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Supply Chain Briefing

Top Importers & Exporters… E-Commerce Impacts

June 1, 2017 According to the Journal of Commerce, the top importers were impacted by e-commerce and that trend is expected to continue.  Imports grew by 8% last year (2.2 million TEU) whereas exports grew by 3% (just under a million TEU).  The rankings are showing signs of a [...]

Amazon Is Going to Australia!

May 24, 2017 Amazon has announced plans to go to Australia in a big way - of course!  This has many Australian retailers unnerved while simultaneously providing Amazon with a new beachhead for its global distribution network. And, it appears as though Amazon might have a supportive regulatory environment [...]

New Survey Says Manufacturing Key to American Prosperity

May 16, 2017 According to a survey by Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute, more than three quarters of Americans surveyed believe the U.S. should invest in the manufacturing industry.  Nice to see what I see on a daily basis come to life and gain momentum!  Specifically, more than 80% [...]

Why Care About Rail?

May 8, 2017 This past weekend, my APICS (premier association for supply chain and operations professionals) Inland Empire chapter had its spring executive panel and networking symposium on the topic of "Disruptive Innovations in Logistics".  We had an amazing panel of experts covering trucking, rail, import/ export, distribution and [...]

Southern California Supply Chain Summit Touts Impressive Facts

April 27, 2017 According to the Southern California Logistics & Supply Chain Summit featuring executives from Amazon, UPS, the California Trucking Association and more, supply chain has a dramatic impact on the Southern California economy and the world. For example, UPS is the 9th largest airline, has 100,000 trucks, [...]

2023-09-03T23:54:17-07:00April 27, 2017|Categories: Supply Chain, Supply Chain Briefing|Tags: , , , , |

Are Robots Good or Bad?

According to the Material Handling & Logistics, robots are slashing U.S. wages and worsening pay inequality.  That is certainly a provocative statement!  According to new research by MIT's Daron Acemoglu and Boston University's Pascual Restrepo, one additional robot per thousand workers reduces the employment to population ratio from .18 percentage points to .34 percentage points and slashes wages from .25% to .5%.  

Tweaks to NAFTA & CEO Input

April 12, 2017 According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump met with chief executives and promised pleasant surprises with NAFTA and talked about upgrading the federal government's computer systems.  According to the chief executives in attendance, innovative ideas emerged.  I would love to be a fly on the wall in [...]

Job Gains & Market Surges

April 6, 2017 According to the Wall Street Journal, the US gained a better-than-expected 263,000 jobs in March.  Thus, the stock market surged and others gained as well including the Shanghai Composite Index, Nikkei Stock Average and Australia's S&P.  As the job market gets tighter, have you thought about how to [...]

Reshoring Gains

March 28, 2017 According to Industry Week and the Reshoring Initiative, after two decades of job losses, we have turned the corner.  In 2014, we had a net gain of 10,000 reshored jobs.  And, clearly, this is picking up steam especially as we are in the thick of 2017. [...]

Manufacturers Upbeat But Worry About Skills Gap

March 14, 2017 According to Industry Week, the Fed's survey of the economy expressed optimism; however, it also noted that labor markets are tightening.  Since I'm also embarking on refrehsing my 2013 Skills Gap research report, thus far, I've noted the same concerns for high-skilled positions. I hear far [...]

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