Supply Chain Dive

Supply Chain Disruption Is the New Normal Supply chain volatility has become a constant reality for manufacturers. Component shortages, supplier turnover, evolving regulations, and geopolitical uncertainty continue to introduce complexity with no clear end in sight. While many organizations have improved their ability to respond when disruptions occur, leading teams are shifting their focus upstream—embedding resilience into their supply chains from the start.

Invisible work may be costing you more than you realize. Chasing down shipment updates, scanning dashboards for exceptions, reconciling invoices line-by-line, and other repetitive tasks consume a significant part of the average logistics team’s day. Constant context switching contributes to higher decision fatigue and lower job satisfaction, leading to more employee turnover for your business.

High visibility and sustainability. Fast, smooth and efficient service across coast-to-coast and even regional routes. Elevated security. All are essential to today’s supply chains, and more and more shippers are finding they can access all of these qualities in a surprising place: intermodal. The fact is, intermodal has been typecast as slow, unreliable and best suited only for coast-to-coast moves where shippers must trade speed and visibility for lower cost. But times have very much changed.

This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Hasbro Inc., one of the nation’s largest toymakers, said it suffered a cyberattack that could lead to weeks of product delays, according to a regulatory filing.

This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in March for the third consecutive month, said U.S. supply executives in the latest ISM Manufacturing PMI Report. ISM’s index registered 52.7% in March, a 0.3-percentage point increase compared to February. The overall economy continued expansion for the 17th month in a row. A PMI index below 50% indicates an industry in contraction.

For many warehouses, the loading and unloading process is one of the final areas that can tap into viable automated technology to improve operations, but that might be changing.

For much of the past decade, parcel shipping was defined by expansion: denser networks, faster delivery and steadily rising box volumes. That growth isn’t disappearing; parcel volumes are still expected to increase roughly 20–25% over the next five years. What is changing is the industry’s willingness to pursue growth at any cost. The era of unprofitable expansion is coming to an end.

British e-commerce firm Ocado suffered a setback a few months back when Kroger decided to scale back the online fulfillment network the two companies had developed together. Now, Ocado is looking to link up with other U.S. grocers after refining its strategy. Ocado’s exclusive agreement with Kroger concluded at the end of last year, and the technology company is courting new stateside retailers with a store-based automation system it’s developed.

This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Technology companies are clamoring for processors, especially hyperscalers looking to power their data centers. The demand is so strong and supply is so tight that Intel redirected some of its production lines from consumer chips to Xeon server chips. On an earnings call Jan. 22, CFO David Zinsner said he expects wafer supplies to improve over the next six months, noting that supplies are most constrained in the first quarter.

This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. U.S. sustainability policy may have shifted, but some manufacturers are still finding a faster path to climate, governance and workforce gains by investing in domestic production.