MHI Blog -- The US Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration have unveiled proposed rules for drone flights. The plan maintains aviation safety standards, but may make it difficult for companies hoping to use drones for delivery service.

According to the proposal, unmanned aircraft weighing less than 55 pounds would only be allowed to fly between sunrise and sunset. Operators would be required to keep drones within line of sight and prohibited from dropping cargo.

The New York Times -- Start-ups like Uber and Lyft are making it acceptable to carpool with total strangers. In the future, you may start carpooling with their lunch.

That is exactly what Sidecar, a ride-hailing start-up in competition with the likes of Uber and Lyft, aims to make happen. The company announced on Monday it plans to use its fleet of cars to introduce a package delivery service, delivering items like food and groceries for partner companies.

EBN -- Millennials are individuals born between 1984 and 2004. It is important to pay attention to millennials because they are entering the workforce in big numbers, creating paradigm shifts in the work place and behaving almost like a different species. They are technology savvy, technology dependent, and very creative.

Clearly, it's important to understand what might make your distribution center attractive to millennials. However, we also need to go the extra mile and see how those skill sets can be leveraged to improve the organization's bottom line.

Reuters -- Tom Perez will travel to California to help broker an agreement between shipping companies and dockworkers in a dispute that has led to a partial shutdown of ports along the U.S. West Coast, the White House said on Saturday.

The move by the Obama administration came after shippers vowed to prevent the loading and unloading of freight through Monday from container ships at the 29 ports, barring a settlement in talks with the dockworkers' union.

The Next Web -- he US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the country’s Department of Transportation have unveiled proposed rules for drone flights. The plan [PDF] aims to maintain aviation safety standards, but will also make it difficult for companies hoping to use drones as couriers.

According to the proposal, unmanned aircraft weighing less than 55lb (25kg) would only be allowed to fly between sunrise and sunset. Operators would be required to keep drones within line of sight beneath 500 feet, and prohibited from dropping cargo.

Modern Distribution Management -- Thanks to the Internet, more products than ever before are becoming commoditized. After all, anyone can search online to find just about anything, so what's left to compete on? You need to make your business distinctive, according to Scott McKain, founder of McKain Performance Group Inc. "You need to reimagine your role in the value chain," he said at the NAW 2015 Executive Summit last month in Washington, DC.

To stand out in an increasingly crowded market, distributors must develop four "cornerstones of distinction," McKain said.

Transport Topics -- Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) has announced that he and Rep. Reid Ribble (R-Wis.) have organized an effort to collect about 300 signatures on a letter calling on House leaders to produce what the congressmen call a responsibly paid-for, multiyear surface transportation reauthorization bill.

The letter is to be sent Feb. 11 to Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and will be signed by other House members and stakeholders nationwide, Lipinski said.

Reuters -- A labor dispute at ports on the U.S. West Coast is disrupting supply chains across the Pacific, forcing some Asian exporters to resort to costly air freight and pushing up shipping rates as more freighters are caught up in long lines to dock.

With ports near gridlock and cargo delays being felt throughout the U.S. commercial supply chain, U.S. Labor Secretary Tom Perez plans to travel to San Francisco on Tuesday to help broker an agreement on a new contract between dockworkers and the group representing shippers and terminal operators.

EBN -- In the face of increased consumer demands and more complex supply chain systems, shippers must rise to new challenges related to visibility, carrier integration, benchmarking and more.

Crains Cleveland -- Skilled choreographers are in high demand — not so much the kind that pieced together Katy Perry's shark-filled Super Bowl glam fest, but those who coordinate the complex, yet under-the-radar, journey that bring goods to people's doorsteps or store shelves.

Local colleges and universities say their grads in supply chain management and logistics are in hot demand, and the enrollments in their programs have begun to reflect as much.

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MHI Blog -- Dynamism in ASEAN, GCC countries, Sub-Saharan Africa and the large, next-tier economies of Indonesia, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Mexico and Pakistan is offsetting mixed performance in the BRICS countries that powered emerging markets growth in recent years.

The more balanced picture for growth is reflected in the 2015 Agility Emerging Markets Logistics Index, an annual data-driven ranking of 45 emerging economies accompanied by a separate survey of nearly 1,000 global logistics and supply chain executives.

Supply Chain Management Review -- Whether they are keeping current workers up to speed, introducing new supply chain professionals to the mix, or a little bit of both, today’s organizations are taking the steps necessary to make sure there are no critical gaps in those workers’ supply chain knowledge.

Here are five different ways that organizations are tackling that challenge and filling in the open gaps that exist within their supply chain talent pools.

SupplyChainBrain -- Analyst Insight: Implementation time-lines for transportation management outsourcing continue to shrink thanks to cloud-based systems, process standardization, and features like automated carrier contract management. This is not the case for facility start-ups. With 10+ key milestones, hundreds of key tasks and sub-tasks, time-line slippage and cost overruns can quickly extend the time to value for both 3PLs and shippers. – Valerie Bonebrake, Senior Vice President, Tompkins International.

Supply Management -- Supplier relationship management (SRM) is undergoing a major transition. Gone are the days where simply managing spend and finding the best deal possible within your supply base is enough – or easy.

In today’s global economy there are so many factors to consider when choosing and managing a supplier, that it can quickly become overwhelming. Thankfully, there’s new technology out there that helps to automate and simplify the process, making it easy for you to make fast, informed decisions about your suppliers.

ARC Advisory Group -- The Industrial Internet of Things offers the potential to enable industrial organizations to improve performance and enhance competitive advantage — not only in an individual facility, but across company's supply chain and throughout its value network.

Without a doubt, IIoT "things" – industrial smart devices that connect to the Internet and can collect useful data – will greatly outnumber people within a decade. Consider that IIoT things can include a company's transportation assets, industrial equipment, products made, and even the containers that carry products across a supply chain.

Supply Chain Digital -- Concern is growing as to what will happen to businesses around the country if the West Coast ports in USA continue to close for multiple days each week due to the International Longshore and Warehouse Union strike. Many businesses aren’t prepared for the potential supply chain disruptions that can affect their bottom line if they have trouble getting raw materials or finished products through the ports.