Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner won't be flying the friendly skies until early next year, months later than originally expected. The Seattle-based manufacturer had promised the highly anticipated aircraft to customers by this May but has now postponed the first deliveries until January 2009.
Supply chain issues appear to be partly to blame for the delay; Boeing's announcement cited a shortage of fasteners as a contributing factor. Such problems are common in the aerospace and defense sector, which relies on extremely complex supply chains. Boeing, for example, is counting on its suppliers to preassemble portions of the Dreamliner and ship those sections to Seattle for final assembly. That plan, a first for Boeing, was designed to speed up production but now appears to be backfiring as suppliers run into difficulties fulfilling those requirements.
Boeing's problems and similar travails experienced by its major rival, Airbus, highlight the need for aerospace and defense companies to address their supply chain deficiencies. In fact, the risk of failure for those companies is "real and significant" if they don't implement changes now to improve their supply chains, according to analysts at Deloitte Consulting LLP's Aerospace and Defense (A&D) industry group. That group published a brief on the supply chain challenges facing the aerospace and defense sector in January.
"Over the past year the A&D industry has suffered numerous service issues, many as a direct result of inefficient supply chains," said John Coykendall, a principal at Deloitte Consulting, in a statement. "These difficulties have resulted in enormous cost overruns, delayed new product rollouts, and missed delivery dates, and have forced companies to make serious adjustments in production, which, in turn, has affected their entire supplier network."
Coykendall noted that product delays and related problems many times are the result of supply chain breakdowns. Even when companies attempt to improve supply chain performance, actions taken to solve one challenge can create disruption elsewhere.
As the Deloitte analysts see it, some of the problems may stem from a failure to take an integrated view of the supply chain. "Supply chains have traditionally been depicted as linear streams, and this narrow view can lead to missed opportunities for improved integration of supply chain capabilities," said Jim Schwendinger, Deloitte's vice chairman of global aerospace and defense, in a statement.
Flight path to improvement
In their brief, the consultants also suggested several techniques for boosting the aerospace and defense sector's supply chain performance—techniques that could be readily adopted by other industries as well. Most important is aligning supply chain and business strategies. In addition, knowing when and where to integrate supply chain networks, and aligning and integrating supply chain planning are both critically important. Companies need tight coordination and integration of demand plans, inventory plans, and production schedules.
Deloitte analysts also recommended that companies strategically manage their supply network and align the supply chain organization to facilitate better decisionmaking. Businesses must manage multiple linkages and dependencies within the network to gain flexibility and competitive advantage. With visibility shifting away from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to tier-one suppliers, supply chain managers must increase their focus on tier-two and tier-three players, they said.
Achieving future supply chain success, the Deloitte executives said, will likely involve changes across entire enterprises. "The risks are imminent," said Schwendinger. "Costs and inventories are growing, service levels are lagging, and products are not making it to customers on time or on budget. Significantly optimizing your supply chain for high-speed performance is an effective way to deliver what customers and the market expect."
Electric vehicle (EV) sales have seen slow and steady growth, as the vehicles continue to gain converts among consumers and delivery fleet operators alike. But a consistent frustration for drivers has been pulling up to a charging station only to find that the charger has been intentionally broken or disabled.
To address that threat, the EV charging solution provider ChargePoint has launched two products to combat charger vandalism.
The first is a cut-resistant charging cable that's designed to deter theft. The cable, which incorporates what the manufacturer calls "novel cut-resistant materials," is substantially more difficult for would-be vandals to cut but is still flexible enough for drivers to maneuver comfortably, the California firm said. ChargePoint intends to make its cut-resistant cables available for all of its commercial and fleet charging stations, and, starting in the middle of the year, will license the cable design to other charging station manufacturers as part of an industrywide effort to combat cable theft and vandalism.
The second product, ChargePoint Protect, is an alarm system that detects charging cable tampering in real time and literally sounds the alarm using the charger's existing speakers, screens, and lighting system. It also sends SMS or email messages to ChargePoint customers notifying them that the system's alarm has been triggered.
ChargePoint says it expects these two new solutions, when combined, will benefit charging station owners by reducing station repair costs associated with vandalism and EV drivers by ensuring they can trust charging stations to work when and where they need them.
New Jersey is home to the most congested freight bottleneck in the country for the seventh straight year, according to research from the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI), released today.
