* By John Paxton * For managers of warehouses and distribution centers, the nation’s 3.5% unemployment rate heading into peak ordering season seems downright unfair. Attracting high-quality employees is exceedingly difficult nowadays, and with a wealth of job opportunities available, workers are ready to jump ship if they can make an extra dollar an hour at the company down the ...
Read More »Author Archives: Shani Calvo
Need for Social and Emotional Skills Growing Along with More Automated Supply Chains
While these skills have always had their place in the toolbox of employees and leaders, the need for mastery will be crucial in the new future of work. These are skills that machines cannot replace, at least not yet. * By Maria Leggett * According to the report, “Skill Shift: Automation and the Future of the Workforce,” by the McKinsey ...
Read More »HIGHER EDUCATION: Digital Twins
Improving the Material Handling Industry Workforce through Digital Representations of Human-Based Operations * By Jesus A. Jimenez * This year, I was part of a group of professors who traveled to Europe to participate in what we designated as the “Industry 4.0 Tour.” We had one goal in mind: to find the latest developments in Industry 4.0. We visited several ...
Read More »Industry Focus: Volatility, Ripple Effects Shaping Intermodal Trends
By its very definition, intermodal is a web of deeply connected functions. As one part is impacted, it often creates a ripple effect. Heading into 2020, though, intermodal trends have the added complexity of outside forces creating a lot of volatility. * By Sandy Smith * By its very definition, intermodal is a web of deeply connected functions. As one ...
Read More »Supply Chains Are Finding a Market Full of Skilled, Next-Gen Talent. Why Can’t They Hire Them?
An Interview with Randy V. Bradley, Ph.D., CPHIMS, FHIMSS Associate Professor of Information Systems and Supply Chain Management, The University of Tennessee * By Carol Miller * For the past six years, MHI has produced our Annual Industry Report to present the findings of a comprehensive survey of industry leaders across manufacturing and distribution supply chains. Queried about current and ...
Read More »Moving Through the Middle Mile
To truly understand e-commerce’s impact on supply chains, follow the movement of goods through the middle mile, e.g. from port to warehouse/DC, between warehouse and from warehouse to e-commerce storage areas. * By Mary Lou Jay * Last mile delivery is often the focus of discussions about e-commerce’s impact on supply chains. But movement of goods through the middle mile—from ...
Read More »Partnering with a 3PL: Best Practices for a Successful Relationship
Learn some of the key ingredients needed as companies and their 3PL service providers define and create win-win partnerships, as well as how they measure success. * By Sara Pearson Specter * Engaging a third-party logistics (3PL) service provider for outsourced logistics and supply chain services has become a common practice among companies of all sizes. Indeed, research from 3PL ...
Read More »Economic Impact of Material Handling
MHI recently released, in collaboration with Oxford Economics, a new report, “Handling the US Economy: The Economic Impact of the Material Handling Industry.” This report explores the relationship between material handling and wider economy of the supply chain, finding that “the economic contribution of this industry extends far beyond the locations where [equipment]is manufactured… or designed.” Material handling firms are ...
Read More »It’s Faster and It’s Fancier. It’s The 2020 Supply Chain
These nine technological advances are reshaping supply chains, and allowing projects to be completed quicker and with a higher level of accuracy. * By Nick Fortuna * Autonomous Trucking Jason Gillespie is looking forward to a time when autonomous trucks can handle the lonely part of truck driving, the grinding long-haul trips that keep drivers away from their families and ...
Read More »Freight Goes Digital
Fresh industry faces and sophisticated new tools are making automation a crucial piece of the freight brokerage field. * By Tom Gresham * Spurred on by innovative new industry players and the increasingly ambitious investments in technology by the field’s more traditional companies, freight brokerages have taken a major step toward more fully embracing the digital in their processes, leading ...
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