Takeaways

Are Things Looking Up?

As 2023 began, the global economy focused on inflation and recession fears. Now add geopolitical tensions and domestic challenges in key markets that are slowing return to sustained growth, according to KPMG’s latest Global Economic Outlook report. Pressure on global supply chains has eased in 2023 and shipping costs have dropped, which should alleviate some […]

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Turn Up the Tech

Driven by the need to improve visibility and better manage the workforce, nearly three-quarters of supply chain leaders are increasing technology and innovation investments, finds the 2023 MHI Annual Industry Report, The Responsible Supply Chain: Transparency, Sustainability, and the Case for Business, conducted with Deloitte. Sustainability is also top of mind, as nearly half of […]

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Specialty Retail Hits the Mark

What makes a successful retailer? To answer that question, Manhattan Associates, in partnership with Google Cloud and Zebra Technologies, examined data insight from real purchases, returns, and customer journeys across digital and physical channels to create The Unified Commerce Benchmark for Specialty Retail, a report conducted by Incisiv. The benchmark assesses retailers across 11 specialty […]

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WMS Grows Up

As technology adoption increases and ecommerce continues to grow, companies are looking to smart warehouses to meet customer demands. As a result, warehouse management systems (WMS) are poised to take off. The WMS market will see a 17.3% compounded annual growth rate—culminating in a market worth more than $51 billion by 2030—predicts an Insight Partners […]

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Keeping the Last Mile In Sight

When customers order an item, they want it delivered now. Retailers realize this, but they also have to keep costs in mind. A study FarEye conducted with Researchscape International finds that retailers with more than $100 million in sales seek to improve the top key performance indicators of on-time delivery (74%) and cost per delivery […]

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Gaining Vision in Ocean Freight’s Murky Depths

What you don’t know can hurt you. Half of ocean freight stakeholders responding to a recent report released by FourKites say they have zero visibility into their ocean freight. More than 20% still rely on manual track-and-trace processes to locate their ocean freight in the supply chain. Once that cargo hits land, the numbers get […]

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Air Cargo Gains Altitude

Air cargo levels are showing signs of rebounding to pre-pandemic levels. North American carriers reported a 5.1% decrease in demand in 2022 when compared with 2021, but capacity increased 4.2%, according to the International Air Transport Association. Comparing these figures with 2019 shows demand at 13.7% and capacity at 8.2% above pre-pandemic levels. Here are […]

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Look Ma, No Hands

As autonomous driving gains some traction, transportation companies are building partnerships to bring self-driving trucks from concept to reality. To that end, Ascend, a truckload carrier that offers middle-mile supply chain solutions, partnered with Volvo Autonomous Solutions (VAS) to test autonomous, long distance linehaul options. As part of the pilot, Ascend will pick up customer […]

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War in Ukraine Squeezes Shipping

More than one year after Russia’s initial invasion of Ukraine, global supply chains are feeling the impact. In the months after the invasion, total vessels moving in and out of Ukraine dropped from 109 in January 2022 to just two in June 2022, according to data tracked by project44. Combine the lack of vessel movement […]

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With a Little Help From My Friendshoring

For more than 40 years, economic policies encouraged companies in the developed world to move production offshore to reap the benefits of cheap labor and raw materials. But times are changing.

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