Dave Scott, recognized pioneer and authority on the application of technology and computer systems for real-time warehousing, distribution & supply chain management, passed away last week. This respected systems analyst had more than thirty years of experience in the design, development and implementation of real-time systems for manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers.
Scott was also known by friends and colleagues as a team leader, coach, raconteur, “classic down-easter,” bon vivant, devoted husband, father and grandfather. Material handling industry veteran and St. Onge director John Hill, a close friend of Scott’s, called him “a supply chain systems trailblazer and the unassuming father of WMS.” He also noted that while Scott kept a low-profile when it came to his career accomplishments, he was generous with his sense of humor when around friends.
Scott spent his early career in engineering and systems development with Fortune 50 computer industry pioneers IBM, Intel and Memorex. He was a co-founder of Shugart Associates, the company that developed and commercialized the floppy disk. And as a senior officer at Logisticon, the world’s first WMS provider, he directed development of the first WMS package that used UNIX, C and relational data base management.
Scott was a founder of Cypress Associates where he co-designed an object-oriented tool kit for network modeling and led selection and deployment of multiple warehouse and transportation management systems.
Later in his career, as an officer and board member at supply chain consulting and systems integration firm, ESYNC, he set the standard for network analysis and optimization excellence.
Scott concluded his career as a senior associate with Diamond Head Associates, an independent supply chain analytics and performance analysis consulting firm.
