We all remember the semiconductor chip shortage of 2021-22. According to consulting firm AlixPartners, the global auto industry produced 8.2 million fewer vehicles in 2021 because of the chip shortage. And while the chip shortage is mostly a memory in 2023, it may rear its ugly head again soon, thanks to the push for electric vehicles. “If you break it down to the manufacturing level, there are five or six major manufacturers that participate in the semiconductor EV [space],” Frank Cavallaro, CEO of A2 Global, explains. That, he tells Supply Chain Management Review, may not sound like a significant issue,…
美国经济是否陷入衰退,标题into one, or coming out of one, has been hotly debated for the past year. The post-COVID recovery has created a fluctuations in economic data unlike anything economists have ever seen. As a result, making determinations on the state of the economy has been difficult at best. While retail sales have continued to rise, up 0.3% in June from May and 1.5% in June year-over-year, the increase is the weakest since May 2020, according to the Commerce Department. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said the services economy activity grew again in…
Women made gains in the supply chain workforce in 202 and now make up 41% of the total workforce, according to a new survey from Gartner. However, while women have grown their over ranks in the past year, the growth rate in executive leadership is a bit slower, albeit still at a record high. “It’s particularly encouraging to see women make gains at the senior executive level, as we know that when a woman holds the top supply chain position this has a positive correlation with more women in leadership and in all roles through that organization,” said Caroline Chumakov,…
Supply chains continue to become more responsive, and providers are developing more solutions than ever, Andy Moses, senior vice president of sales and solutions for Penske Logistics, said during a webinar presentation ahead of the recent release of the 2023 State of Logistics Report. “Logistics is largely a solutions-based discipline,” Moses said. “It’s heavily fueled by technology, by process [and] discipline by scale. And I think what we’re seeing is the requirements for the responsiveness of supply chains have never been greater. And our solutions activity is kind of off the charts at the moment.” The 2023 State of Logistics…
Increased inventory levels are having multiple impacts on businesses, from higher carrying costs to lower profitability. An April CNBC Supply Chain Survey found that 36% of businesses expected inventories to return to normal in the second half of the year, but just as many saying the glut will last into 2024. Because companies must pay taxes on inventory held, the excess items on hand are having a detrimental effect on the bottom line. “The companies that are holding larger inventory amounts for a larger period of time, that is putting added stress on their balance sheets,” Maureen Sullivan, who leads…
Most manufacturing companies face barriers to new product innovation, yet 78% are actively evaluating tech solutions that will make product development more efficient. That is one of the high-level takeaways from the 8th annual State of Manufacturing survey, conducted by Fictiv. Fictiv provides an operating system for custom manufacturing, allowing companies to improve speed to market for mechanical parts. The 2023 data found an 11-point increase, from 38% in 2022 to 49% in the current survey, of leaders focused on accelerating the speed of new product innovation, indicating a strategic shift from “survive to thrive,” the company said. On the…
The supply chain remains in a state of flux, with some areas seeing positive momentum whiles others suffer from employment and rate drops. Overall, it is still too early to identify exactly what the post-pandemic supply chain will look like, but a new report released today from the Association for Supply Chain Management (ASCM) and KPMG, sheds some light on the direction it is heading. “The overall market continues to resolve toward a pre-pandemic norm. However, there are some noteworthy differences — in particular, reshoring and nearshoring effects on ocean and air freight,” the groups wrote in the latest KPMG…