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Yossi Sheffi, Director of the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics, has done it again.

Yossi Sheffi says,

Densely populated and digitally connected megacities will create an urgent demand for inner-city, hyperlocal fulfillment centers says Dr. Matthias Winkenbach, Director of the MIT Megacity Logistics Lab.

Winkenbach’s analysis is part of a new white paper titled Roadmap for Change: The Flexible Industrial Distribution Facilities Network of the Future published by the Industrial Asset Management Council (IAMC).

In a new book, MIT professor Yossi Sheffi examines the trade-offs companies face when grappling with sustainability issues.

In 2010, the environmental group Greenpeace launched an online campaign against Nestle, the food-production giant. Nestle’s KitKat bars, the campaign charged, contained palm oil supplied by a company that was improperly clearing rainforests.

Last month, for the first time, a pedestrian was killed in an accident involving a self-driving car. A sports-utility vehicle controlled by an autonomous algorithm hit a woman who was crossing the road in Tempe, Arizona. The safety driver inside the vehicle was unable to prevent the crash.

he autonomous-car industry faces closer scrutiny and criticism after a self-driving Uber killed a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona, on Sunday evening.

Full details of the accident are unclear, but the local police department issued a statement saying that a woman was fatally struck after walking in front of an Uber car traveling in self-driving mode. Uber says it is cooperating with a police investigation and has suspended testing of its self-driving vehicles in Phoenix, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and Toronto.

More consumers are interacting with businesses through messaging and chat apps such as Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, or through audio technology devices such as Amazon’s Echo product. This chatter is often called conversational commerce. How might it impact supply chains?

Brian Subirana, Director of the MIT Auto-ID Lab, will explore the implications at the forthcoming Crossroads 2018 conference, on April 17th, at the MIT campus, Cambridge MA.

Using drones to deliver packages requires the aerial delivery vehicles to navigate a complex logistics obstacle course at high speeds. MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) has developed a system called NanoMap, that allows drones to consistently fly at 20 miles per hour through dense environments such as warehouses.

Are we learning to trust self-drive vehicle technology?

With the introduction of the Drug Supply Chain Security Act (DSCSA), all players within the pharmaceutical industry are confronting the challenge of implementing a serialized drug tracing system with little guidance on data standards, roles, or accountability.

In 2015 The Economist magazine famously dubbed blockchain technology “the trust machine” owing to its ability to create trust in business networks. This capability resonates strongly in the supply chain world, where a lack of trust is a major obstacle to high-level collaboration. The promise of blockchain may be fulfilled in time, but at present its progress is impeded by – ironically – a lack of trust in the technology.

In early January, 40 students from around the world landed in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to embark on their first semester at MIT. Though it was the first time they had set foot on campus, they weren’t new to MIT courses by any stretch.

Supply Chain Management Review interviews Chris Caplice, Executive Director of MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics.

When supply chain managers examine the global third-party logistics (3PL) marketplace this year, many industry analysts suggest that they take a “granular” view.

Mismatches between inventory records and stock have long plagued the retail industry. A system being developed by the MIT Media Lab that uses an aerial drone to read radio frequency identification (RFID) tags on product packaging, could provide one solution to this perennial problem.

Dubbed RFly, the system could also help to integrate warehouses and other storage facilities into digitized supply chains.

As we head into 2018, what potential disruptions do supply chains face and how can companies manage these risks over the coming year?

It’s impossible to know for sure how supply chains will be disrupted in 2018, but we can prepare for the worst by learning from the past. Disruptive events that occurred over the last several years fall into three broad categories of supply chain risk: Natural Catastrophes, Man-Made, and Economic. Let’s look at each type of risk and their impacts on supply chains.

1. Natural Catastrophes

NINGBO, CHINA, December 13, 2017 - Ningbo Supply Chain Innovation Institute China (NSCIIC) received competitive awards at the fifth Tencent Business School Development Forum in Beijing.  The forum is a unique showcase for outstanding business education organizations in China.  NSCIIC took the award for “The Outstanding Business Education Brand”. Several other top universities in China shared the honor with NSCIIC, including Guanghua School of Management at Peking University, and Fudan University.

Transportation is the second biggest global emitter of greenhouse gases (GHG), yet the logistics sector is often left out of the climate conversation. The 23rd Conference of Parties (COP23), a major annual forum for climate policy dialogue, recently moved transportation into the spotlight, paving the way for more proactive emissions reductions measures.

Millions of small, family-operated retailers known as nanostores are the main source of consumer packaged goods (CPG) for many consumers in Africa, Asia and Latin America. These mom-and-pop outlets have thrived by offering affordability as well as the right mix of items and convenience, and by gaining the trust of their customers. At the same time, however, the retail model they have created is far from efficient.

Can nanostores survive in the face of competition from large, more efficient retail chains?

Aging Americans are worth $8 trillion in economic activity but some companies are finding it a challenge to tap into the growing market. Author of "The Longevity Economy," Joseph Coughlin, joined CBSN to discuss how this growing demographic is influencing the American economy.

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Technological innovation is advancing at a frantic pace, and it seems that every day we are reminded of the ever-widening gap between the technical skills that industry desperately needs, and the skills that current and prospective employees possess. MIT and other STEM universities are committed to giving students these tools

But there is another skills gap that receives less attention and which I believe is critically important, especially for students of engineering and science – the “soft” skills deficit. 

Traditional “brick and mortar” retailers are disappearing in record numbers and many are close to drawing their last commercial breath.

The demise of well-known brands may be regrettable to some – but it’s not the end of the world.

While this period of disruption is traumatic for many people, it’s important to keep in mind that there is plenty of good news too. The structural changes that are redefining retailing as we know it also are creating new opportunities for entrepreneurs and job seekers.

Over the past two decades, the MIT AgeLab’s Dr. Joseph F. Coughlin has been busting myths about aging with groundbreaking, multidisciplinary research. In his new book, The Longevity Economy: Inside the World’s Fastest-Growing, Most Misunderstood Market, he presents a new portrait of the upcoming cohort of older adults: a vast, diverse group of consumers representing every possible level of health and wealth.

Professor Sheffi's fifth book, Balancing Green: When to Embrace Sustainability in a Business (and When Not To), published by MIT Press will be available both in stores and in electronic format in mid-February of 2018.  Pre-orders are available online from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, as well as book stores everywhere.

Pre-Order Balancing Green: When to Embrace Sustainability in a Business (and When Not To)

On Wednesday, they met each other face to face for the first time. On Thursday, they took first place in a worldwide global supply chain simulation and competition called The Fresh Connection (TFC).