New supply chain configurations and technological advances in fulfillment are  influencing not only building size requirements, but also the location and build-out of the facilities, according to a report by Cushman & Wakefield.

Amazon is leading this trend, building new state-of-the-art distribution facilities to deliver on its goal of same-day deliveries in most major markets, and most of these facilities are one million square feet or greater.

Material handling equipment new orders grew 8.8% in 2013. the outlook for 2014 and 2015 is for growth of 8.0% to 9.0%, according to the latest Material Handling Equipment Manufacturing Forecast (MHEM) released by MHI.

Supply chains are complex systems to manage, but the financial payoff can be huge. According to a new survey from Deloitte, organizations with superior supply chain capabilities achieve significantly higher levels of performance on both revenue growth and EBIT measures when compared to the industry average.

In fact, 79 percent of organizations with superior supply chain capabilities ("supply chain leaders") report revenue growth that is considerably above the industry average. Conversely, only eight percent of the organizations with lower supply chain performance report significantly above-average revenue growth. Furthermore, 69 percent of supply chain leaders have an EBIT margin that is well above the industry average compared to only nine percent of supply chain followers.

Two leading corporate responsibility business associations, AIAG and CSR Europe recently reached agreement among 14 global automakers on a set of standards outlining expectations for suppliers on key responsibility issues including human rights, environment, working conditions, and business ethics.

Participating members aligned with "The Automotive Industry Guiding Principles to Enhance Sustainability Performance in the Supply Chain" include BMW Group, Chrysler Group LLC., Daimler, Fiat S.p.A., Ford, GM, Honda, Jaguar/Land Rover, PSA Peugeot Citroen, Scania, Toyota, Volkswagen, Volvo Cars, and Volvo Group.

A 30 fold increase in the number of intelligent devices between now and 2020 will create a network rich with information that allows supply chains to assemble and communicate in new ways, this according to a new report by Gartner. As a result, supply chain leaders must adapt to very different customer expectations and paths-to-purchase in this new digital world.

With the Amazons of the world – and even the Walmarts and Targets – doing more and more business online and shipping products to homes, the industry is adding jobs. A recent study from MHI said the sector will see 1.4 million new positions by 2018.

At the Rock Hill school system’s Applied Technology Center, students are using MHI-supplied textbooks and curriculum to get a more sophisticated read on the industry.

The school is the first of many MHI hopes to bring under its wing. To put what they’re learning into practice, instructor Dave Finley’s students have turned the school system’s supply warehouse into their learning lab.

MHI announces the publication of Fundamentals of Warehouse & Distribution – Volume 4: Developing Your Soft Skills. Making a Successful Leap from the Classroom to the Workplace. The first three volumes in the series provided an understanding of warehousing, distribution and the technologies that play a critical role in the supply chain. 

Volume 4 is designed to prepare students for a job in the supply chain workplace and help refine the skills that will help you succeed and grow your career. The goal of this volume is to familiarize students with the responsibilities of the workplace beyond a basic job description and give you the tools you need to succeed

Palm oil touches our lives every time we go to the supermarket.  Palm oil and its derivatives are used in more than half of all packaged products Americans consume contain palm oil including soap, lipsticks, shampoos, cookies, potato chips and ice cream.

It’s also a bio-fuel and one of the fastest-growing crops in the world. Rising global demand has lead to widespread destruction of tropical forests and endangered wildlife habitat in Africa, Latin America, Malaysia and Indonesia.

 In the wake of consumer pressure, Procter & Gamble (P&G) announced what it calls its "commitment to no deforestation in its palm oil supply chain." 

The Physical Internet Initiative aims at transforming the way physical objects are moved, stored, realized, supplied and used, pursuing global logistics efficiency and sustainability. 

The first International Physical Internet Conference will bring together all interested parties and facilitate a sharing of minds in order to build new foundations and steer momentum towards the emergence of efficient and sustainable interconnected logistics. Université Laval will host this international event on May 28-30, 2014, in Quebec City, Canada.

Internet-connected devices will increase 30-fold by 2020, allowing supply chains to assemble and communicate in new ways, significantly changing supply chain managers’ information access and networks’ cyber-risk exposure, research firm Gartner Inc. forecasts.

Gartner projects the Internet of Things (IoT) will reach 26 billion installed units by 2020, exponential growth from the 0.9 billion of five years ago.

Like most industries today, the distribution industry is seeing a strong need to do more with less. It is driven by two key forces: the operations managers’ search for innovative solutions to control costs and a drive to increase efficiency in the warehouse.

Over the last few years, there has been a rising trend in the use of lift truck technology, such as warehouse automation, to satisfy the demands for reduced costs and increased productivity. Factors such as warehouse layout, aisle size, picking methods, equipment and navigation systems all play an impact on the warehouse’s overall productivity and order picking accuracy.

The $1.3 trillion U.S. logistics industry has been struggling with the growing demand for employees for years and recently, an MHI report found it is expected to need about 1.4 million workers or 270,000 per year by 2018. 

30,000 new Supply Chain Technician jobs are being added annually in the United States. There are currently 200,000 Supply Chain Technicians working in the United States and this number is increasing 15% annually.

Though the demand for these skilled professionals is growing, there is a shortage of them in the industry. With average salaries in the mid-$30,000s, these are high-quality jobs that are flying under the radar, but are very important across all industries.

The Kellogg Company has turned to its supply chain to help achieve the goals of its Project K, a four-year "efficiency and effectiveness program" that aims to save the snack and cereal company $425 million to $475 million annually by 2018.

General Mills says 99 percent of its water consumption occurs outside its direct operations, mostly in agriculture, and the giant food processor is working with The Nature Conservancy on a collaborative global water stewardship strategy.

In a recent blog post, the cereal company outlines the steps it’s taking to make its supply chain more sustainable, i.e. more protective of the environment, human rights and animal welfare. Work on water conservation is part of that effort.

Relatively few managers have done much to protect their supply chains from critical, costly disruptions, even though they know that disasters like the 2011 Japan tsunami and Thailand floods can hit business for months, a recent MIT Sloan Management Review article notes. The problem, according to the authors, is that  protective measures can be at odds with supply chain managers’ goal of improving cost efficiency.

The authors say, however, that managers actually can reduce the risk of major disruptions while improving supply chain efficiency by taking certain steps, such as supply chain segmentation, to achieve both goals.