Mike Rowe, from CNN’s Somebody’s Gotta Do It and formerly of Discovery Channel’s Dirty Jobs, will be a headliner at the MHI 2015 Executive Summit & Annual Conference, October 4-7 in Ponte Vedra, Florida. The 2015 MHI Executive Summit will kick off this year’s event with a half-day of sessions followed by the Annual Conference. All sessions will focus on innovations that are transforming traditional supply chains into next generation models.

When the Fukushima disaster rocked Japan in 2011, it created a serious disruption to the global supply chains of electronics, automobile and other major industries. Where should you focus your risk management efforts to avoid this kind of disruption?

As the 2015 MHI Annual Industry Report details, accelerating technology and innovation is leading to dramatic supply chain transformation. As supply chains become ever more complex systems to manage, hiring and retaining the talent it takes to manage them becomes a critical business advantage. A recent report from Deloitte titled Supply Chain Talent of the Future, examines this issue. The report found that only 38 percent of executives say they are extremely or very confident that their supply chain organization has the competencies it needs today.

Target is joining a growing number of US retailers with item-level RFID programs. Macy’s, American Apparel. Walmart, JC Penney, Kohl’s and Dillard’s all with programs in various stages of deployment. The Target plan is to start the RFID rollout later this year in a small number of stores and expand to all stores in 2016. 

As additive manufacturing (3D printing) has matured, the benefits for commercial and industrial applications are becoming more recognizable. Forward thinking companies are leveraging the technology to gain a competitive edge.

U.S. food companies need to adopt far stronger practices to use global water resources more efficiently, according to a report released by Ceres. The report, Feeding Ourselves Thirsty: How the Food Sector is Managing Global Water Risks, ranks the nation’s 37 largest food companies on how effectively they are managing freshwater supplies.

An automated future is part of an efficiency plan at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. These ports have been losing market share for nearly a decade to rivals in Prince Rupert, British Columbia and Savannah, Georgia where it takes four days or less to unload a ship compared to as many as six days in Southern California.

Supply chain management (SCM) and procurement software grew 10.8% in 2014 to $9.9 billion, according to a recent report titled Market Share Analysis: Supply Chain Management and Procurement Software, Worldwide, 2014″ by Gartner, Inc.

There is mounting pressure on global supply chain professionals to not only to increase supply chain performance for commercial gain but also to ensure that their supply chains are having a positive environmental and social impact.

MHI and MHEDA are offering a great professional development opportunity for young professionals in material handling at this year’s Emerging Leaders Conference. This is all day event on July 30th is dedicated to helping young professionals become great leaders. 

Howard Bernstein, material handling icon and founder of Atlas Companies, died on May 18 at the age of 92. Bernstein spent more than 75 years building his material handling business and promoting the industry, and he built friendships with everyone he met along the way.

Lifting and moving long and bulky loads can often present a problem in industrial or manufacturing material handling applications but member companies of the Hoist Manufacturers Institute (HMI) have overhead solutions based on simultaneous operation of hoists.