I fervently hope you can load congressional stockings with a full ration of wisdom, judgment, and the spirit of cooperation because we simply must repair the country's infrastructure.
It has been another difficult year for many of us in the supply chain profession. Although we've seen little spurts of improvement here and there, the economy is still weak. I'm sure you're seeing it in your toy orders again this year. While there are many supply chain managers out there who are finding creative ways to manage costs while maintaining an acceptable level of customer service, they can't carry the burden alone. There still are a number of broader issues with which we could use some help.
As you've probably heard, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood went off on Congress, at least the Republican contingent, for not providing funds to repair and improve the country's crumbling infrastructure, and announced that at the end of President Obama's current term, he was out of there. Some now are calling him a "whiner," but the fact of the matter is, no one in Washington seems to be able to get along anymore. I want to be careful to stay away from any political comments, but I fervently hope you can load congressional stockings with a full ration of wisdom, judgment, and the spirit of cooperation. I don't know what your organizational structure looks like right now, but maybe you could spare a few elves to provide some counseling. Whatever you can do would be appreciated because we simply must repair the country's infrastructure. I'm sure you remember the president calling for a doubling of U.S. exports by 2015. This would be great, but if we accomplish this, we could create a supply chain nightmare for ourselves. I'm not convinced our river locks, highways, and rail infrastructure are up to it.
But enough about infrastructure. As important as it is, there are other serious concerns we're grappling with as well. There is a major controversy brewing over a proposed $7 billion pipeline that would connect the Alberta oil sands in Canada to Texas Gulf Coast refineries. Over 1,000 protestors have been arrested in front of the White House, so it is not a universally popular project. As you might imagine, the controversy revolves around possible harm to the environment and "dirty" fuel sources, but we desperately need the oil in this country. As long as we continue to use oil—and I believe we will rely on it for some time to come—it would be nice to have better control over supplies. Some of our oil sources are a little shaky, at best. I realize this is a tough one, but please take a look at it and see what you can do.
There is what I believe to be an exciting idea to increase allowable truck weights from 80,000 to 97,000 pounds for trucks equipped with six axles, rather than the usual five. Truck size would not be affected, but the extra axle would enable the vehicle to handle the additional weight without any negative effects on highway infrastructure, safety, fuel costs, or the environment. In fact, there is strong evidence that just the opposite would be true. The Senate recently approved the measure for Vermont and Maine, where tests had been under way, but the hope is that each state will be given the option to increase weight limits on its own portion of the interstate highway system. You should have some interest in this one. If it works on the highways, it ought to be just as effective for sleighs. If you could carry more presents per trip, it would be easier on you and would avoid any hours-of-service problems with the reindeer.
Of course, there are other ongoing concerns I have written to you about before. Issues related to capacity, rates, possible driver shortages, and increased regulation will no doubt flare up in 2012. Through it all, we need your calming influence and spirit of collaboration. Just remember: If all else fails, you can simply cut off the toys.
Supply chain planning (SCP) leaders working on transformation efforts are focused on two major high-impact technology trends, including composite AI and supply chain data governance, according to a study from Gartner, Inc.
"SCP leaders are in the process of developing transformation roadmaps that will prioritize delivering on advanced decision intelligence and automated decision making," Eva Dawkins, Director Analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice, said in a release. "Composite AI, which is the combined application of different AI techniques to improve learning efficiency, will drive the optimization and automation of many planning activities at scale, while supply chain data governance is the foundational key for digital transformation.”
Their pursuit of those roadmaps is often complicated by frequent disruptions and the rapid pace of technological innovation. But Gartner says those leaders can accelerate the realized value of technology investments by facilitating a shift from IT-led to business-led digital leadership, with SCP leaders taking ownership of multidisciplinary teams to advance business operations, channels and products.
“A sound data governance strategy supports advanced technologies, such as composite AI, while also facilitating collaboration throughout the supply chain technology ecosystem,” said Dawkins. “Without attention to data governance, SCP leaders will likely struggle to achieve their expected ROI on key technology investments.”
The British logistics robot vendor Dexory this week said it has raised $80 million in venture funding to support an expansion of its artificial intelligence (AI) powered features, grow its global team, and accelerate the deployment of its autonomous robots.
A “significant focus” continues to be on expanding across the U.S. market, where Dexory is live with customers in seven states and last month opened a U.S. headquarters in Nashville. The Series B will also enhance development and production facilities at its UK headquarters, the firm said.