ATRI’s annual list of the Top 100 Truck Bottlenecks aims to highlight the nation’s most congested highways and help local, state, and federal governments target funding to areas most in need of relief. The data show ways to reduce chokepoints, lower emissions, and drive economic growth, according to the researchers.
The 2025 Top Truck Bottleneck List measures the level of truck-involved congestion at more than 325 locations on the national highway system. The analysis is based on an extensive database of freight truck GPS data and uses several customized software applications and analysis methods, along with terabytes of data from trucking operations, to produce a congestion impact ranking for each location. The bottleneck locations detailed in the latest ATRI list represent the top 100 congested locations, although ATRI continuously monitors more than 325 freight-critical locations, the group said.
For the seventh straight year, the intersection of I-95 and State Route 4 near the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee, New Jersey, is the top freight bottleneck in the country. The remaining top 10 bottlenecks include: Chicago, I-294 at I-290/I-88; Houston, I-45 at I-69/US 59; Atlanta, I-285 at I-85 (North); Nashville: I-24/I-40 at I-440 (East); Atlanta: I-75 at I-285 (North); Los Angeles, SR 60 at SR 57; Cincinnati, I-71 at I-75; Houston, I-10 at I-45; and Atlanta, I-20 at I-285 (West).
ATRI’s analysis, which utilized data from 2024, found that traffic conditions continue to deteriorate from recent years, partly due to work zones resulting from increased infrastructure investment. Average rush hour truck speeds were 34.2 miles per hour (MPH), down 3% from the previous year. Among the top 10 locations, average rush hour truck speeds were 29.7 MPH.
In addition to squandering time and money, these delays also waste fuel—with trucks burning an estimated 6.4 billion gallons of diesel fuel and producing more than 65 million metric tons of additional carbon emissions while stuck in traffic jams, according to ATRI.
On a positive note, ATRI said its analysis helps quantify the value of infrastructure investment, pointing to improvements at Chicago’s Jane Byrne Interchange as an example. Once the number one truck bottleneck in the country for three years in a row, the recently constructed interchange saw rush hour truck speeds improve by nearly 25% after construction was completed, according to the report.
“Delays inflicted on truckers by congestion are the equivalent of 436,000 drivers sitting idle for an entire year,” ATRI President and COO Rebecca Brewster said in a statement announcing the findings. “These metrics are getting worse, but the good news is that states do not need to accept the status quo. Illinois was once home to the top bottleneck in the country, but following a sustained effort to expand capacity, the Jane Byrne Interchange in Chicago no longer ranks in the top 10. This data gives policymakers a road map to reduce chokepoints, lower emissions, and drive economic growth.”
"Shrink" is the retail industry term for the loss of inventory before it can be sold, whether through theft, damage, fraud, or simple book-keeping errors. In the ongoing effort to reduce those losses, Switzerland-based retail tech company Sensormatic Solutions has expanded the scope of its Shrink Analyzer application to shine a light into previously unmonitored parts of brick-and-mortar stores where goods tend to go missing.
The newly enhanced, cloud-based application can now integrate radio-frequency identification (RFID) and electronic product code (EPC) data from overlooked parts of the building, like employee entrances, receiving doors, "buy online, pick up in store" (BOPIS) doors, or other high-risk areas selected by a store. It then integrates that data into Sensormatic's analytics engine to provide insights into when, where, and how shrink occurs to help users strengthen their loss-prevention strategies, the company says.
Those expanded capabilities allow the platform to provide enhanced "shrink insight" at locations beyond the store's main exit, Sensormatic says. For example, strategically placed RFID scanners at employee exits can reduce internal theft while providing item-level evidence for theft investigation efforts. Likewise, monitoring online-order pickup doors can help retailers both improve in-store e-commerce fulfillment accuracy and identify employee theft events, according to Sensormatic.
A few days before Christmas as I was busy preparing for the holiday, I received a text message from my bank asking if I had attempted to purchase a $244 Amtrak ticket in Orange County, California. Considering that I had the card in my possession and that I lived thousands of miles away from the attempted purchase location, I promptly replied "No." Almost immediately, a second message informed me that my card was locked and to contact my bank.
I'd like to say this was an isolated incident, but in 2024, I had to replace the same card four times. Luckily, it just took a quick trip to my local bank to replace the compromised card, but it was still an unwanted hassle.
