MHI Blog -- Emerging markets present great opportunities for businesses. Countries such as Brazil, Russia, India, and China are experiencing increases in income, investment, and employment. Their populations have more money to spend and more time to spend it, which attracts businesses to their markets. However, emerging markets also present great risks.

Financial Times -- When Target, the US discount chain, lost nearly $1bn last year in a botched move into Canada, supply chain problems were partly to blame. Shelves in stores were left bare and customers complained about a lack of choice.

Though Target’s problems were in part to do with rapid expansion into a new territory, they also reflected the difficulties many companies face in managing complex and fast-changing supply chains.

Forbes -- Three industries are going through dramatic supply chain transformations:  retail with their omni-channel initiatives; health care because of new Affordable Care Act regulations; and shale oil because of the price pressures caused by booming production.

Modern Materials Handling -- MHI and our industry are in transition as materials handling’s profile is raised in the supply chain. The challenge is learning to speak the language of supply chain managers.

Material Handling & Logistics -- There’s good news and bad tied to the fact that information technology gets more affordable as it matures. The good news is that more companies can access more data. The bad news is that there are more companies that don’t know what to do with all that data.

A new study documents that concern. "Industrial Internet Insights for 2015," just released by GE and Accenture, surveyed 250 executives across eight industrial sectors. It found that fewer than a third (29 percent) of them are using big data analytics across their company for predictive purposes or to optimize their business.

Logistics Management -- While shippers may generally be content with the reliability of their 3PL partners, new research indicates that there’s considerable concern about the value of long-term, strategic relationships. Industry analysts explain how innovation and a deeper commitment to collaboration will become the key differentiators in the 2015 marketplace.

EBN -- A midmarket company suffers diverse challenges while trying to stay competitive and agile. Expanding into new markets is no longer an option; it's a must to stay dynamic and robust in the fast-paced evolving business environment. Expanding to serve multiple markets is the right move for midmarket companies seeking new business opportunities.

Good supply chain management involves good and efficient risk management. Everyone knows this, yet unprepared supply chains remain a reality. A Supply Chain Management Review whitepaper efficiently lists common supply chain risks that every midmarket business should consider. 

Supply Chain Digital -- China and Russia are considering building a high-speed rail line thousands of kilometres from Moscow to Beijing, potentially having big ramifications on the global supply chain.

The rail line would cut the journey time from six days on the celebrated Trans-Siberian to two and would open up the possibility of rail freight being transported on this route from China to Europe via Moscow, and vice versa.

Pharmaceutical & Medical Packaging News -- When it comes to the supply chain, healthcare industry executives continue to be concerned about regulatory compliance, cost, and product security, report respondents to the 7th annual UPS "Pain in the (Supply) Chain" (PITC) survey. More than 530 executives in the United States, Canada, Western Europe, Asia, and Latin America were interviewed during the blind phone survey conducted by TNS, on behalf of UPS, between January and March 2014.

 

Regulatory compliance is clearly the largest issue, both in North America and around the world, and it has been the top concern since 2011 when the survey was first fielded globally. In this year’s survey, 60% of respondents from around the world expressed concern with regulatory compliance.

Manufacturing.net -- Imagine if an enterprise in the United States was able to access vital product line information of a subsidiary plant in India or a crank shaft supplier being able to locate its component in an automobile across the globe or a machine being to self-assemble at the end destination. 

Technology advancements over the last decade have paved the way for all of the above situations to be executed in repeatable fashion. In this article we will explore some of the key technologies disrupting manufacturing operations as we know them.

MHI Blog -- The Ebola outbreak is infecting the global supply chain. Companies with suppliers or operations in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria are facing the most risk, especially in mining, agriculture, and energy. 

As one of the largest continents and the greatest source of raw materials and labor, Africa has always had strategic importance in the global supply chain. Any major disruption in the workforce or shipping of goods has global implications.

EBN -- Analytics is good for business -- as long as you can make sense of it.

Does your business suffer from a case of data overload? Or do you steer clear of new investments in supply chain analytics because you are afraid they could yield more data than your business can handle? You are in good company.

The Seattle Times -- To meet the demand for holiday orders, Amazon.com plans to hire 80,000 seasonal workers in the United States this holiday season, up 14 percent from a year ago.

 

The employees will have temporary jobs at Amazon’s more than 50 U.S. warehouses, known as fulfillment centers in Amazon parlance, including facilities in Bellevue, DuPont (Pierce County) and Sumner.

Supply & Demand Chain Executive -- It seems like every article I read about supply chain collaboration starts with the same premise: Members of the supply chain acknowledge that collaboration is increasingly crucial to ongoing growth and prosperity, but few are actually putting the strategy into practice.

 

I disagree with this assessment. I see evidence of collaboration among supply chain trading partners every day. 

Packaging World -- Demand for rigid bulk packaging is projected to increase 4% annually to $7.3 billion in 2018. The projected growth represents an improvement from the performance of the 2008-2013 period as manufacturing output and construction activity recover further from post-recession troughs.

 

These and other trends are presented in Rigid Bulk Packaging, a new study from market research firm, The Freedonia Group, Inc.