El Nino could exacerbate climate-driven shipping woes | UNFI to build 1M-square-foot Fla. distribution center | Wakefern begins wider rollout of Tally robots
Extreme weather is affecting major shipping routes, and El Nino could make the situation worse. Drought in Panama has prompted a reduction in the number of vessels passing through the Panama Canal and created a logjam of ships, and the onset of El Nino could exacerbate the problem. Danish shipping giant Maersk warns that climate risks to major shipping routes are becoming more prevalent.
United Natural Foods, Inc. announced plans to build a one-million-square-foot distribution center equipped with the latest warehouse technology near Sarasota, Fla., to replace its 734,000-square-foot in the area. The new facility will have automation and modern technologies to improve selecting, packing and loading functions.
Wakefern Food is expanding its partnership with Simbe Robotics to bring Tally Robots to more locations after a trial period involving more than 20 ShopRite stores. The robots aid with inventory management by scanning shelves and using AI to report misplaced, mispriced and out-of-stock products.
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Declining transportation utilization and inventory levels have contributed to the Logistics Managers' Index dropping to a record low 45.4 in July, down from 45.6 in June, its third straight month of decline. "With e-commerce stabilized at around 15% of retail, it is more likely that the warehousing market is reaching an equilibrium after three years of wild swings. Warehousing is more stable than transportation and less prone to wild swings," according to the report.
Some 10 million people felt the fallout from supply chain cyberattacks last year, and an estimated 45% of organizations are expected to fall victim to such events by 2025, industry data show. By adopting the Shift-Left approach and identifying potential vulnerabilities at every stage of the supply chain, stakeholders "can strengthen their ability to withstand supply chain attacks and safeguard their critical assets and operations," writes cybersecurity specialist Kevin Kirkwood.
Marketers are navigating an increasingly crowded landscape of AI tools that's complicated by rapid advancements and issues such as data privacy concerns and copyrights. Gartner analyst Nicole Greene says the process is being made easier by the integration of AI into existing platforms but notes, "Marketers should know how each AI model works, the types of data vendors use, how they secure data and which industry-specific uses the vendor's tools can power."
US consumers credit Federal Reserve actions and supply-chain improvements as the main factors behind slowing inflation over the past year, according to a recent New York Federal Reserve survey. Respondents blamed supply-chain challenges, such as product shortages, Covid-related shutdowns and a lack of workers as the top factors driving prices higher between 2019 and 2022. Despite higher gasoline and grocery costs, consumer inflation expectations unexpectedly fell in early August.
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