MHI Blog—As the holidays approach, high-stakes distribution and fulfillment operations must be more efficient than ever to serve immense order volumes and meet service level agreements.

Forecasts predict that the 2016 holiday season will bring $95 billion in e-commerce sales, the first time e-commerce will account for 10 percent of total holiday retail sales. And, according to research from last holiday season, November and December drive 30 percent more ecommerce revenue than non-holiday months.

The Hill—The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is preparing to launch a new set of drone regulations.

The FAA issued new requirements for drone operators in June, requiring people piloting these unmanned aircraft to pass an aviation test and register their drones with the government, but they must maintain a visual line of sight when they are flying these devices.

The Washington Post—If there’s one thing President-elect Donald Trump, Congress and a lot of Democrats can agree on, it’s the need for more spending on bridges, roads and other infrastructure. And corporate America and lawmakers are salivating at the prospect of a windfall.

"Infrastructure" is "the happiest word in American politics," said Jason Grumet, president of the Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington think tank.

Material Handling & Logistics—The U.S. and global economy has reacted in mixed fashion since the election of Donald Trump as 45th President of the United States. One of the most significant potential fallouts though, is a trade war with China. Trump has spoken out against the current situation with China on a great number of occasions. Now he is in a position to potentially see through his pledges, some fear the emergence of a tit-for-tat trade war between the two countries. As the infographic below shows, the industries most endangered by any such war would be transportation and tech.

MHI Blog—With the new adoption of United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the world’s nations have committed to ending global poverty and protecting our planet. Supply chain sustainability will be a vital factor in making these goals part of local business so that the companies’ operations, products and services can support a healthier world and facilitate future markets.

Supply chain sustainability faces challenges due to the distance between suppliers and partners operating in countries around the world with different legal standards.

TechTarget—Some experts predict that two million manufacturing jobs will go unfilled over the next decade, but not all leaders are resigned to that bleak statistic. Here's what they're doing. 

As much time and energy as it takes to avoid service interruptions, having a consistent flow of work that gets product to consumers on time is essential to your bottom line.

Material Handling & Logistics— In October, truck drivers’ wages grew 7.8%.

This was quite a substantial pay raise compared to the wage growth of all jobs which was 2.8%, according to a survey by Glassdoor.com, a job-search website.

The Wall Street Journal—Logistics companies returned to hiring last month after a dip in September, adding thousands of jobs in trucking, warehousing and air transportation.

Transportation and warehousing payrolls rose by a total of 7,500 jobs in October, the U.S. Department of Labor reported Friday, with trucking fleets adding 3,000 jobs. Despite tepid U.S. domestic shipping demand for much of the year, the industry was up nearly 8,000 jobs from the same month a year ago.

Forbes—SCM World has just closed its annual Future of Supply Chain survey comprising opinions of 1,415 practitioners around the world. Again this year, digitization is dominating the discussion with big jumps in importance for a series of disruptive technologies, some of which were considered largely irrelevant just a couple of years ago.

MHI Blog—We’re being written about!

Dan Gilmore from SCDigest moderated a panel at the 2016 MHI Annual Conference in Tucson, AZ, and when their crew got back, they liked the conference and discussions so much they decided to write about it. You can read both articles here and here, but I’ll give you a quick rundown of them both.

Supply Chain Brain—For retailers and distribution centers, the traditional method for coping with the chaos of the Christmas buying season has been to throw more bodies at the problem. But what if robots could do a better job of handling the surge of activity?

Supply Chain Management Review—Although carrier overcapacity on the still continues, analysts predict that integrated solutions such as air-ground, air-sea, and other combinations will create more value for shippers and increase 3PL margins.

EBN—In the electronics industry, supply chain and logistics organizations have been worried about the looming talent shortfall for years. Like global warming, though, the trend will continue unless everyone involved hops on the bandwagon and tries to make a difference.

Multichannel Merchant—If you think customer expectations are high overall in terms of ecommerce and direct-to-customer fulfillment, take a good look at the millennial generation.

Across a number of studies you see a pattern: a keen desire for the most rapid shipping method possible; free, unlimited returns; and a greater willingness to spend a bit more to get it the same day.

The Merkle—Depending on who you pose the question to, blockchain technology will either change our daily lives or have no impact at all. Walmart is in the believers camp, as they are eyeing the technology for the tracking of products sold in their stores. Providing additional information related to products that customers buy, holds merit, although it remains to be seen if this is something consumers are waiting for.