Current Features

Feature Becoming a Sustainable Business Requires a Sustainable Supply Chain     BY CAROL MILLER, CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER, MHI   With looming Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations as well as the recent spate of wildfires, torrential downpours, excessive heat and other extreme weather events, the need for climate action and sustainability reporting has reached a new level of urgency. ...

Feature As the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions climbs toward the top of the corporate agenda and clean energy technologies become more available and cost-effective, more companies are looking to renewable and clean energy technologies as a key to decarbonizing their own facilities and vehicle fleets and working with their supply chain partners to do the same. BY DAVID ...

Feature Spurred by a desire for greater supply chain resilience, companies are increasingly reshoring and investing in new and updated manufacturing operations in North America. BY SARA PEARSON SPECTER For the past decade, global management consulting firm Kearney has produced an annual Reshoring Index report to uncover the mindset of top U.S. executives surrounding reshoring. This year—for the first time—the ...

BY THE NUMBERS   According to Kearney’s annual Reshoring Index, U.S. gross manufacturing output rose at a faster pace than the U.S. manufacturing imports from 14 Asian low-cost countries and regions, resulting in a positive score. The U.S. manufacturing import ratio was as follows:     The Kearney Reshoring Index found that, among the CEOs surveyed: 96% report they are evaluating ...

Feature Overcoming the Sustainability Skills Shortage BY MARY LOU JAY Companies that commit to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and improving the sustainability of their operations usually understand that this will be a complex, years-long task. What they may not realize until they begin the process, however, is just how big a challenge it will be to find the skilled ...

Feature BY SHERYL S. JACKSON Climate-related disclosures that provide investors with consistent, comparable and decision-useful information are the goal of a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulation that is currently scheduled for publication in October 2023. The regulation requires specific publicly traded companies to disclose information about: Governance of climate-related risks and relevant risk management processes. Material impact or likely ...

Feature New Global Realities Heighten the Need for Sustainability, Visibility, Resilience BY NICK FORTUNA In retrospect, the just-in-time, single-source, ultra-streamlined supply chain was never built to last. Wages in developing nations can rise, and labor disputes can bring manufacturing and shipping to a halt. Values of international currencies fluctuate, tax and environmental policies change, and fuel prices are historically volatile. ...

Industry Focus The retail supply chain has weathered a major transition jumpstarted by COVID. But what’s next? BY TOM GRESHAM Like many industries, retail experienced a major transition during the COVID-19 pandemic as its customers’ shopping preferences and behaviors underwent radical changes. Now, the industry is weighing what the lessons of the pandemic were—and what should come next. For retailers, ...

Feature BY JASON SCHENKER, PRESIDENT, PRESTIGE ECONOMICS AND CHAIRMAN, THE FUTURIST INSTITUTE® With record-breaking hot temperatures this summer, the focus on climate change, emissions reduction and sustainability will likely face renewed pressure. This focus could engender increasingly stringent environmental regulations for the supply chain, material handling and logistics industries. We expect these regulations will increasingly promote emissions transparency, the adoption ...

DEI Feature BY CHRISTIAN DOW, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT OF MEMBERSHIP AND INDUSTRY LEADERSHIP, MHI Unconscious biases (also called implicit biases) are the engrained social stereotypes about other people or groups that everyone carries without being aware of them. These attitudes can be related to age, race, gender, religion, culture, sexual orientation, appearance, political affiliation and many other attributes. Why does ...