasn’t caught up to yet. Things like this in the Harry Potter universe include:
The Floo Network – connects fireplaces for instant transport between them.
Apparition – you literally disappear and reappear in the place that you wish. Becomes more dangerous the greater the distance.
Portkeys – you touch and object and it transports you to a pre-determined place.
But can you imagine how supply chain would use them! Want to send something to someone? Just chuck it in the fireplace through the Floo Network. You could be an Apparition courier, popping in and out of a DC with packages all day. With Portkeys, you could load up a pallet, make it small enough to carry (again magic), grab the Portkey and never miss a delivery window or waste time trying to find a specific office again.
While the world of Harry Potter is full of fantastical things, we here in the real world do some pretty fantastical things as well. We have 2-hour shipping, drones, and smart city logistics on the rise, as well as the things that haven’t even been thought of yet. If that’s not magical, I don’t know what is.
