The SupplyChainBrain Podcast

A higher minimum wage – in some cases, as much as $15 an hour – is a certainty. How can businesses, especially retailers, cope with it? The minimum wage is rising fast, mandated by new laws at the federal, state and local levels. Some retailers are voluntarily raising their own workers' wages, either because they consider the move inevitable, or are looking to polish their brand. They might h...

Levels of risk in global supply chains continue to rise – even as companies' commitment to managing it goes in the opposite direction. A new report by A.T. Kearney and Rapid Ratings International finds that supply-chain risk management has declined as a priority within procurement organizations. Given the rash of supplier failures that occurred during the Great Recession, that's a diffic...

Struggling to determine whether there's forced labor lurking in your supply chain? There are some new tools available to help you do it. Global companies have long striven to uncover violations of human rights – and human slavery in particular – throughout the multiple tiers of their supply chains. Two new publications offer benchmarks, assessments and methodologies for achieving success: the...

Forced labor continues to be a serious issue in global supply chains today and it's extremely tough to root out. The problem exists worldwide, in developed and developing nations alike. Estimates of the number of people engaged in forced labor today range from 21 million to 35 million. Illicit traffickers are profiting from the practice to the tune of some $150bn. So how can this blight on th...

Up in the sky – it's a solar-powered plane! But what does it mean for the sustainability of the commercial transportation sector? The Solar Impulse 2 is currently on a 21,747-mile journey around the globe, powered only by the energy of the sun. But the project, 10 years in the making, is about more than proving that a small, specially designed plane can successfully draw on a renewable energy...

Retailers are shelling out huge amounts of money to keep today's omnichannel customer happy. They're spending an average of 18 cents out of every dollar to meet customer expectations of ''buy anywhere, pick up anywhere.'' That's according to a new study from EKN Research in partnership with Aptos, Inc., which set out to determine to true costs associated with the...

The ride-sharing service Uber is threatening to disrupt, if not dismantle, the taxi business. Will it do the same to the package-delivery sector? Uber, Lyft and similar ride-sharing services fully deserve that already overused word, ''disruption.'' Their success is due in large part to their founders' ability to perceive a failure in the way that traditional taxis have ope...

Too many ships, too much rate discounting, and too many service providers for the market to support: the outlook for ocean carriers is ''pretty bleak indeed.'' Those are the words of Foster Finley, managing director of AlixPartners, who joins us on this episode to discuss the consultancy's new study on the state of the oceangoing container trades. Its conclusion: Carriers&...

Does a big grocery retail chain have anything to learn from a leading automaker? Apparently so. Toyota, with its well-known emphasis on Lean supply-chain practices, was a key inspiration for U.K.-based Tesco, when the latter set out to overhaul its processes. In particular, Tesco was determined to align production and inventory with customer needs – something virtually every company claims to do,...

Is 3D printing poised to bring about ''the next industrial revolution?'' So says attorney John Hornick, author of a new book on the subject. Titled 3D Printing Will Rock the World, it doesn't mince words about the potential for this emerging technology to transform the manufacturing landscape and consumer purchasing practices. Hornick believes 3D printers are nothing less...

Supporters of a longtime proposal to privatize the U.S. Air Traffic Control system have failed again. But the issue is far from dead. The latest measure to reauthorize funding for the Federal Aviation Administration included a proposal to remove the ATC from direct agency control. In its place would be a private, non-profit corporation, funded by fees placed on airlines and owners of private aircr...

We might not have to wait that long to see self-driving vehicles become a familiar sight on American roads and highways. By some estimates, the so-called autonomous car won't appear in large numbers until sometime between 2020 and 2030. But there are signs that it could be arriving a good deal sooner than that, with limited production beginning as early as 2018. That's the view of Matt D...

