MHI Blog — With the Expansion of the Panama Canal, analysts are anticipating that shipping lane traffic will shift as large ships from East Asia can now choose to move through the Panama Canal, bypassing western ports and creating competition. In a white paper by Boston Consulting Group and C.H. Robinson, Wide Open: How the Panama Canal Expansion is Redrawing the Logistics Map, they observe that because shipping companies now have more choice in port landing, port selection will now become more and more about how connected those ports are to the rest of the country to decrease costs from shipping overland.

The Wall Street Journal — The rise of online shopping is forcing warehouse builders to redraw the map of logistics hubs on the East Coast.



During the weekend, FedEx Ground, one of the largest transporters of parcels and other shipments, broke ground for its largest facility in the country, an 800,000-square-foot automated distribution center in Allen Township, Pa., adding a large chunk of space to the cluster of logistics real estate in the state's Lehigh Valley area.

Modern Materials Handling — Donnelly Custom Manufacturing is a leader in short-run injection molding of thermoplastics for industrial OEMs. To quickly switch between tasks and handle different objects, the company sought a cost-effective automated solution. A new collaborative robot can shift to a new task in a matter of minutes as the production line changes.

Industrial Distribution — Most conversations about distributor efficiency center around process - the logistics, staging, workflow and equipment that carry the heavy load to get the job done. Most facility managers don't think of lighting as playing much of a role in overall efficiency. For those whose facilities are full of antiquated HID fixtures, lighting is probably considered more of a nuisance and costly maintenance expense.



Of course, those who have already upgraded to modern, high-efficiency LED lighting systems know that the right lighting can make a huge impact on overall operational efficiency. LEDs are not only more energy efficient, but they're also virtually maintenance free, which means no more continuous bulb changes that consume crew time, and maybe even require a halt in operations to access hard-to-reach fixtures, not to mention the cost of replacement parts. 

Bloomberg Politics — The proposed drone delivery service born in Google's experimental labs will test its system at a U.S. site, the White House announced as part of an initiative to push research and safety measures for unmanned flight.



The U.S. National Science Foundation will spend $35 million over the next five years on unmanned flight research and the Department of Interior plans to expand its use of drone flights, according to an e-mailed release Tuesday from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

MHL News — The Surface Transportation Board's proposal to allow railroad reciprocal switching garnered immediate praise from shipper groups, but after shippers have a chance to examine it more closely, they might not be as happy. The board issued its proposed rulemaking notice on July 27 and public comments are due on October 25.

MHI Blog — Membership in MHI provides opportunities and exposure that are second to none. MHI members are the pioneers and leading manufacturers in the field of material handling, supply chain, and logistics. These companies demonstrate their commitment to safety and excellence through their membership in MHI. Membership provides the advantages they need to excel in the $156 billion material handling and logistics industry.

Supply Chain Management Review — The Transpacific Partnership seems dead in the water, with both U.S. presidential candidates running on similar anti-trade platforms. That does not seem to concern retailers here or overseas, however. Consumer confidence remains resilient.

Women add value and diversity to the supply chain industry. However, it takes a conscious effort by workplace leaders to attract and keep these employees. For more information on how to tailor your workplace to appeal more to women, read Valerie Alexander’s book.

 

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO.

Industryweek — Effective supply chain communication is critical to virtually every area of your manufacturing business. Relationships between suppliers and OEMs can sometimes be tenuous but they require intense collaboration to work. Trust between manufacturers and suppliers is critical. Many times the relationship is confrontational, where the purchaser holds the upper hand.

Ebnonline — Amazon's recent inaugural Prime Day is yet another example of how the e-tailer is setting the bar in terms of consumer expectations that inevitably impact the supply chain, and while it's only early August, the back-to-school season is already kicking into gear.



Hari Pillai, CEO of Speed Commerce, a provider of ecommerce technology, fulfillment and logistics solutions, said retailers and etailers are looking to spread out their sales periods, and it means making sure other players in the supply chain such as his company are in sync.

Industryweek — Having been in the supply chain and logistics management field my entire career, whenever I hear it mentioned on national TV (e.g., UPS' "I Love Logistics" commercials) or, as was recently mentioned by a sitting president ("Globalization is a fact, because of technology, because of an integrated global supply chain, because of changes in transportation"), I can't help but get excited about the future.

Modern Materials Handling — A growing number of low-cost lift trucks offer new avenues for pairing equipment and applications, but less cautious buyers might find that small up-front costs come at a steep price.

MHI Blog — This is our final feature in our series on the education tracks that will be held at our Annual Conference. This is part six of a six part series (read the first part here). The sessions have two available tracks for each topic - a "class track" and a "lab track". You can choose to attend only one session or grab both for added depth.



The six topics this year are:

U.S. Roadmap for Material Handling & Logistics

Supply Chain Workforce

Material Handling and Supply Chain Technology

Managing Change

Leadership

Marketing in the Supply Chain Industry

www.theferrarigroup.com — In the spirit of passing along career tips to our millennial generation readers, we call attention to a recent report of recruiting trends in the fashion retail industry. The Philadelphia Inquirer recently reported on current retail industry recruiting trends which reflect much of what our consultancy has advocated for some time, namely those efforts to manage brick and mortar stores and online business processes are coming together and that foundational supply chain management knowledge is becoming a necessity, along with other in-demand skills.

Supply Chain Management Review — The next time your company talks about what it is doing to provide short-term relief to the swinging pendulum, ask them what they are doing to improve the long-term flexibility of the business.

Logistics Viewpoints — I'm in the midst of doing research on the transportation execution system market and this has given me the opportunity to talk to several executives at transportation execution software companies. One type of transportation execution solution is called a multicarrier solution. These are also known as parcel solutions. In today's article I will focus on the functionality and technology associated with these solutions and their ROI.

Spend Matters — Supply chain organizations are increasingly leveraging the internet of things (IoT) to improve operations and improve customer service. A recent survey of 600 supply chain decision-makers shows a majority of organizations either have or plan to have an IoT strategy in place.



The survey was conducted by eft, a business intelligence company service the logistics and supply chain industry. Of the supply chain managers surveyed, 60% worked for logistics providers and the remainder worked for manufacturers or retailers. Nearly a quarter said their organizations have IoT on their roadmap, and 41% already have an IoT solution in place. Additionally, the majority (87%) said their organization was looking to expand the use of IoT.

Supply Chain Management Review — According to new research report published by Allied Market Research, titled "World Third Party Logistics (3PL) Market - Opportunities and Forecasts, 2014-2022", the global third party logistics market is expected to reach $1,110 billion, registering a CAGR of 5.16% during the forecast period 2016-2022.



In 2015, Asia Pacific accounted for the largest revenue share of about 36%, followed by North America.

MHI’s new Career Forum  enables manufacturing and supply chain professionals to view current job postings of MHI member companies. Go to http://www.mhi.org/careers to find the perfect opportunity for you.

Ebnonline — Many employees believe their current workplace is not effectively making use of the latest technology advances, but expect them to do so as remote work is increasingly viewed as providing both quality of life and productivity benefits, according to the Future Workforce Study recently released by Dell and Intel.



The study, conducted by research firm PSB, found that nearly 50% of global employees believe their current workplace is not smart enough, while 42% of millennial employees say they are willing to quit their job if office technologies are not up to their standard.