At the beginning of every year, it rains predictions by economists, analysts and consultants. What will inflation do this year? And how will the global economy develop? The experts all like to make predictions to give readers and listeners some certainty and direction, especially in these uncertain times. Port economist Bart Kuipers, affiliated with Erasmus University Rotterdam, predicts that things don’t look good for the European economy, as Rotterdam’s throughput of containers, ore and coal has dropped significantly for the second year in a row. He calls Rotterdam’s transshipment figures a ..read more

Since the COVID-19 pandemic and the start of the war in Ukraine, with the ensuing geopolitical tensions, the entire world seems to be balancing on the brink of chaos. Global supply chains are also pretty unbalanced due to a succession of bullwhip and domino effects. On top of this, linear supply chains need to transform into circular ecosystems because of the need for companies to become more sustainable. Because the world increasingly resembles a chaotic anthill, it might be useful to study these fascinating creatures more closely and learn from them. Ants live in colonies of between several ..read more

The labour market is currently in substantial turmoil. On the one hand, there is a persistent shortage of staff, while on the other, companies are having to downsize due to the faltering economy. At the same time, chatbot ChatGPT celebrated its first birthday last month, with 100 million weekly users worldwide as proof of the phenomenal success of the text generating application. A common question is whether ChatGPT and generative artificial intelligence (AI) will replace jobs. ChatGPT itself gives a more or less evasive answer to this. However, I think employees, and the overly concerned unio ..read more

After a huge peak in 2020, online retail’s share of total retail sales seems to have stagnated at around 13-15% in the major European countries and the USA. It is a similar picture for online groceries, with an even slightly lower share and little to no growth. Many of the online grocery services that saw the light of day in recent years are struggling. Instant delivery companies have all but disappeared now that the last man standing, Getir, is experiencing financial woes. The mega deal between British grocery delivery company Ocado and US-based Kroger to build dozens of distribution centres ..read more

“Who’s going to pay for decarbonizing the supply chain?” was the title of a recent article on a supply chain website written by an experienced US journalist (and how very American of him to immediately zoom in on who would bear the costs!). According to the journalist, 75% of all emissions fall under Scope 3, i.e. are caused beyond the company itself. Meanwhile, according to an estimate by consulting firm McKinsey, the global economy’s transition to ‘net zero’ emissions will annually cost an additional $3.5 trillion, equivalent to half the profits of all multinationals worldwide. Needless to s ..read more

Does it resemble hip-hop? Jazz? A cha-cha? The slide? No one knows, but in my discussions, business leaders agree that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is here, and the projected impact on supply chain technology looms large sending the industry into very different gyrations. How fast will it transform work, no one knows, but excitement reigns. By Lora Cecere Traditionally, supply chain technology providers evolve slowly, and business leaders move at an even-slower pace (glacier speed) to revise work practices. For me, it is like watching paint drying in the winter. Can we supercharge this? I thin ..read more

Many companies around the world are currently in the midst of a strategic repositioning. The choices they make will determine whether they survive the coming decade of innovations, uncertainties and changes, or will be obliterated or acquired by competitors. The once-mighty conglomerate General Electric, built up by industrial icon Jack Welch, is being subdivided into three distinct companies, for example, because the various corporate structures, business models and supply chains have become so complex that there is no longer any synergy to be gained. Similarly, Japanese electronics group Tos ..read more

According to economists at banking giant Goldman Sachs, ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots will put 300 million jobs at risk worldwide. 18% of all full-time jobs could end up being automated – and in particular the administrative tasks of white-collar professionals. Blue-collar workers in hands-on roles at distribution centres and elsewhere are less at risk of losing their jobs due to automation. I recently visited FedEx’s newly enhanced international distribution centre (DC) in the Dutch town of Duiven. I was curious about the level of automation at this DC since the reop ..read more

Many supply chain executives have been able to prove their worth since the early 2020s, during disruptions including factory shutdowns in China, the obstruction of the Suez Canal, the shift to online shopping (and back again), and the shift from hospitality to supermarkets (and back again). And last year, all the chaos was compounded by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and subsequent sanctions. Given the enormous geopolitical and public health-related disruptions over the past three years, it is an amazing feat that the vast majority of store shelves remained filled for virtually the entire period ..read more

The Dutch province of North Brabant recently decided to temporarily suspend the construction of new large-scale distribution centres in most of its locations, and dozens of counties have imposed similar moratoriums in the USA. In the case of urban distribution, research increasingly shows that vans and other delivery vehicles spend the majority of their time standing still. Meanwhile, the space needed to store containers in and around ports is increasing faster than containers can be processed. In today’s lengthy supply chains, goods are increasingly stationary rather than in motion. Inventori ..read more