The “series B” funding round was led by DTCP, with participation from Latitude Ventures, Wave-X and Bootstrap Europe, along with existing investors Atomico, Lakestar, Capnamic, and several angels from the logistics industry. With the close of the round, Dexory has now raised $120 million over the past three years.
Dexory says its product, DexoryView, provides real-time visibility across warehouses of any size through its autonomous mobile robots and AI. The rolling bots use sensor and image data and continuous data collection to perform rapid warehouse scans and create digital twins of warehouse spaces, allowing for optimized performance and future scenario simulations.
Originally announced in September, the move will allow Deutsche Bahn to “fully focus on restructuring the rail infrastructure in Germany and providing climate-friendly passenger and freight transport operations in Germany and Europe,” Werner Gatzer, Chairman of the DB Supervisory Board, said in a release.
For its purchase price, DSV gains an organization with around 72,700 employees at over 1,850 locations. The new owner says it plans to investment around one billion euros in coming years to promote additional growth in German operations. Together, DSV and Schenker will have a combined workforce of approximately 147,000 employees in more than 90 countries, earning pro forma revenue of approximately $43.3 billion (based on 2023 numbers), DSV said.
After removing that unit, Deutsche Bahn retains its core business called the “Systemverbund Bahn,” which includes passenger transport activities in Germany, rail freight activities, operational service units, and railroad infrastructure companies. The DB Group, headquartered in Berlin, employs around 340,000 people.
“We have set clear goals to structurally modernize Deutsche Bahn in the areas of infrastructure, operations and profitability and focus on the core business. The proceeds from the sale will significantly reduce DB’s debt and thus make an important contribution to the financial stability of the DB Group. At the same time, DB Schenker will gain a strong strategic owner in DSV,” Deutsche Bahn CEO Richard Lutz said in a release.
Transportation industry veteran Anne Reinke will become president & CEO of trade group the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) at the end of the year, stepping into the position from her previous post leading third party logistics (3PL) trade group the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), both organizations said today.
Meanwhile, TIA today announced that insider Christopher Burroughs would fill Reinke’s shoes as president & CEO. Burroughs has been with TIA for 13 years, most recently as its vice president of Government Affairs for the past six years, during which time he oversaw all legislative and regulatory efforts before Congress and the federal agencies.
Before her four years leading TIA, Reinke spent two years as Deputy Assistant Secretary with the U.S. Department of Transportation and 16 years with CSX Corporation.
Serious inland flooding and widespread power outages are likely to sweep across Florida and other Southeast states in coming days with the arrival of Hurricane Helene, which is now predicted to make landfall Thursday evening along Florida’s northwest coast as a major hurricane, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
While the most catastrophic landfall impact is expected in the sparsely-population Big Bend area of Florida, it’s not only sea-front cities that are at risk. Since Helene is an “unusually large storm,” its flooding, rainfall, and high winds won’t be limited only to the Gulf Coast, but are expected to travel hundreds of miles inland, the weather service said. Heavy rainfall is expected to begin in the region even before the storm comes ashore, and the wet conditions will continue to move northward into the southern Appalachians region through Friday, dumping storm total rainfall amounts of up to 18 inches. Specifically, the major flood risk includes the urban areas around Tallahassee, metro Atlanta, and western North Carolina.
In addition to its human toll, the storm could exert serious business impacts, according to the supply chain mapping and monitoring firm Resilinc. Those will be largely triggered by significant flooding, which could halt oil operations, force mandatory evacuations, restrict ports, and disrupt air traffic.
While the storm’s track is currently forecast to miss the critical ports of Miami and New Orleans, it could still hurt operations throughout the Southeast agricultural belt, which produces products like soybeans, cotton, peanuts, corn, and tobacco, according to Everstream Analytics.
That widespread footprint could also hinder supply chain and logistics flows along stretches of interstate highways I-10 and I-75 and on regional rail lines operated by Norfolk Southern and CSX. And Hurricane Helene could also likely impact business operations by unleashing power outages, deep flooding, and wind damage in northern Florida portions of Georgia, Everstream Analytics said.
Before the storm had even touched Florida soil, recovery efforts were already being launched by humanitarian aid group the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN). In a statement on Wednesday, the group said it is urging residents in the storm's path across the Southeast to heed evacuation notices and safety advisories, and reminding members of the logistics community that their post-storm help could be needed soon. The group will continue to update its Disaster Micro-Site with Hurricane Helene resources and with requests for donated logistics assistance, most of which will start arriving within 24 to 72 hours after the storm’s initial landfall, ALAN said.