Logistics pros have high hopes for AI, per report | McMaster-Carr to build $360M facility in Fort Worth, Texas | Mexico's cargo drivers slated to strike nationwide
The adoption of artificial intelligence for some portion of supply chain management is on the planning board for 96% of a small sampling of logistics professionals, while 14% are using or testing the technology and just 7% are "active users," according to Freightos research. The executives surveyed are primarily interested in using AI for pricing, shipping operations and customer service, and more than five in 10 predict "minor" effects on staff sizes.
McMaster-Carr recently received approvals for a new $360 million headquarters and distribution center in Fort Worth, Texas. The new facility is slated for a 117-acre site on the city's north side and is expected to create at least 250 full-time jobs, with at least 150 in place during the first year of operations. The Texas site gives McMaster-Carr a more significant presence in the Southwest US, with its other distribution centers located in Los Angeles, New Jersey, Atlanta and Cleveland.
According to the Mexican Alliance of Carrier Organizations, up to 300,000 of Mexico's cargo drivers are planning to participate in strikes, protests and blockades along major highways throughout the country on Tuesday and Wednesday that could disrupt domestic and international freight movement. MACO says it's striving for peaceful demonstrations while truckers call attention to issues such as the need for improved road safety, decreased operating costs and protection against cargo thieves and extortion.
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Automated bank validations leave little room for error, and automation also can promptly identify data anomalies that result in paying the wrong supplier, writes Trustpair CEO Baptiste Collot, who offers more suggestions for fighting procurement fraud. More than half of US companies were targeted by fraudsters in 2022, and 55% of successful fraud involves payment-related credential information changes, according to Trustpair research.
FedEx reduced domestic cargo flights by 14% year-over-year for July and UPS decreased its operation by 13% for the same period, while Amazon's flight activity increased by 16%, according to Morgan Stanley analysis. FedEx is paring its air strategy as part of a long-term plan to reduce costs, and both FedEx and UPS had previously announced plans to reduce activity to align with lower parcel shipment volumes.
Intermodal rail, a growth driver for volume, has been on a downward slope amid decreasing international and domestic freight volumes, dockworker labor uncertainty and lower-than-average truck use, writes Todd Tranausky, FTR Transportation Intelligence vice president of rail and intermodal. Meanwhile, carload volumes "are performing better than expected through the first half of 2023 and are expected to grow for the full year" from primary drivers including coal, chemicals, crushed stone, sand and gravel, metals and automotive.
Viewability has been a gold standard for metrics, but as time spent viewing ads wanes, US buy-side ad decision-makers are focusing more on attention metrics, per IAB, writes eMarketer senior analyst Evelyn Mitchell-Wolf.
Marketers are now "tentatively wading into attention" as a complementary metric to viewability, "but there's plenty of work to be done" before it becomes as prevalent.
Ecommerce brands such as Amazon, Apple, Google, Nike and Uber have become "extraordinary" by focusing on a four-point framework that starts with a balance between brand awareness and performance marketing, writes The KR Agency founder Kai Ravariere. The framework includes a focus on "consistent evaluation and optimization," sharing of data among teams and "understanding how each metric pulls a lever in your business' profitability."
A University of Michigan measure of consumer sentiment slipped to 69.5 in August, down from 71.6 last month, amid slightly worse inflation expectations. One-year inflation expectations climbed to 3.5%, above the 3.4% figure from the prior month.
Employers are increasingly reassigning workers instead of laying them off amid restructuring, but some wonder if this signifies a "quiet cutting" trend where companies are trying to push employees out while saving on severance pay. "I've seen lots of examples in my practice where employees are told they're being let go in a 'restructuring' and it turns out that they're the only one affected," said employment attorney Angela L. Walker.
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