Hormel Modernizes Supply Chain with AI Planning Platform
Hormel Foods has rolled out the o9 artificial‑intelligence planning platform across more than 70 of its facilities, linking demand, supply and inventory in a single system. The deployment, completed between March and December 2025, aims to shift the company from reactive problem‑solving to proactive, data‑driven planning for its diverse portfolio of refrigerated, shelf‑stable and specialty foods. Leveraging machine‑learning forecasts, automated inventory transfers and truckload optimization, Hormel expects higher forecast accuracy, reduced freight costs and stronger service reliability. The project was executed with consulting partner Accenture to accelerate the move toward a demand‑driven value chain.
NYC Law Enforcement Agencies Now Have 1,000 Plug-In Vehicles in Service
The City of New York’s Department of Citywide Administrative Services announced that more than 1,000 plug‑in vehicles are now assigned to its law‑enforcement agencies, including nearly 500 units for the NYPD. Across all 15 agencies, the fleet comprises 781 battery‑electric...
UPS, Teamsters Reach Nationwide Agreement on Driver Choice Program, Following Disputes
UPS and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters have reached a nationwide agreement on the company’s Driver Choice Program, a voluntary buyout offering $150,000 severance to eligible drivers. The deal caps the total number of severance packages at 7,500 and applies...
34,000 Shipping Routes Diverted From Hormuz Disruption: Report
More than 34,000 vessels were forced to reroute in the first four weeks after the Feb. 28 U.S.–Israel strike on Iran, with week 4 recording the highest diversion volume. Project44’s data show that traffic has not reverted to pre‑disruption patterns, as carriers...
Purolator Orders 100 Electric Step Vans From Workhorse
Workhorse Group received a purchase order for 100 battery‑electric step vans from Canadian logistics provider Purolator, doubling the carrier’s electric step‑van fleet. The order follows Purolator’s earlier purchases from Motiv, now part of Workhorse after a 2025 merger. Workhorse, which...
A Growing Problem: Lead Testing Uncovers ‘Deeply Concerning Issue’ in Spirulina Supply Chain
Cyanotech’s testing of 37 top‑selling spirulina and greens products found 18 samples—nearly half—exceed California’s Proposition 65 lead limits. Third‑party verification across multiple production lots confirmed the contamination is systemic, originating from offshore sourcing in the Asia‑Pacific region. The study also showed...
Retailers Rely on This Tariff Mitigation Tactic. Congress Has Noticed.
Retailers are increasingly using the decades‑old First Sale customs rule to lower tariff liabilities, with Target citing the method in its FY2025 filing and reporting sizable refunds. The rule lets importers declare the price paid in the earliest transaction of...
Mexico Truckers Block Key Freight Routes in Nationwide Strike
Mexican truckers and farmers launched a nationwide strike on Monday, blocking key freight corridors across more than 20 states and several U.S.-Mexico border crossings. The protest, organized by ANTAC and FNRCM, targets rising cargo crime, soaring diesel prices, deteriorating road...
West Asia Crisis Hits Activated Carbon Exports as Costs Surge Amid Shipping Woes
The West Asia crisis has shut Red Sea shipping lanes, halting Indian activated carbon shipments to key gold‑mining markets such as Sudan and Egypt. Exporters now face a $3,000 war‑risk surcharge per 40‑ft container and an extra $1,800 cost to...
Salary Survey: What Logistics and Supply Chain Jobs Pay in 2026
Logistics Management’s 2026 Salary and Compensation Study reveals a broad pay spectrum across the supply chain sector, with the average annual compensation reaching $126,400, a 5% rise from 2025. Executive‑level roles such as VP/General Manager command over $215,000, while warehouse...
Auto, Manufacturing CEOs Remain Upbeat on Growth; Bet Big on AI: KPMG
KPMG’s 2025 CEO Outlook shows automotive and industrial manufacturing leaders remain upbeat, with 87% and 81% respectively expressing confidence in sector growth despite geopolitical and cost pressures. Around three‑quarters of CEOs also trust their firms can execute large‑scale transformations. AI...
In a Tight Market, Reliability Wins
Freight carriers are facing tighter margins and heightened demand for consistent delivery performance. PrePass’s 2026 Mile Marker Impact Index shows that bypassing weigh stations can save an average of 7 minutes, half a gallon of fuel and $10.65 per event,...