Disputes with suppliers can be costly. Now there's a guide to avoiding them – and defending against them when they do occur. Legal Blacksmith: How to Avoid and Defend Supply Chain Disputes is the title of a new book by Rosemary Coates and Sarah Rathke, our guests on this episode. Rosemary is president of Blue Silk Consulting and executive director of the Reshoring Institute. Sarah is a trial...

The reshoring of manufacturing from China is no longer in question. Whether that work ever makes it back to the U.S., however, is another matter entirely. Rising wages in China, coupled with the cost of maintaining long supply lines, are among the reasons why companies are looking for new locations to make their products. If you believe statements by big retailers such as Walmart, a good portion o...

The Paris Climate Agreement resulted in a commitment by 195 countries to enact strict policies to address global climate change. Now manufacturers will have to fall into line. Whether they're prepared to do so is another question entirely. A recent study by West Monroe Partners found that 49 percent of North American supply-chain executives don't view sustainability as a strategic priori...

After years of delay, the automation of importer filings, involving multiple government agencies, is upon us. Say hello to the ''Single Window.'' Despite some last-minute pushback of deadlines, U.S. Customs Border Protection's Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) is about to become a reality. Importers and customs brokers stand to benefit from the streamlined handling of...

Law enforcement is hot on the trail of cargo thieves. But the thieves are hot on the trail of your shipments. It's a constant game of cat and mouse. The cops and insurance companies are forever coming up with new ways to stop theft. And the thieves are adjusting their methods accordingly. One of the best and most recent techniques for nabbing crooks is the ''sting trailer,'&apo...

Winning $1m on Jeopardy! wasn't good enough for IBM's Watson. Now it wants to predict your buying behavior. Having racked up a victory in the game-show arena, Watson is moving on. It has already been applied to clinical decision support for healthcare, with a focus on treating lung cancer. Now, it's venturing into the world of retail. Introduced in November of 2015, the Watson Trend...

There's a good chance that your corporate training program isn't up to snuff. Companies might think they have adequate training initiatives for new and continuing employees covering multiple functions. Too often, though, their efforts are falling short. The failure to properly train one's workforce can result in billions of dollars of lost profits from insurance claims, worker'...

Want to make sure that your imports or exports are traveling on a ''clean'' ship? There's a way to do that. Shipping Efficiency.org is an initiative that was launched in 2010 to create a rating database for vessel carbon dioxide emissions. Environmentally conscious shippers can consult the site for reports on more 76,000 commercial vessels in service today, and book their...

They call it ''free'' trade, but the price of failing to properly manage one's imports and exports can be dangerously high. That's especially the case with the looming prospect of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the sweeping free-trade agreement negotiated among the U.S. and 11 other Pacific Rim countries. TPP has been submitted for ratification by the U.S. Congress, b...

Starting up a business requires brains, heart and money – but in the case of the last, not as soon as you might think. There's no lack of ''how-to'' books on how to become a successful entrepreneur. Yet most ventures are doomed to fail, whether because the timing wasn't right, the funding wasn't in place or the partners lacked the patience to see it through. On t...

Are supply-chain managers finally getting the respect they deserve? A new four-year study by Professor Douglas Boateng of the University of South Africa suggests they are. Surveying a wide range of private- and public-sector organizations, with combined revenues of around $1tr, he found a growing move to bring supply-chain experts into the executive suite. While the position of Chief Supply Chain...

Online shoppers are ready for a new wave of innovation in the e-commerce experience – and retailers had better be ready, too. The P.R. and social marketing agency Walker Sands Communications recently conducted its second annual study on the future of retail. The effort zeroed in on the technology aspects of online shopping. Key findings focused on three major developments: the use of delivery dron...

Even the most dominant companies in the world need to take a look in the mirror now and then. Intel Corp. is no exception. Back in 2007, the company felt that it was slipping in some key areas, including reliability, customer responsiveness and supply-chain costs as a percentage of revenues. It was time for a serious reassessment. So Intel proceeded to implement a number of key performance metrics...