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Business is crazy these days. That means graduates of supply chain programs need to understand resilience and risk management along with technology, analytics, operations, and strategy.

Disruption across global supply chains has always been present, but the ongoing pandemic has magnified the risks supply chain leaders face, while simultaneously limiting response options in an already high-pressure environment.

The past year has opened the door to many risks—and response strategies—that supply chain leaders must now keep top of mind when making critical inventory, demand, logistics, and pricing decisions.

In a new move for a carrier, FedEx has requested permission from the Federal Aviation Administration to equip a fleet of its Airbus A321-200 aircraft with an anti-missile laser system that disrupts heat-seeking missile tracking.

In the past five years, robots have moved from a developing technology to an indispensable tool for many businesses. With their ability to predict market change or supply chain disruptions, automation programs are increasingly adopted across many industries, says a report from software company Meili Robots. This will continue to change the way business is conducted into the future. Take a look at some of the biggest robotics trends and predictions for 2022, the report says:

Gartner's annual global Supply Chain Top 25 identifies today's supply chain leaders and highlights their best practices.

Daniel Politowicz is logistics & transportation manager of Tubelite, an architectural aluminum manufacturer and division of Apogee Enterprises.

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) e-commerce has changed the way people shop for everything from razors to sofas, to the point where retailers with more traditional supply chains are catching on. New e-commerce brands and traditional retailers alike can follow these five DTC trends in 2022 to stay competitive, says a Forbes report:

The Volvo VNR Electric has been selected by WattEV and Maersk.Volvo Trucks announced two large electric truck orders in North America for a total of a three-digit number of the Volvo VNR Electric models, in its latest significantly upgraded version.

Retailers uncover new ways to respond to anticipated and unexpected order spikes so they don't lose the sale.

Whether you anticipate a retail demand surge or it happens unexpectedly, you need to be able to manage that sudden order spike in ways that don't harm customer relationships or your bottom line.

Q. Why is it more important than ever to establish a relationship with an expedited carrier?

A. In today's volatile transportation environment, capacity is king. As a result, securing TL or reliable LTL capacity comes at a significant cost. Even when a shipper is prepared to pay a premium, there is a lingering fear their transportation partner may have issues delivering on-time performance.

Q. How can right-sizing automation addresslabor shortages? Does it lead to increased employee engagement?

Q. The cost of shipping small parcels is constantly increasing, so how can I reduce and control these expenses more easily?

A. Global supply chains are still being impacted by COVID-19, and will likely remain volatile for the foreseeable future. Unprecedented volume is also a huge contributor to these costs. According to Statista.com, the global parcel shipping volume in 2020 was more than 131 billion parcels, a figure they predict will double in less than six years, reaching 266 billion parcels by 2026.

Due to shortages delaying—and even halting—transportation, big brands get creative to keep their product and materials moving. For example, Coca-Cola now transports materials in bulk shipping vessels, which are typically used for raw materials such as grain and coal.

BBQGrills.com, which offers premium grilling and outdoor kitchen products, launched in 2019 and quickly found a ready market. While its growth was largely a benefit, it also meant the company soon needed additional support in various functions, including transportation.

With 72% of consumers saying they will continue buying online via pickup or delivery, retailers need adequate local shipping processes as well as speedy delivery, says a recent report from SOTI. Highlights from the survey reveal:

Importers can mitigate supply chain disruption and the resulting escalation of costs by taking control of their shipments at origin and moving their goods more strategically.

Today's disruptions are even more significant than those during the financial crisis of 2008, says the Thomas Index Report. Prices for ocean freight shifted more than 72 percentage points over the course of the pandemic starting in 2020 to a peak in Q3 2021, when prices were more than 50% higher than average container shipping rates. That shift is notably higher than the 41 percentage point swing observed in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, the report says.

• Gebrüder Weiss opened a 65,900-square-foot warehouse in Conyers, Georgia. The new facility provides businesses with storage, pick and pack, retailer compliance capabilities, e-commerce solutions, and value-added services such as kitting.
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From leveraging bottlenecks to launching malware attacks, criminals are targeting the supply chain. Here's how to keep your freight—and information—safe.

SMB manufacturers and retailers are killing it in the middle and final miles.

It was only back in 2017 that Undercover Snacks, a New Jersey-based manufacturer, was making its chocolate and quinoa snacks by hand in a single commercial kitchen and delivering them from the back of an SUV.

Order volumes grew for 79% of third-party logistics (3PL) providers in 2021, but that growth was tempered by inventory availability and disruptions that cost the U.S. economy $228 billion, says a report from 3PL Central.

Disruptions, technology innovations, and consumer demands will persist in 2022. These are the four key trends impacting 3PLs in the coming year, the report says:

The growing requirements and demands placed on shippers and logistics service providers have pushed transportation management systems to become more agile and able to support greater service levels and cover multiple modes—especially parcel.

Q. What have the past few years revealed about consumer trends?

A. With the rise of e-commerce came the demand for next-day or same-day shipping with a catch—no added cost. Consumers crave the instant gratification they would have experienced from going to the store, without leaving their house, and as large online retailers began offering free shipping, this became the new norm.

Shippers must navigate a daunting array of complex challenges when operating in today's often turbulent supply chain landscape. Potential pain points are rampant.

Fortunately, shippers can turn to a variety of solutions and tools that can help drive capacity, control for rates, enable visibility, manage inbound and outbound execution of shipments, and improve the freight audit and payment processes—cumulatively addressing those nagging obstacles that frequently surface.

Supply chains have been teetering on the brink of downfall for many years from issues such as labor shortages, and the pandemic has only highlighted this problem further. When lockdowns started around the world, many empty shipping containers remained where they were. However, in early summer 2021, many countries loosened restrictions around COVID, unleashing pent-up consumer demand.