How Procurement Teams Are Scaling Sourcing Without Hiring
Procurement leaders face rising spend volumes and tighter timelines, prompting a shift toward agentic AI that can initiate and drive sourcing events autonomously. Fairmarkit’s VP Erin McFarlane explains that automating repeatable tasks—such as intake classification, supplier matching, and bid analysis—allows teams...
Indium Corporation Announces Strategic Agreement for Domestic Critical Metals Recovery
Indium Corporation has signed a long‑term offtake framework with Flash Metals USA, a Metallium subsidiary, to purchase critical metals recovered from electronic scrap using Flash Joule Heating technology. The agreement covers gallium, germanium, copper, tin, gold and indium, with an...
Saab Wins $273m FMV Order for Mobile C-UAS
Saab has been awarded a Skr 2.6 bn ($273 million) contract by Sweden’s Defence Materiel Administration for a mobile, modular counter‑unmanned aerial system (C‑UAS). The system is designed to protect both military installations and civilian infrastructure from low‑altitude drone threats. Deliveries are planned...
Artemis II Supplier Series: Orion’s Windows
McDanel Advanced Materials, after acquiring Rayotek, will provide every Orion spacecraft window for Artemis II and the next four missions. The windows use a multi‑layer construction that shields against micrometeoroid impacts, radiation, and microbial growth while meeting strict mass limits. McDanel’s...
Tirupur Textile Units Accelerate Transition to PNG Amid LPG Shortage
Textile manufacturers in Tirupur are fast‑tracking the shift from liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to piped natural gas (PNG) as a prolonged LPG shortage, driven by Middle‑East geopolitical tensions, inflates production costs by roughly 15%. Industry leaders, backed by Adani Total...
In Person Interview: Sai Shivareddy of Nyobolt
Nyobolt CEO Sai Shivareddy says the battery market is booming, with global revenue projected to rise from $154 billion in 2025 to $555 billion by 2033. The company’s fast‑charging cells deliver super‑capacitor power density while retaining lithium‑ion energy, offering ten‑times longer cycle...
How Thieves Move $1m in Freight Before Anyone Realizes It
Authorities in Los Angeles busted an organized theft ring that had siphoned more than $1 million in high‑demand apparel and consumer goods. Over 50 pallets were recovered from a staging warehouse that was already feeding live‑e‑commerce resale channels. The operation illustrates...
5 Ways In-House Warehouse Expertise Improves Project Success
Storage Solutions highlights how its in‑house warehouse expertise drives project success across five core areas. By retaining design, engineering, and project management internally, the company tightens schedule control, anticipates hurdles, and delivers customized layouts that boost operational efficiency. Rapid response...
Nam Cheong Bags RM102.5 Million in Vessel Charter Contracts
Nam Cheong secured offshore support‑vessel charter contracts worth up to RM102.5 million (approximately $23 million USD) from regional oil majors. The deals, each lasting up to two years with a one‑year extension option, bring the company’s long‑term charter coverage to 69%—25 of...
The Supply Chain Cost Stack: Where Margin Is Actually Engineered
Rising supply‑chain costs are prompting firms to chase savings in transportation, procurement and warehousing, yet overall margins often remain flat. The article argues that true margin improvement comes from viewing the supply chain as an interconnected stack of decisions—network design,...
Oil Smugglers, Hoarders in Thailand Worsen Supply Crisis as Anutin Warns of Tough Times
Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul warned that the nation’s fuel crisis will deepen as diesel prices surged to a record 50 baht per litre (about $1.54). Justice Minister Rutthaphon Naowarat said roughly 57‑58 million litres of oil appear to have...
First Large-Scale Biomethanol Bunkering for Global Shipping Launched
Shanghai Electric successfully completed the world’s first large‑scale biomethanol bunkering, fueling the CMA CGM OSMIUM container ship at Shanghai’s Yangshan Port. The operation is part of China’s inaugural commercial biomethanol plant, delivering an initial 50,000 tons per year with plans to...
