Mark Solomon joined DC VELOCITY as senior editor in August 2008, and was promoted to his current position on January 1, 2015. He has spent more than 30 years in the transportation, logistics and supply chain management fields as a journalist and public relations professional. From 1989 to 1994, he worked in Washington as a reporter for the Journal of Commerce, covering the aviation and trucking industries, the Department of Transportation, Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court. Prior to that, he worked for Traffic World for seven years in a similar role. From 1994 to 2008, Mr. Solomon ran Media-Based Solutions, a public relations firm based in Atlanta. He graduated in 1978 with a B.A. in journalism from The American University in Washington, D.C.
The Teamsters union has begun a campaign to organize workers at FedEx Freight, the less-than-truckload division of transport giant FedEx Corp., a move that will pit the venerable union against FedEx Chairman and CEO Frederick W. Smith, one of the most formidable anti-union executives in America.
The announcement came July 1 at the union's annual convention in Las Vegas, and was made by Ken Hall, head of the Teamsters' small-parcel division. According to a transcript of Hall's comments, the organizing effort will begin in the West, and the union has three full-time organizers working to solicit interest among FedEx Freight employees. FedEx Freight, the nation's biggest less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier, employs about 30,000 people. It is unclear how many workers would be eligible to be organized.
Teamster spokesman Galen Munroe confirmed today that the union has allocated resources to the effort. A resolution posted July 1 on the Teamster web site states that it "will assist our FedEx Freight brothers and sisters in organizing and achieving their goal of a union contract."
At the convention in Las Vegas, Teamster Vice President Randy Cammack, who is involved in the organizing effort, had harsh words for Smith, saying he runs the "Wal-Mart of the trucking business," and that he's already started a "serious anti-union campaign" to discredit the Teamsters. A FedEx spokesperson did not return an e-mail requesting comment.
The organizing move comes at a critical juncture for both FedEx Freight and the Teamsters. On Jan. 31, FedEx Freight merged its national and regional units into a single operation in what has been its biggest system revamp to date. Late last month, it reported its first profitable quarter after six consecutive quarters of operating losses.
The Teamsters, meanwhile, last week completed the nominating process to determine the union's next general president. General President James P. Hoffa, vying for a third-term, captured 82 percent of the 1,800 delegate votes. His opponents, Alexandra (Sandy) Pope and Fred Gegare, each captured 9 percent of the vote.
The Hoffa campaign said the results give their candidate positive momentum heading into the campaign. His opponents argue that the outcome of the balloting at the convention often has no bearing on the actual election. Ballots will be distributed in October and counted in November.
In trying to organize workers at FedEx Freight, the union will try to go where no union has gone before. For decades, different labor groups have tried to organize ground workers at FedEx, with no success. Efforts to organize workers at FedEx Ground, the company's ground parcel unit, have been thwarted in part by various court rulings upholding the company's argument that drivers at the unit should be classified as independent contractors and not company employees. Such distinctions make it virtually impossible for any union to gain traction at FedEx Ground.
Currently, only pilots at FedEx's FedEx Express unit are union members. Those workers represent a very small fraction of the company's overall labor force.
FedEx's Smith has long believed that third-party bargaining units like the Teamsters are irrelevant at an organization where wages and benefits are considered fair, and where employees have adequate mechanisms at their disposal to address grievances.
Several months ago, Smith won a major battle on Capitol Hill when Congress agreed to drop a provision in the House of Representatives that would have required FedEx workers to be governed under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) instead of its traditional status under the Railway Labor Act (RLA), the law that covers labor relations in the railroad and airline industries. The NLRA, which permits workers to be organized at a local, terminal-by terminal level, is considered a much easier path to unionization than the RLA, which requires that workers at a company be organized as a single unit.
Smith had warned that FedEx would scrub a multi-billion order for Boeing 777 freighter aircraft had the reclassification become law.
The announcement came July 1 at the union's annual convention in Las Vegas, and was made by Ken Hall, head of the Teamsters' small-parcel division. According to a transcript of Hall's comments, the organizing effort will begin in the West, and the union has three full-time organizers working to solicit interest among FedEx Freight employees. FedEx Freight, the nation's biggest less-than-truckload (LTL) carrier, employs about 30,000 people. It is unclear how many workers would be eligible to be organized.
Teamster spokesman Galen Munroe confirmed today that the union has allocated resources to the effort. A resolution posted July 1 on the Teamster web site states that it "will assist our FedEx Freight brothers and sisters in organizing and achieving their goal of a union contract."
At the convention in Las Vegas, Teamster Vice President Randy Cammack, who is involved in the organizing effort, had harsh words for Smith, saying he runs the "Wal-Mart of the trucking business," and that he's already started a "serious anti-union campaign" to discredit the Teamsters. A FedEx spokesperson did not return an e-mail requesting comment.
The organizing move comes at a critical juncture for both FedEx Freight and the Teamsters. On
Jan. 31, FedEx Freight merged its national and regional units into a single operation in what has been
its biggest system revamp to date. Late last month, it reported its first profitable quarter after
six consecutive quarters of operating losses.
