Global Trends

Transportation plays a central role in supply chains, whether they are local or global enterprises.

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

How will digital, connected technologies address the challenges posed by urban freight in an e-commerce world? * By Sara Pearson Specter * Four years ago, the 2016 MHI Annual Industry Report explored the emergence of Smart City Logistics and the potential for digital, connected technologies to address the significant challenges posed by urban freight in an e-commerce world. Fast forward ...

Sustainable Supply Chains Making Big Strides Across Multiple Corporations, Industries * By Sara Pearson Specter * Companies worldwide are putting innovation behind their sustainability mandates, deploying technology, collaborations, innovation and partnerships to work both for the preservation of the planet and to enhance their bottom lines. Here are six real-life case studies featuring green solutions implemented across multiple supply chains ...

Sustainable supply chain programs appeal to customers, boost efficiency and provide crucial, far-reaching bottom-line benefits. * By Tom Gresham * Toshiba America Business Solutions imports a range of products from Asia. In a recent product cycle, the company determined that its product packaging didn’t allow for the double stacking of the packages in shipping containers because the top stack would ...

Supply Chain Sustainability Goes High Tech * By Mary Lou Jay * The promise of improved efficiencies and reductions in operating expenses are usually the major drivers when supply chain companies adopt digital technologies. But there’s another benefit that they should consider. Tech advances like the Internet of Things (IoT), data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), 3D printing, robotics and blockchain ...

Competing for Talent? Better Take a Closer Look at Your Supply Chain Brand * By Sara Pearson Specter * Attracting and recruiting the talent needed to run the digital supply chain has become one of the top priorities of many chief executives and chief supply chain officers (CSCOs). With the most heavily recruited of that talent being Millennials (and the ...

Defining and Embracing Unified Commerce * By Sandy Smith * Those who have been in the retail industry for any length of time no doubt remember the transition from single channel to multichannel, so retailers could sell via the internet. Multichannel gave way to omnichannel, which promised a seamless experience no matter how the shopper encountered the retailer. Enter unified ...