AI chatbots can streamline distributors' customer service | Retaining talent key to navigating supply chain challenges | M. Holland to supply PCR resins from Lavergne
Distributors and manufacturers can use the chatbot feature of artificial intelligence software with access to company data to give customers immediate answers to various questions, Indian River Consulting Group founder Mike Marks says in this podcast. AI "gives you better data quicker to make better decisions about what you do with your time and your resources. That's where the money is," Marks says.
Talent availability, economic growth, geopolitical uncertainty and technology changes are among the top concerns cited by operations and supply chain leaders in Russell Reynolds Associates' "Q4 2022 Global Leadership Monitor" report. Nearly all respondents plan to focus on retaining talent, showing that "investing into and retaining critical talent ... [is] the most important lever to pull from an ops and supply chain perspective," Russell Reynolds' Ben Shrewsbury said.
M. Holland has reached a deal to procure and distribute post-consumer recycling resins from Lavergne. "Our partnership with Lavergne will help meet the demand for PCR resins for our clients in North America," said M. Holland's Samantha Stone.
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The Port of Los Angeles' February import volume was down 41% year-over-year and 33% from the month prior, while the Port of Long Beach witnessed 35% and 3% drops, respectively. Flexport's Nerijus Poskus believes "a lot of the transition from the West Coast to the East Coast is permanent" due to the rise in East Coast distribution centers, cross-country shipping services and other factors.
Digital twin technology may have begun during the Apollo 13 disaster in 1970 as NASA engineers used training simulators to test how to bring the three astronauts home safely. Since then, the technology has advanced greatly, with twins across a variety of industries using real-time data and artificial intelligence to develop insights that predict problems before they arise.
Social Commerce: Get back to basics US consumers have shifted their buying habits, making social media a key part of the sales process. In this webinar, learn how to take advantage of consumers' new shopping habits and tap into social media. Register here.
Demandbase's Gareth Noonan explains three ways business-to-business marketers can ensure success, even during a recession. Noonan advises B2B marketers on how to avoid budget cuts by proving value and how to personalize marketing using a target account list.
Make blind hiring practices that judge candidates on skills over demographic attributes successful by writing gender-neutral job advertisements, using artificial intelligence-based candidate-screening tools and assembling a diverse hiring team that is well-trained to recognize their own unconscious biases, writes Einav Lavi, the chief human resources officer at Qualitest. "If done right, it results in increased fairness and consistency and identifies the best talent for the job," Lavi writes.
