Global Trends

CEO UPDATE: Next-Gen Supply Chain Technology — By George W. Prest, Chief Executive Officer, MHI Anyone who attended MODEX 2018 will tell you, technology is disrupting supply chains and early adopters are successfully combining NextGen innovations to improve speed and agility and increase efficiency and visibility. These trends and technologies are having a dramatic business impact on supply chains, their ...

2018 MHI Annual Industry Report Highlights NextGen Innovations and How to Overcome Top Barriers to Their Adoption * By Carol Miller, MHI Vice President of Marketing and Communications * For the fifth consecutive year, MHI and the Deloitte Consulting LLP research team—led by Scott Sopher, principal and leader of the Global Supply Chain Practice—queried more than 1,100 manufacturing and supply ...

MHI released the final numbers for MODEX 2018, which ran from April 9-12 at Atlanta’s Georgia World Congress Center. MODEX 2018, the 4th edition of the expo, saw a 25 percent jump in the number of registrations for a total of 30,944. The net square footage at MODEX 2018 also set a record, topping out at 283,025 square feet and ...

Futureproof your business at MODEX 2018, Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta, GA, April 9-12. Includes all the details you need to start mapping out your trip, and then some. Check out the list of exhibitors, the keynotes and some of the leading presenters, in addition to a full listing of the education sessions planned at MODEX 2018. Read More…

How the amazon effect is transforming B2B supply chains. By Mary Lou Jay— Amazon’s emergence as a retail powerhouse has transformed the entire consumer shopping industry and its supply chain. Omni-channel has become the rule; no matter how consumers shop for their goods—online, in store, by phone, at home or on the move—they expect visibility and a consistent experience throughout ...

Current innovations in last mile delivery echo successful strategies of the past. By Sarah B. Hood— Sometimes it seems like we’re living in the world of The Jetsons, the 1960s television cartoon series that predicted robotic maids, flying cars, drones and 3-D printed food. But as change sweeps across the supply chain, many innovations are actually a replay of successful ...

Today’s retail industry has, and is, undergoing a fundamental shift. Five retail trends are particularly impacting the supply chains as well. By Sandy Smith— There is no doubt that today’s retail industry has, and is, undergoing a fundamental shift. Trying to get one’s arms around these changes may feel a little like traveling through a mall, laden down with packages. ...

Global trade patterns are expected to dramatically shift due to the recently expanded Panama Canal. The new set of locks, which opened in June, nearly triple the capacity of ships transiting the canal, from those able to carry 5,000 containers to up to 14,000 containers. Traditionally, West Coast ports have handled about two-thirds of container cargo, which is then moved ...

“Today’s 3PL is not your grandfather’s 3PL,” said J. Paul Dittman, executive director, Global Supply Chain Institute at the University of Tennessee. “3PLs have expanded dramatically within the fundamentals of transportation and warehousing, but they’ve gone much beyond that. It’s no longer a guy who operates the warehouse for you; it’s a whole range of services that many companies are ...

Ever since the 2011 Japanese tsunami shut down much of Toyota’s parts and manufacturing capabilities, logistics managers have been looking more closely at the vulnerabilities in their own supply chains and searching for ways they can quickly rebound from both large and small disruptions to them. It begins with assessing potential risks—economic, political, environmental and social. This can include everything ...