Fraud is a never-ending issue facing not just consumers but businesses as well—no one is immune, it seems. In its latest industry report, "Occupational Fraud 2024: A Report to the Nations," the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) estimated that businesses lose 5% of their revenues to fraud each year. This report focused specifically on three basic types of occupational fraud: asset misappropriation, corruption, and financial misstatement. But what about other types of fraud?
The media often report on big organized theft rings stealing goods from trailers, trains, or containerships, or on bands of thieves breaking into warehouses or retail stores—but there are so many other ways in which fraudsters wreak havoc.
For instance, another area where fraud is rampant is consumer returns in the retail industry. Software company Appriss Retail, in collaboration with business management consultancy Deloitte, recently published its "2024 Consumer Returns in the Retail Industry" report. It states that "total returns for the retail industry amounted to $685 billion in merchandise in 2024." That might seem like a drop in the bucket compared to the $5 trillion in sales U.S. retailers racked up last year, but as the report's authors note in the executive summary, "the amount of fraud and abuse remains a significant issue that should be addressed. Fraudsters and abusers are often becoming adept at circumventing retailers' controls across all channels."
So what can businesses do? According to the ACFE study, internal controls (i.e., surprise audits, management reviews, hotlines or other reporting mechanisms, fraud training, and formal fraud risk assessments) are the best defense against occupational fraud.
When it comes to consumer returns fraud, Appriss Retail's report concludes that while retailers continue to adapt and refine their fraud prevention strategies, it's a delicate balancing act. The trick is for "retailers to implement solutions that have [a] minimal impact on the consumer experience," the report noted. "Brand loyalty can be fragile and competition continues to grow, so holding onto consumers is often a key to long-term success."
Then there's security and asset protection. Last October, I attended a session at the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals' EDGE 2024 conference that focused on security and safety. In that session, Lee Ambrose, vice president of business development for Remote Security Solutions (RSS), discussed advanced strategies and technologies for violence prevention. But he also touched on asset/transit protection and specific solutions that can help companies discourage theft.
As an example, Ambrose cited his company's transit surveillance unit (TSU)—a portable monitoring device that can be installed on trailers to protect in-transit freight. According to the company's website, the TSU uses AI (artificial intelligence) detection, security cameras, and two-way communication to deter criminal activity, providing real-time detection and notification when unauthorized persons attempt to enter the trailer. It claims the device has a deterrence rate of 98%.
In the end, sometimes there is only so much a company can do to mitigate fraud/theft. But we are fortunate to have resources we can turn to if we need help. It's an uphill battle, but one that we will keep on fighting.
Most retail, wholesale, and manufacturing businesses are focused on fundamentally restructuring their supply chains to stay ahead of economic uncertainty. That’s according to results of the second annual State of Supply Chain report from supply chain solutions platform provider Relex Solutions, released Tuesday.
Relex surveyed nearly 600 professionals from retail, consumer packaged goods (CPG), and wholesale businesses across seven countries and found that 60% said they are overhauling their supply chains due to tariff uncertainty and market volatility.
Respondents said they are grappling with unpredictable consumer demand, escalating trade tensions, and unreliable supplier networks. More than half (52%) said demand volatility is their biggest challenge, forcing them to rethink inventory strategies in real time as shifting spending habits disrupt supply chains. In addition, 47% of businesses pointed to global trade disruptions and rising tariffs as a growing threat—with tariff volatility fueling concerns over higher costs and sourcing bottlenecks—and43% said they struggle with a lack of real-time data and visibility, making it harder to adapt to sudden shifts in demand, labor shortages, and transportation delays.
To counter those challenges, companies said they are making “bold operational shifts,” according to the study. Many are expanding their supplier networks, moving sourcing closer to home, and accelerating automation investments. Among retailers, 62% said they are addressing cost pressures through a combination of efficiency improvements and price adjustments, while 50% said they are actively broadening supplier bases to safeguard against economic and geopolitical instability.
“Supply chains are in a pressure cooker—between tariffs, demand shifts, and unpredictable disruptions, the outdated and traditional way of operating isn’t sustainable,” Dr. Madhav Durbha, Relex Solutions’ group vice president of CPG & Manufacturing, said in a statement announcing the findings. “Companies that lean into AI, automation, and supplier diversification will not only weather this volatility but emerge stronger. The ones that don’t risk falling behind.”
The full report, Relex State of Supply Chain 2025: Retail and CPG Dynamics, is slated for release in March. The report was conducted by market research firm Researchscape in January 2025.