David Maloney has been a journalist for more than 35 years and is currently the group editorial director for DC Velocity and Supply Chain Quarterly magazines. In this role, he is responsible for the editorial content of both brands of Agile Business Media. Dave joined DC Velocity in April of 2004. Prior to that, he was a senior editor for Modern Materials Handling magazine. Dave also has extensive experience as a broadcast journalist. Before writing for supply chain publications, he was a journalist, television producer and director in Pittsburgh. Dave combines a background of reporting on logistics with his video production experience to bring new opportunities to DC Velocity readers, including web videos highlighting top distribution and logistics facilities, webcasts and other cross-media projects. He continues to live and work in the Pittsburgh area.
There are a lot of people out there who like to exploit people’s fears. We see it play out daily in the ads for political candidates during this election cycle. One of the more notorious examples is the unjustified claim that immigrants will steal our jobs.
This fear is nothing new. It’s been around for centuries. My own Irish ancestors faced discrimination when they landed on American shores, with many businesses at the time posting signs stating “No Irish need apply.” As humans, we fear the unknown. We are drawn to the familiar and comfortable, and are wary of anything different.
However, with unemployment rates still below 4%, it is time for us to encourage the admittance of people looking to pursue the same American dream our ancestors sought.
Limitations on immigration, both from past administrations and from reductions caused by pandemic restrictions, have limited the pool of workers who have traditionally accepted entry-level jobs that others don’t want. A lack of available and willing workers has been a contributing factor to the delays and shortages that have plagued our supply chains, and that won’t really improve much with the current available workforce. We are nearly at the same levels of overall employment as we were before the pandemic, with about a 62% labor force participation rate. There just are not enough people available to fill the 11 million-plus job openings.
Warehouses cannot find the workers they need. And a shortage of truck drivers persists, a situation that may worsen as the average age of drivers, which is currently about 49, continues to rise. Our industry needs about 80,000 more drivers to fill the available jobs.
Efforts have been made to encourage recent high school graduates and workers in other fields to consider jobs in the supply chain, but they fall short. Higher wages have helped, but they result in added costs and make inflation even worse. Sadly, not a lot of young people grow up aspiring to be truck drivers.
However, these are jobs that people from other nations seek. They’re looking for opportunities to establish themselves in America. I know a number of immigrants (my brother-in-law is one of them). None of these people are murderers or thieves, as the fear-mongers would have you believe. They work hard, create jobs, pay taxes, and invest in their communities. They live the American dream.
Let’s be more welcoming and at the same time fill the ranks of workers needed to keep our supply chains moving.
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."