Autonomous delivery truck fleet investments speeding up | NAW appoints Lauren Williams associate VP of government relations | Lineage Logistics acquires 8-asset portfolio from Burris
Several major investments by self-driving vehicle companies point to the coming reality of autonomous delivery truck fleets as Kodiak Robotics unveiled its first East Coast truckport in August and Volvo Autonomous Solutions established an office for activities in Texas freight corridors. This comes after the late 2021 development that Daimler Truck AG is developing a Level 4 autonomous truck platform including key redundancy systems for safety such as self-monitoring of the braking system, steering system, low-voltage power net and network communications.
The National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors named Lauren Williams associate vice president of government relations. Williams, who was previously director of government relations at the American Bankers Association, will be responsible for leading policy efforts and lobbying on issues related to labor and the workforce, transportation and logistics.
Lineage Logistics has acquired a 1.3 million-square-foot cold storage portfolio from Burris Logistics that includes eight warehouses and e-commerce assets in six states. Located in Jacksonville, Fla., and McDonough, Ga., the two largest facilities in the acquisition are over 200,000 square feet. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
To blunt the impact of supply chain disruptions and remain competitive, companies need to adopt unified procurement strategies and digital tools for seamless collaboration, efficient data management and proactive analysis, Anders Lillevik, CEO of Focal Point, writes. This approach involves bringing procurement data into a central interface, which trims redundancy-related spending and contributes to strategic goals.
"The liability of excess inventory affects every business in the value chain," so companies must rethink the concept of "infinite demand" and work for the health of the whole chain, not just themselves, writes PS Subramaniam, a partner at Kearney. One company reduced its inventory by 10% in a few weeks using a five-prong approach, including collaborating to find new homes for unused components in stock, altering planning guidelines and prioritizing customer revenue, Subramaniam says.
Online business-to-business marketplaces let buyers operate in the global market and discover products and suppliers through a simple, efficient buying process that helps overcome challenges, Roland Palmer, general manager of UK, Benelux and Nordics at Alibaba Group, writes. The platforms -- and technologies such as virtual reality and live-streaming -- help companies build resilience and capture growth opportunities without requiring enormous resources.
LinkedIn's new AI assistant within the self-serve ad platform generates campaigns based on a brand's online content and includes recommended goals, budgets and target audiences in as little as five minutes. The Accelerate tool, which can explain why it took a particular approach, is currently available to a select group of ad agencies with plans to roll it out in 2024.
The majority of business-to-business companies don't have distinctive brand assets, per LinkedIn's B2B Institute and Distinctive BAT -- a major mistake considering the competitive marketing advantage they bring, write the B2B Institute's Peter Weinberg and Jon Lombardo. The pair delve further into lessons from B2B brand asset research and outline five steps for B2B marketers to build a library of brand assets.
Keep your anxiety at bay if you're asked to speak spontaneously by seeing the invitation as an opportunity and keeping a framework in mind such as "compare, contrast, conclude" or "problem, solution and benefit" and staying focused on your message, says Mark Abrahams, author and host of the "Think Fast, Talk Smart" podcast. "Structure actually enables you to be more spontaneous, which is one of the many ironies," Abrahams says.
Business leaders should become adept at six management and business strategies, writes Britt Andreatta, former chief learning officer for Lynda. These skills include being able to drive change, practicing emotional intelligence and helping workers understand the importance of their work to the business.
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