MHI Newswire

MHI Blog -- In 2014, the Global third-party logistics (3PL) market expanded to $750.7 billion and the U.S. 3PL market grew 7.4% to $157.2 billion.

Big deals have recently altered the 3PL market. In January of 2014, FedEx purchased GENCO for $2 billion. In August, Norbert Dentressangle expanded to the U.S. by purchasing Jacobson Companies for $750 million in cash. Then, in the spring of 2015, Norbert Dentressangle sold itself to voracious acquirer XPO Logistics for $3.5 billion. Along with the U.S. and Europe, Asia has seen significant large deal volume making 2015 potentially the largest year for $100 million plus deals.

EBN -- Today, we really do let our fingers do the shopping and click through to make our purchases that we want. Next day delivery has become standard for a host of consumer and business products. Keeping up with that expectation drives those in the business of logistics to press for greater efficiency in logistics. Robots can play a role in meeting that demand.

On April 29, Fetch Robotics unveiled new a robotic system made specifically for the logistics industry.  The system that consists of "Freight" and "Fetch" is based on ROS, the open source robot operating system. Freight refers to the mobile base, and Fetch to the mobile manipulator. In addition to working with each other, the robots are designed to work with people and with the warehouse software.

The Wall Street Journal -- A new generation of robots is on the way—smarter, more mobile, more collaborative and more adaptable. They promise to bring major changes to the factory floor, as well as potentially to the global competitive landscape.

Robots deployed in manufacturing today tend to be large, dangerous to anyone who strays too close to their whirling arms, and limited to one task, like welding, painting or hoisting heavy parts.

Apparel -- Once the supply chain was a self-contained business function – the vocation of warehouse management and supply chain analysts. However, with the advent of omnichannel retailing, the supply chain impacts everyone in the organization and the collective organization's ability to deliver. The supply chain is now everyone's business and one of the most important factors contributing to the success or failure of retailers today.

CIO -- Retailers and their suppliers are under more pressure than ever before to deliver more goods to more destinations faster.

To stay competitive, "retailers need to know where things are at all times so they can redirect shipments, rebalance inventories and respond to new demands on the fly," says Rich Becks, general manager, Industry Value Chains, E2open, which delivers cloud-based supply chain collaboration solutions.

American Shipper -- US BLS claims the transportation and warehouse sector added 13 thousand jobs.    The transportation and warehouse sector added 13,000 new jobs in May, according to the latest figures from the United States Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.    BLS on Friday released its monthly "Employment Situation Summary," also known as the Jobs Report, and the results were primarily positive.

The report noted that of the 13,000 new jobs in supply chain-related companies, 9,000 of them came from the trucking sector, which is welcome news for the industry. In recent years, low wages and tough working conditions have caused a shortage of drivers in the truckload and less-than-truckload sectors, and motor carriers have struggled to hire and retain drivers.

Material Handling & Logistics -- Enterprises are stretching their boundaries to shape the next generation of products, services and business models. Supply chains need to keep pace and become more dynamic. As they embrace digital, companies need to reimagine what is possible within their supply chain operations and how they can use digital networks to add value to the bottom line.

Suffice it to say, the heyday of the traditional supply chain—very linear and static in nature—is over. Digital businesses have different requirements. More is expected from supply chains. They will need to not only address new business requirements, but also enable companies to meet new and changing customer requirements.

Harvard Business Review -- A big challenge in today’s world of far-flung, complex supply chains is the limited understanding of the impact on your operations of unexpected disruption at one supplier’s site. To address this issue, my colleagues William Schmidt of Cornell, Yehua Wei of Duke, and I developed a method to help prioritize the financial or operational impact of risk that lets companies focus their mitigation efforts on the most important suppliers and risk areas. The method was implemented successfully at Ford Motor Company — an effort we described in this HBR article.  But since then, we encountered an important problem: Suppliers tend to be optimistic about the information that they provide. In response, we have developed a remedy.

The Wall Street Journal -- Raj India Trading Co. found itself with a happy problem when it switched from importing bulky flower planters to smaller cremation urns: plenty of empty space at its warehouse in the Seattle suburbs.

Warehouse space comes at a premium in Seattle, where the vacancy rate is just 5.6%, according to CBRE Inc., a real-estate brokerage. With several more years left on its lease, Raj started renting out small sections of its floor on a month-to-month basis using Flexe Inc., an online service that pairs warehouse owners with companies that need space.

Logistics Management -- The Port of Los Angeles (POLA) and the Port of Long Beach (POLB) said this week that they have formally established working groups, which they said will aim to seek new supply chain efficiencies, and focus on various aspects of port operations, including peak operations and terminal optimization in an effort to augment the San Pedro Bay port complex.

Port officials said that the working groups will be comprised of stakeholders from the good movement sectors, including: shipping lines, cargo owners, labor, railroads, trucking owners, and equipment interests, among others. They added there will be seven working groups, including: Peak Season 2015, Container Terminal Optimization, Chassis, Off-dock solutions, Key Performance Indicators/Data Solutions, Intermodal Rail, and Drayage.

MHI Blog -- Firms must include supply chain security as part of their strategy to reduce the risk of data breaches, according to an expert panel at the recent Infosecurity Europe 2015 event in London.

Information security weaknesses at the supplier level have been responsible for several high-profile breaches in recent years, including phishing emails sent to an air-conditioning supplier to US retailer Target in 2013 and PA Consulting losing the details of 84,000 prisoners on an unencrypted memory stick in 2008.

Reuters -- President Barack Obama on Saturday urged lawmakers to give his trade agenda a second chance and support a bill that would provide training to American workers who see their jobs shipped overseas.

The measure is part of legislation that also includes the "fast-track" authority that Obama needs to finish negotiating a free trade deal with Pacific Rim nations.

The Wall Street Journal -- A new corporate Web service aims to warn companies when they’re at risk of buying from suppliers that use slave or child labor.

Made in a Free World, a nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating forced labor and child labor in supply chains, created an Internet-based tool that analyzes companies’ suppliers to help identify potential areas where there may be forced labor or child labor.

Supply Chain Digital -- Amazon has announced plans to open a fourth Texas fulfillment center in Dallas, USA. Since launching its first fulfillment center in Texas, Amazon has created over 3,500 full-time jobs, invested more than $400 million in the state, and continues to grow its operations to meet customer demand. Amazon’s other Texas fulfillment centers are located in Coppell, Haslet, and Schertz.

EBN -- From tracking assets, to creating chains of custody, to collecting data in the field, automatic identification and data capture (AIDC) technology has certainly made its mark on supply chains, helping organizations of all sizes and in all industries perform more efficiently and accurately every day. Now that these technologies – like barcoding and radio frequency identification (RFID) – are in place and up and running, companies are asking, "What's next?"