Industry Trends

6 Lesser-Known Ways Supply Chain Sustainability Contributes to Business Success * By Mike Ogle * The word sustainability makes most people think about the environment and green initiatives. Business people may quickly think about costs and regulations. Supply chain sustainability articles often focus on sourcing, energy savings, packaging and reducing physical waste. All these things ARE part of supply chain ...

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 ...

A System of Systems to Guide the Development of Sustainable Solutions * By Bill Ferrell, Ph.D., PE, Fluor Professor of Industrial Engineering, Associate Dean of the Graduate School, Clemson University * When you saw that this issue of MHI Solutions was focused on sustainability, what thought first crossed your mind? Reducing your carbon footprint? Adopting the right technology to effectively ...

Women in the Supply Chain Are Embracing Its Opportunities * By Maria Leggett, MHI Director of Education * In April, Gartner released its fourth annual report on women in supply chain, produced with Achieving Women’s Excellence in Supply Chain Operations, Management and Education (AWESOME). Among its findings, more supply chain organizations have been setting goals and launching initiatives specifically to ...

CEO UPDATE: The Time to Invest in Supply Chain Innovation Is Now * By George W. Prest, Chief Executive Officer, MHI  * Investment in supply chain innovation is at a critical inflection point, with a trend of declining investment from 2015 to 2018 being more than countered by a 95% increase in projected spending for 2019, according to the 2019 ...

What’s Your Level of “Supply Chain Digital Consciousness”? Sixth MHI Annual Industry Report Explores Stages, Growth of Digital Technology Adoption MHISolutionsmag.com—The sixth MHI Annual Industry Report explores the stages and growth of digital technology adoption and, new this year, includes a self-assessment tool for measuring your supply chain digital consciousness index (DCI). * By Carol Miller * After six consecutive ...

Competing in the Age of AI-centric Supply Chains Artificial intelligence (AI) is the ultimate evolution of business intelligence and analytics as it uses data to generate smart insights. At the same time, it gets smarter by learning from patterns, behaviors and feedback from various digital and human interfaces. * By Mary Lou Jay * Artificial intelligence (AI) is the ultimate ...

Confront Barriers to Innovation to Keep Pace with Innovation Manufacturing and supply chain operations continue to invest heavily in innovation, but even the most successful companies are still struggling to understand how and when to adopt them. * By Tom Gresham * Interest in next-generation supply chain innovations has never been higher. However, barriers to innovation are keeping some organizations ...

Data Quality and Timeliness Drive Better Supply Chain Decisions High-quality supply chain infrastructure engines need high-quality, timely data for best performance, but more doesn’t always mean better. * By Mike Ogle * Shipments for production, distribution or sale must be the right stuff, at the right place, at the right time, in the right condition, with the right information. Simple ...

Teaching the Workforce of the Future About Cool Supply Chain Opportunities Eleven educators provide insight into communicating the virtually limitless possibilities the supply chain field offers to students at all levels by answering the questions of “why” and “how.” * By Doug Reed * Educators interface with the workforce of the future regularly—recruiting young people to their classrooms and curriculum, ...