Deeptech Startup drivebuddyAI Secures Patent for Real-Time Road Quality Assessment System
DrivebuddyAI, an Ahmedabad‑based deep‑tech startup, has secured a patent for its Integrated Dynamic Road Quality Assessment System. The solution fuses GNSS positioning, IMU acceleration data, and AI‑enhanced video to detect potholes and rough patches in real time and geo‑tag them....
Solar, Mining Groups Partner to Improve Mineral Traceability
The Solar Stewardship Initiative (SSI) and the Initiative for Responsible Mining Assurance (IRMA) have signed a memorandum of understanding to boost traceability and sustainability across solar supply chains. The partnership will span the entire value chain, from mineral extraction to...
BTR Launches myBTR Customer Portal
BTR, a Tampa‑based fleet solutions provider, has launched the myBTR Customer Portal for its U.S. and Canadian clients. The cloud‑based platform gives municipalities, waste haulers and logistics firms real‑time visibility into rental assets, location tracking, utilization data and billing. Integrated...
US Department of Commerce Launches More Antidumping and Countervailing Investigations Into Foreign Shrimp
The U.S. Department of Commerce has opened a new round of antidumping and countervailing investigations covering shrimp exporters from India, Vietnam, Thailand and China. The review will examine over 1,000 companies—394 from India, 299 from Vietnam, and 199 each from...
Ex-Nintendo Sales Lead Warns Switch 2 Price Increase Is “Inevitable”
A former Nintendo sales executive warned that the upcoming Switch 2 will likely see its retail price rise, citing global RAM and storage shortages, inflation and tariff pressures that are already driving up console costs. Nintendo is attempting to soften the...
Aerios Announces Next Customer for Carrier App
Aerios has partnered with Berry Aviation to roll out its Carrier App, replacing the carrier’s early‑2000s legacy quoting platform. The new app slashes quote response times from five‑six minutes to roughly two minutes and enables instant duplicate quotes. It also...
Chemicals
The European Union has prioritized green‑tech and critical minerals to boost supply‑chain resilience, but its chemical sector strategy remains underdeveloped. Chemicals, essential to everything from automotive tires to medical devices, are as vital to Europe’s economic security as rare earths....
The Energy Transition Has Its Own Strait of Hormuz
Geopolitical risks are shifting from oil chokepoints like the Strait of Hormuz to the refining and processing of critical minerals needed for clean energy. By 2025, 34% of crude oil trade passes through Hormuz, but the concentration of mineral‑refining capacity—86%...
Common Overhead Door Failures That Create Safety and Compliance Risks
Industrial facilities rely on overhead commercial doors, yet failures such as fatigued torsion springs, misaligned tracks, auto‑reverse sensor faults, and frayed cables are common and often overlooked. Each failure mode can turn a routine entry point into a safety hazard,...
The Automation Gap No One Talks About — Until It Stops the Line
Manufacturers are rapidly adopting automation, yet many facilities still rely on manual intervention at the final wrap station, creating a hidden bottleneck. A loose film tail can trigger AMR sensors, halting production and costing roughly $125,000 per hour of downtime....
From Carrier-Centric to Customer-Centric: How SmartKargo Is Helping eCommerce Leaders Rethink Parcel Delivery
Parcel delivery has shifted from a back‑end cost center to a key customer‑experience driver for e‑commerce. Rising fuel surcharges, accessorial fees and tariff uncertainty make shipping costs unpredictable and erode trust. Airline‑powered networks such as Delta Cargo’s DeliverDirect and IAG...
How Order.co Is Modernizing Procurement and Spend Management at Scale
Order.co, a procurement platform for distributed teams, tackled two scaling hurdles: enforcing spend controls and automating high‑volume payments. By integrating Lithic’s payment infrastructure and Mastercard network, Order.co now issues single‑use and multi‑use virtual cards at scale while applying granular, real‑time...
How Do We Build a Dutch War Economy?
The RAND paper examines how the Netherlands could develop a European‑style war economy in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and pandemic‑induced supply‑chain shocks. It notes French President Emmanuel Macron’s call for a continent‑wide war economy and argues that...
The Santo Domingo Metro Receives Its First Metropolis Trains
Alstom has delivered the first two of eight three‑car Metropolis trains to the Santo Domingo Metro, marking a key milestone for the Line 2 extension project. The trains were manufactured in Barcelona and will undergo final inspections and testing before entering...