The Teamsters, meanwhile, last week completed the nominating process to determine the union's next general president. General President James P. Hoffa, vying for a third-term, captured 82 percent of the 1,800 delegate votes. His opponents, Alexandra (Sandy) Pope and Fred Gegare, each captured 9 percent of the vote.
The Hoffa campaign said the results give their candidate positive momentum heading into the campaign. His opponents argue that the outcome of the balloting at the convention often has no bearing on the actual election. Ballots will be distributed in October and counted in November.
In trying to organize workers at FedEx Freight, the union will try to go where no union has gone before. For decades, different labor groups have tried to organize ground workers at FedEx, with no success. Efforts to organize workers at FedEx Ground, the company's ground parcel unit, have been thwarted in part by various court rulings upholding the company's argument that drivers at the unit should be classified as independent contractors and not company employees. Such distinctions make it virtually impossible for any union to gain traction at FedEx Ground.
Currently, only pilots at FedEx's FedEx Express unit are union members. Those workers represent a very small fraction of the company's overall labor force.
FedEx's Smith has long believed that third-party bargaining units like the Teamsters are irrelevant at an organization where wages and benefits are considered fair, and where employees have adequate mechanisms at their disposal to address grievances.
Several months ago, Smith won a major battle on Capitol Hill when Congress agreed to
drop a provision in the House of Representatives that would have required FedEx workers to be governed under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) instead of its traditional status under the Railway Labor Act (RLA), the law that covers labor relations in the railroad and airline industries. The NLRA, which permits workers to be organized at a local, terminal-by terminal level, is considered a much easier path to unionization than the RLA, which requires that workers at a company be organized as a single unit.
Smith had warned that FedEx would scrub a multi-billion order for Boeing 777 freighter aircraft had the reclassification become law.
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.
Ask 10 warehousing experts about the optimal level of inventory visibility, and you'll get a dozen different responses.
Sure, most would agree on the importance of accurate inventory counts—knowing exactly how many items are in every carton, crate, and pallet stored in the facility. But depending on what type of goods the warehouse handles, opinions will vary widely on how much accuracy is good enough and what's the best technique for counting.
Fortunately, we live in an age when there have never been so many tools available to take those counts. Workers can perform cycle counts with paper and clipboards, as they've done for decades. Or a facility can deploy internet of things (IoT) sensors at dock doors, computer-vision cameras mounted on conveyors, handheld RFID (radio-frequency identification) scanners, wearable devices like ring scanners or voice-picking headsets, autonomous mobile robots (AMRs), or even indoor flying drones.
In fact, many companies are now using those devices to obtain snapshots of the inventory held in various locations throughout their DCs. But assembling those snapshots into a full panoramic view remains an almost mythical pursuit, according to John Santagate, vice president, robotics at Körber Supply Chain Software. "Visibility remains the unicorn in warehouse operations," Santagate says. "No matter how much automation and RFID you have, you need to tie it all together. Visibility for visibility's sake is somewhat useless."
In other words, simply collecting data isn't enough these days. To master the inventory visibility game, a company must be able to analyze the information it collects; compare the results to the records in, say, its warehouse management system (WMS) or order management system (OMS); and quickly act on any discrepancies. Done right, these steps can lead to a number of follow-on benefits, including the ability to track and trace on demand, determine optimal restocking rates, and build the supply chain resilience needed to weather the inevitable supply disruptions.
However, few companies have reached that goal, Santagate says. "You need to know what's in the entire network, where it is, and how to capitalize on it. Most folks are still chasing that and making [only] incremental improvements."
CLOSING THE GAP
Santagate's assessment is backed up by a study conducted last August among 1,000 U.S. supply chain managers by Impinj, a developer of RFID solutions and software. In its "Supply Chain Integrity Outlook 2025" research report, the firm found that the majority (91%) of supply chain managers believe they are equipped to drive accurate supply chain visibility, but only a third (33%) can consistently obtain accurate, real-time inventory data.
According to Impinj's chief revenue officer, Jeff Dossett, that data accuracy gap leaves many struggling to attain the level of insights, visibility, and accuracy required to drive confidence in their supply chain and respond quickly to market changes. "Supply chain managers continue to face data blind spots that prevent them from ensuring secure, reliable, and adaptable supply chains," Dossett said in a release announcing the study's findings. "It's essential that organizations address the data accuracy gap by putting technology in place to surface accurate data that fuels the real-time, actionable insights and visibility needed to ensure supply chain resilience."
HOW SHARP IS YOUR VISION?
That raises a couple of questions for DC managers seeking to bridge that visibility gap: How much detail is good enough, and how can they make the optimal use of the data they collect?
Those are tricky questions to answer, because many warehouse managers probably don't realize what they're missing, says Chris Coote, head of product at Dexory, a London-based company that makes inventory-counting robots.
In fact, enhanced visibility sometimes brings to light underlying problems that managers didn't realize they had. "Visibility reveals what people don't know about their warehouse," Coote says. For example, he says, there could be a corner of the warehouse that's particularly prone to mispicks, but the managers are not aware there's a problem and don't scan for that. "Or the [problem] could be something they do scan for but don't realize they could be [addressing more effectively]."
