Mike Carroll, a vice president at Georgia-Pacific, and Ron Norris, director of innovation at GP While Generative AI has sparked great excitement, a form of artificial intelligence called Causal AI might offer much greater potential. Causal AI offers the tantalizing promise of being able to unravel the intricate web of cause-and-effect relationships that govern business operations. Georgia-Pacific (GP) has demonstrated an application of Causal AI to dramatically improve touchless commerce. Georgia-Pacific and its subsidiaries manufacture and distribute a wide range of consumer products, includi ..read more

After months of anticipation, the day is finally here. On February 4 at the 2024 Grammy Awards, Taylor Swift announced that she would be releasing a new album, which had secretly been in the works for two years. The album, The Tortured Poets Department, was released overnight. But in a shocking twist, just two hours later, Swift surprise-released a 15-track expansion of the album, dubbed The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology. The album features collaborations with Post Malone and Florence & the Machine, with a video for the debut single Fortnight set to drop tonight. I’ve listened ..read more

Over the past decade, the main battleground for China’s WMS market has been in the consumption industry; but more recently the battleground has returned to the manufacturing industry. Overseas suppliers have always ruled the top end of the market in this segment. However, local Chinese vendors have been growing rapidly over the past few years and have the potential to compete with overseas suppliers. In terms of the competitive landscape, China’s WMS market has many competitors but very little concentration. In other words, there are opportunities for every company. According to the character ..read more

CF Industries’ Donaldsonville Ammonia Production Facility Has Invested in Carbon Capture Myron Ebell, who headed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) transition team for Trump’s first term, says that should Donald Trump and the Republicans defeat President Biden in November’s election, they will seek to dismantle climate legislation. A core target will be the Inflation Reduction Act, the legislation filled with support for clean energy projects and electric vehicles. If you read news coverage and the statements of both prominent Republicans and Democrats, this is a common point of view. A ..read more

The Masters: a tradition unlike any other. And a golfer unlike any other is looking to make history this weekend at the annual golf tournament played at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia: Tiger Woods. Actually, Woods is looking at 2 records this weekend, one of which is more attainable than the other. Woods has made 23 consecutive cuts at the Masters, tied with Fred Couples and Gary Player for the longest streak of all-time. The Masters has a notoriously unforgiving cut, allowing only the top-50 players from the first two days to advance into the weekend, where most PGA events ma ..read more

Drug shortages strike fear into people’s hearts. If you’re a patient in need of a particular drug for a critical health condition, you fear not being able to get access to the medicine you need. If you’re a pharmaceutical company, you fear the hit to your business, both headlines and bottom line. It takes enormous investments in R&D to produce successful drugs. Facing pressure to both ensure access and capture profits before the patent window expires, companies are loathe to lose sales. Makers of weight loss drugs are looking out a big picture window of patented opportunity right now, but ..read more

Supply chain resilience is a hot topic the last few years since post-Covid issues and newsworthy incidents like the Houthi attacks in the red sea have raised awareness.  The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore being struck by the Dali and collapsing is an unpredictable disruption to the supply chains of several industries including automobiles, coal, and agricultural machinery.  Baltimore is one of the busiest ports on the east coast, and the bridge collapse was not only a tragedy, but a reminder that supply networks remain fragile and disruptions are not always anticipated. The b ..read more

Brandon Daniels, CEO of Exiger The pandemic got almost every company talking about resilience. Supply chain risk solutions are hot. And a company called Exiger seemingly came out of nowhere to capitalize on this. Lately, Exiger has been in the news. In December of 2023 it was reported that $1.2 billion had been invested in Exiger by Carlyle and other venture capital firms. Exiger’s CEO, Brandon Daniels, told me they were larger than their three largest supply chain risk competitors combined. Mr. Daniels reports they have 870 employees, so based on a market study recently completed by ARC, this ..read more

The Great North American Eclipse is coming. A total solar eclipse will take place at the Moon’s ascending node on Monday, April 8, 2024. A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the image of the Sun for a viewer on Earth. A total solar eclipse occurs when the Moon’s apparent diameter is larger than the Sun’s, blocking all direct sunlight, turning day into darkness. Totality occurs only in a narrow path across Earth’s surface, with the partial solar eclipse visible over a surrounding region thousands of miles wide. This eclipse will be the first ..read more

Across the globe, companies continue to pledge to reduce their emissions, capture their emissions, and help to reduce the negative impacts of climate change. For many companies, this process begins with an overhaul of their manufacturing processes, looking at ways to promote sustainable manufacturing. Sustainable manufacturing is one step in the process of building sustainable supply chains. Not all emissions are created equally. Scope 1 emissions include all direct emissions that are generated from sources that are directly owned or controlled by an organization. Scope 2 emissions include al ..read more