Technology

The digital transformation of supply chains promises to supercharge performance, improve efficiency and resilience, slash operating costs, increase customer satisfaction and boost sustainability efforts. However, a persistent shortage of workers with the right skillsets has become a major roadblock to realizing these much‑ballyhooed benefits. It’s time, experts say, to focus on the people side of the human‑tech equation.   BY ...

CEO Update Technology and talent are the fuel of any successful supply chain operation. However, in terms of priority, the human element trumps technology. The talent gap has become one of the biggest barriers to technology adoption. According to the newly released 2025 MHI Annual Industry Report, 83% of the manufacturing and supply chain professionals surveyed said that the ongoing ...

What tools are available to make supply chain hiring run more efficiently?   BY SANDY SMITH   Robots in the warehouse. Artificial intelligence (AI) for predictive analytics. There is no doubt that the supply chain industry is embracing today’s technology. But just how ready is the industry to use AI‑enabled tools in another area—that which deals with all aspects of ...

Digital scheduling tools give companies greater access to available workers.   BY NICK FORTUNA ISTOCK.COM/A STOCKPHOTO Amid low unemployment and stubbornly high turnover, many material‑handling companies have grudgingly concluded that there just isn’t enough talented labor available. Across industries, employers have stepped up recruiting efforts and increased wages but still lack sufficient manpower for their growing operations. It’s easy to ...

CEO Update  Just as a conductor brings together a musical group into a cohesive performance, orchestration strategies keep your data, people and processes continually in sync. This powerful pairing of humans, robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) provides an end‑to‑end, data‑driven view of your supply chain that boosts accuracy and improves efficiency. Adoption of new technology can be daunting for your ...

Executive Viewpoints BY ANNETTE DANEK‑AKEY, CHIEF SUPPLY CHAIN OFFICER, BARNES & NOBLE AND MEMBER OF THE MHI BOARD OF GOVERNORS It was the greatest compliment I’ve ever received. Our team was giving a tour to a group of customers when someone noticed that the material handling equipment went in and out through different buildings. They asked whether the building and ...

Feature BY MARY LOU JAY ISTOCK.COM/JAY YUNO No matter where or how you want to deploy AI in your company, there’s one element that is key to successful implementation: the quality of the data that you input into your AI models. “The path from AI’s potential to its inevitability for a company is paved with data. That’s an underlying capability ...

Feature Collaborative robots (cobots) and autonomous vehicles are increasingly finding a home in warehouses and distribution centers (DCs). The success of those deployments, however, is not assured. Industry experts shared six best practices that can help achieve an effective implementation. BY SARA PEARSON SPECTER ISTOCK.COM/ONURDONGEL Well entrenched in manufacturing processes, collaborative robots (cobots) and mobile autonomous vehicles (MAVs) have increasingly ...

Solutions Spotlight BY KATIE KUEHNER‑HEBERT Robotics for warehousing and distribution applications are increasingly leveraging artificial intelligence to be more efficient and effective, according to members of The Robotics Group (TRG) Industry Group of MHI. AI‑driven robotic solutions have played a pivotal role in expanding use cases far beyond the original manufacturing applications for robots that started more than 50 years ...

Feature Humanoid robots are poised to gain traction in warehousing and manufacturing. BY NICK FORTUNA The first humanoid robots for manufacturing plants and warehouses were “expensive,” “cumbersome,” “clunky” and “slow,” but newer versions promise to be much more versatile and effective, driving stronger adoption in the coming years, according to Dwight Klappich, vice president of research at Gartner. Klappich, a ...