Most people think their system of record is pretty good, but in reality, those systems can almost always be improved, according to Coote. In many cases, those improvements would bring real benefits, like freeing human workers from the drudgery of case counting so they can take on higher-level tasks, he says.
Dexory's view aligns closely with Körber's perspective on inventory visibility—so closely, in fact, that the two companies last month launched a partnership to integrate the DexoryView advanced visibility platform with Körber's warehouse management software (WMS). The partnership will enable users to swiftly uncover and address issues in the warehouse through data-driven decision-making based on Dexory's daily scans of the facility, the companies said.
Based on these and other market developments, it looks like the warehouse visibility sector is getting its moment in the sun. It's also clear that the technology used for inventory counting is getting "smarter" and faster by the day. Together, those trends could combine to shine a bright light on the darkest corners of the warehouse, illuminating every pallet, case, and carton so DCs can get a sharper view of all the inventory inside.
When a 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in 2010, a fledgling humanitarian group knew its day had come—after months of planning, it would finally be able to take its model live and see how well it worked. Formed a year earlier to support humanitarian relief efforts, that group, Airlink, had established a network of airline partners it could call on to provide free or discounted airlift in times of crisis. As it turned out, the model held up in testing. In the weeks following the earthquake, Airlink successfully coordinated the movement of more than 2,000 doctors and nurses and more than 40 shipments of aid totaling more than 500,000 pounds into the disaster zone.
Fifteen years later, the group is still carrying out that mission—but on a much larger scale. Airlink's network today includes over 200 aid organizations and over 50 commercial and charter airlines. Since its inception, the group has flown 13,500 relief workers and transported 18 million pounds of humanitarian cargo, directly helping 60 million people impacted by natural and man-made disasters.
Airlink plans to celebrate the milestone year through PR campaigns and a web series titled "15 Years in 15 Minutes." An episode will be released on the 15th of each month; all 12 episodes will feature Airlink President and CEO Steve Smith sitting down with an industry partner to discuss innovation in logistical strategy and meeting the demands of an evolving landscape in humanitarian relief. The videos will be available on YouTube.
In a statement marking the group's 15th anniversary, Smith attributed the group's success to corporate partnerships and "established, trusting relationships" with NGOs (nongovernmental organizations); airlines, including United Airlines, American Airlines, and Qatar Airways; and foundations, including the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, GE Aerospace Foundation, Paul Allen Foundation, Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation, UPS Foundation, and Flexport.org Fund.
When planning routes for their delivery trucks, fleet managers—or more likely, their route planning software systems—consider factors like mileage, road height and weight restrictions, traffic conditions, and weather. They can now add another variable to the mix, thanks to a new tool that calculates the chances that a load might be stolen along the way.
Developed by New Jersey-based risk assessment firm Verisk Analytics, CargoNet RouteScore API generates a cargo theft "risk score" that provides a relative measure of probability that crime and loss will occur along any given route in the U.S. and Canada. Using a proprietary algorithm, the tool rates routes on a scale from 1 to 100—with 1 representing the lowest likelihood of theft—based on risk factors such as cargo type, value, length of haul, origin, destination, day of the week, and the theft history of specific truck stops.
Companies can also use the tool to protect their cargo proactively, Verisk says. For example, before sending a truck out on a high-risk route, a carrier could implement additional security measures like tracking devices, driver teams, and escorts or even secure parking spots in advance.
Verisk adds that the tool's API format allows for easy integration with both proprietary systems and the third-party transportation management systems (TMS) that many companies use to manage their trucking operations.
Drivers typically choose a specific blend of gasoline based on their car's engine, picking high-octane fuel for a sports car and regular gas for the family sedan. Now a company has launched a similar range of products for diesel fuel, saying the offerings are calibrated for vehicles like commercial trucks.
That company, Nevada-based Advanced Refining Concepts LLC (ARC), will launch two new products, GDiesel Lightning and GDiesel Thunder, by mid-year, the company said in January.
According to the firm, GDiesel Lightning is a lighter, faster-igniting diesel fuel than the classic mix and is designed specifically for urban start-stop operations—think delivery vehicles, light trucks, city buses, and passenger vehicles. GDiesel Thunder is a heavier, higher energy-content fuel made for steadier and more continuous engine operating modes, making it suitable for long-haul trucking or rail and marine applications.
According to the company, choosing the right fuel for a particular application can reduce visible smoke and other regulated emissions, maximize efficiency, and minimize engine wear. And both fuels meet current diesel regulatory standards, it says, obviating the need for modifications to engines, fueling infrastructures, or warranties.
The new fuels' potential is not just limited to petroleum diesel. ARC says the process to make GDiesel Lightning and GDiesel Thunder has been successfully applied to renewable diesel, and both petroleum and bio-based versions of these fuels can be used as next-generation blend stock or to vastly increase biodiesel blend ratios and efficiency.
"Engine manufacturers are at their limits trying to improve efficiency and emissions from standard diesel. It is long past due time to redesign the fuel side," ARC Managing Partner Peter Gunnerman said in a release. "It has never made sense to assume that one diesel fuel option can be efficient for all diesel engine types and operating cycles."