Wesco International, which achieved a record $5.5 billion in first-quarter net sales, has expanded its internet of things advisory services, created the Innovation Partner Ecosystem consortium and established an innovation center in Illinois. The industrial and electrical products distributor said the consortium will help create solutions for digitizing and consolidating customers' supply chains and assisting them with automation, security and grid modernization efforts.
Grainger's e-commerce subsidiary Zoro.com, which serves smaller businesses, reached the $1 billion sales milestone last year led by its technology team, which handles digital product management and digital merchandising, says Chief Technology Officer Andrew Goodfellow. "What we really have is a technology organization that contributes value directly to our customer every day, so that's a little bit...different [than] what you see at other organizations in our marketplace, in distribution especially," Goodfellow says.
US GDP grew at an annualized rate of 1.3% in the first quarter, up slightly from the previous estimate, according to the Commerce Department's revised figures. Consumer spending growth was also revised higher to 3.8%, while gross domestic income declined 2.3%.
McKinsey & Company research finds 37% of supply chain executives believe scenario planning plays a valuable role in enhancing supply chain resilience and 64% are planning on focusing such systems on end-to-end integrated solutions. McKinsey executives Knut Alicke, Katharina Hauck, Kai Hoberg and Jurgen Rachor offer five steps for successful scenario planning, including identifying demand and supply imbalances, defining mitigation scenarios and conducting system-based evaluations.
Nearly three-quarters of US executives are expecting generative AI to increase productivity, according to a recent survey by KPMG, and two-thirds of execs surveyed feel the technology will change the way people work. Two-thirds of the 225 survey respondents said implementation of AI would require hiring and training, but a quarter have no people strategy to integrate AI into the workforce and nearly a third anticipate resistance from workers.
Learning and cultivating the strengths of each team member can help them be more intentional -- and more successful -- in those areas. Sales leaders, too, should aim for constant improvement through developmental opportunities and advocate for resources and support from the company.
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee recently marked up 16 supply chain-related bills, including reforms for ocean shipping and CDL exam processes, a proposed revision for allowed truck sizes and weights and the Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act, which would invest $755 million to increase truck parking. "There's a lot happening in the supply chain area ... so anything Congress can do early to advance the ball is an important signal from Capitol Hill for shippers and carriers alike," Mullett Strategies principal Randy Mullett says.
When dialysis company DaVita was on life support, then-CEO Kent Thiry recognized a disconnect between executives and employees and sent the higher-ups into the field to learn from the workers why the company should survive -- and the strategy worked so well that every senior executive now spends a "Reality 101" week in a dialysis center doing what the workers do, reports Fast Company co-founder and author Bill Taylor. "The key to the transformation was that the front-line people, who got energized about the notion of a different kind of place to work and be a part of, swept along the executives," Thiry told Taylor.
Oxford University research found employers that focus on employee well-being often generate higher profits and valuations, writes Sebastian Buck, a partner at Enso. Studies also show well-being efforts improve employees' health, productivity, relationships and creativity, while also helping to recruit and retain top talent, Buck writes.