Inside How the World’s Largest Biscuit Brand Transformed ERP and Cut Costs 30%
Parle Products, the world’s top‑selling biscuit brand, has migrated its legacy SAP ECC system to SAP Cloud ERP Private hosted on IBM’s hybrid cloud. The clean‑core architecture and integrated AI tools have streamlined finance, supply chain and manufacturing processes. Early...
‘Romania Is About to Reap the Benefits of Infrastructure Works and EU Financing’
Romania, an EU member since 2007, is about to reap the benefits of roughly €10 bn ($11 bn) in Cohesion Fund financing that has modernized 600 km of rail and launched 900 km of works valued at about €6 bn ($6.5 bn). The effort concentrates on...
‘Open the F***in’ Strait’: Trump
President Donald Trump posted a profanity‑filled warning on Truth Social demanding Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz, signaling heightened U.S. pressure amid the US‑Israel‑Iran conflict. The weekend saw fresh attacks on Gulf ports, including a fire at the UAE’s Khorfakkan...
India Turns to Iran for Oil and Gas After 7-Year Hiatus, Signaling Limits to U.S. Tilt
India has restarted oil and LPG purchases from Iran after a seven‑year break, following a U.S. waiver that temporarily lifts sanctions on Iranian crude. The Ministry of Petroleum confirmed shipments, including a 44,000‑metric‑tonne LPG cargo, as refiners seek to offset...
Amazon to Cut Fresh Presence, Expand AmazonNow Across 10 to 15 Cities: UBS Report
Amazon plans to phase out its 4‑24‑hour Amazon Fresh service in 10‑15 major Indian cities, redirecting resources toward the ultra‑fast AmazonNow platform. The quick‑commerce offering, already live in six cities, is slated to expand to cover roughly 80% of the...
COSCO Targets Dozen LNG Dual-Fuel Boxships in $2bn Move
China’s state‑run shipping giant COSCO is in advanced talks to order up to 12 LNG dual‑fuel container ships from Hudong‑Zhonghua Shipbuilding, a deal valued between $2 bn and $2.3 bn. The vessels, sized at 14,000 teu neo‑panamax, would cost roughly $170‑190 million each and...
PKP Intercity Receives the First Modernised Combo Multi-Purpose Railcars
PKP Intercity has taken delivery of the first six of 50 modernised Combo multi‑purpose railcars built by H. Cegielski. The €351 million (≈ $90 million) project, co‑financed by EU funds through Poland’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan, adds new bogies, Wi‑Fi, USB, bicycle spaces...
How a Kentucky Farm Cut Truck Use in Half with New Grain Center
Kentucky farmer Tanner Stroup partnered with Adam Services and Mitchell Brothers to build a dual‑purpose grain center near Maceo, delivering roughly 850,000 bushels of storage for corn and soybeans. The facility’s design, featuring separate dump pits, scales, and GSI EVO...
Bangladesh Garment Makers See some Costs Triple in Wake of Iran War
Bangladesh’s garment sector, a cornerstone of the nation’s economy, is feeling the ripple effects of the Iran war as key synthetic fibres and chemicals have risen 10 % to 15 % in price. At least one critical input has seen its cost...
Diesel to Breach ₱170 per Liter on Tuesday
Diesel in the Philippines is set to breach ₱170 per liter (about $3.10), underscoring rising fuel costs amid global supply shocks. Meanwhile, the Recto Bank offshore block, estimated to hold 16‑20 TCF of gas and up to 5.4 billion barrels of oil,...
How One Factory in China Learned to Live with Tariffs and Turmoil
Agilian Technology, a $30 million Chinese electronics maker, weathered a turbulent 2025 as U.S. tariffs under President Trump froze more than half its revenue from American clients. The firm diversified by establishing production links in Malaysia and scouting facilities in India,...
Reinventing End-of-Line Inspection with iPhone + AI
Enao Vision’s new end‑of‑line (EOL) inspection system pairs an iPhone with deep‑learning AI to replace traditional rule‑based cameras and fatigued human checks. The AI model learns what a flawless product looks like, flagging any deviation and providing defect descriptions. Installation...
