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During the event, a presentation titled "Supply Chain Innovations in Emerging Markets," was conducted by Dr. Edgar Blanco, Research Director in the Center for Transportation & Logistics (CTL) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Dr. Blanco’s presentation highlighted the importance of innovation and the types of changes currently being made in the logistics sector that are adding value to supply chains around the world.

For our 2015 Rainmakers, success isn't just about fame and fortune. It's also about making a contribution to the logistics field and advancing the profession.

Q: Some see supply chain management (SCM) as a business management discipline, while others place it in the realm of engineering. Do you see those approaches as competitive or complementary?

By Jarrod Goentzel and James B. Rice, Jr.

By Dr. Yossi Sheffi, LinkedIn Influencer

The success of the taxi-like Uber service has spawned many start-up attempts in related (and other) areas. In fact, it seems that any time a new app puts service providers in direct contact with customers, the service involved becomes an “Uber” activity.

But the Uber moniker does not necessarily mean that a new business model has been created. And the service innovations bestowed by the classification might not be as disruptive as is assumed.

Although the Ebola outbreak in West Africa unfolded half a world away from UMass Medical School in Worcester, the crisis in West Africa engaged the hearts, minds and hands-on expertise of a phalanx of UMMS faculty members and collaborators.

These brave and committed individuals will be recognized for their selfless and lifesaving efforts to help stem the Ebola outbreak in Liberia at UMass Medical School’s 42nd Commencement Exercises on Sunday, May 31.

By Dr. Yossi Sheffi, LinkedIn Influencer

The roster of food companies that want to eliminate palm oil from their products is getting longer. But actually reaching that goal will require an enormous effort across their supply chains.

“Once a company goes into the palm oil supply chain, it gets incredibly complex,” says Alexis Bateman, a research associate with the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics. The company “can have multiple different products that contain the material and then palm oil can come from several different derivatives—from fruit bunches, from the tree, from the palm kernel.”

Dr. Bruce Arntzen, executive director of the supply chain management program at the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics found this year’s Salary Survey results compelling for that very reason. “As far as the value of an advanced education, our program is the ‘poster child’ for that,” he says. “Since I have been here, our 10-month program has resulted in the class average salary boost ranging between 57 percent to 81 percent. Not bad for a hiatus of less than a year out of the work force.”

With sustainability a topic of significant interest among many in the logistics industry, C.H. Robinson and the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics (MIT CTL) have combined to develop research aimed at finding ways to better quantify carbon emissions at the Less-Than-Truckload (LTL) shipment level.

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Jarrod Goentzel, founder and director of the MIT Humanitarian Response Lab, has been using these methods to help West Africa cope with the Ebola outbreak, and said the same approach could be used in Boston to create a central point among its cluster of large hospitals to house supplies needed in crisis situations.

“We have lots of hospitals here. In a panic mode, everyone is trying to procure supplies,” he said. “Basic human nature is to hoard and hoard and be prepared. But the more centrally you stock things, the more risk that can cover.”

By Dr. Yossi Sheffi, LinkedIn Influencer

The tragic loss of Germanwings Flight 9525 in the French Alps has galvanized discussions about pilotless aircraft, and whether we have the technology to safely replace humans with computers in the cockpit.

In broad terms the answer is yes, we do have the technology, but of course the route to full automation in passenger planes – and for that matter in cars and trucks too – is far from straight. To find answers we need to look at the journey rather than the destination.

Conference spotlights companies and organizations that are innovating across various sectors.

Panelist Jarrod Goentzel, director of the MIT Humanitarian Response Lab, which aims to improve supply chains and response times during humanitarian crises, said mobile technologies have great potential for improving supply chains, especially among African countries.

Attending a symposium on the future of transportation and logistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is as forward looking at you might imagine. The event, MIT Crossroads, is organized by the university’s Center for Transportation & Logistics and is designed to bring to light concepts and ideas that may well impact transportation networks in the coming years. Low-cost, long-life batteries that store electricity, autonomous motorized bicycles that carry people and packages, and the future of 3D printing were just a few of the ideas on display this year.

By Roberto Perez-Franco

While it is true that supply chains are key for sustained innovation in a company, it is also true that all innovations are not the same. A given supply chain can work perfectly for developing and launching a given innovative product, and yet—if applied like a cookie-cutter—the very same supply chain can spell disaster for a different innovative endeavor.

Before lunch on the first day of this year’s TPM, Chris Caplice, executive director of MIT’s Center for Transportation & Logistics, blew us away with a rapid-fire 20-minute talk on the future of transportation and logistics. He used the great horse-manure crisis of 1894 as a case study — the main form of transportation in those days, after all, was the horse. The horse population had reached problematic levels around the world, producing unpleasant consequences: urine, flies, congestion, carcasses and traffic accidents.

More cargo is being shifted away from congested West Coast trade routes

“Currently, the lowest-cost option is to go to the West Coast ports,” said Yossi Sheffi, director of the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “The supply-chain procurement managers are doing this on day-to-day price cost pressures. Why rock the boat?”

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By Dr. Yossi Sheffi, LinkedIn Influencer

It appears that ports on the US West Coast are back in full swing after a protracted labor dispute delayed cargo worth billions of dollars and caused untold reputational damage to the companies caught in the crossfire.

But the implications of this standoff between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the Pacific Maritime Association go beyond idle ships and stranded freight containers.

By Dr. Yossi Sheffi, LinkedIn Influencer

Apple CEO Tim Cook recently described the demand for iPhones as “staggering” after divulging that the company sold 74.5 million units in the holiday quarter even though it raised the price of this iconic product. Total sales in the period amount to more than 34,000 phones per hour flying off the shelves around the clock reported the Wall Street Journal.

That’s the question Bruce Arntzen tried to answer when he started the Hi-Viz Research Project.

As Executive Director of MIT’s Supply Chain Management Program, Arntzen works with corporations to find innovative solutions to supply chain problems.

A new way to deliver freight in congested cities, a revolutionary energy storage system, and a method for driving innovation by harnessing skunk work projects, are some of the developments that supply chain professionals will learn about at Crossroads 2015, March 24, 2015, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) campus, Cambridge, MA.

Some 130 masters’ students from more than 25 countries gathered at MIT on Jan. 21 to present 80 research projects displayed on electronic posters.

Research Expo 2015 not only presented research in supply-chain management from around the globe — the projects were sponsored by companies and more 250 executives viewed the posters — it was also the culmination of a month-long series of events and networking opportunities.

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A crowdsourced digital bazaar will directly bridge the gap between local craftsmen and global consumers.

Although tourism accounts for the second-largest industry within Morocco’s economy, many Moroccan craftsmen who depend on tourism to earn their living still face significant economic hardship, as a growing percentage of international retail transactions are being conducted online.

First report of Comprehensive Initiative on Technology Evaluation offers new framework for assessment.

When a person lives on less than $2 a day — as some 2.7 billion people around the world do — there isn’t room for a product like a solar lantern or a water filter to fail.

It’s a challenge development agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and consumers themselves face every day: With so many products on the market, how do you choose the right one?

By Jarrod Goentzel

Walk through the recently built UNICEF warehouse in Copenhagen, Denmark, and you will pass a room where office cubicles have been replaced with rolling tables, white boards, colorful couches, and a mix of gadgets and gizmos. This is the home of the organization’s Innovation Unit.

The fact that the unit is embedded in the supply chain function underlines the emphasis that UNICEF puts on developing innovative processes and grounding new product ideas with operational realities; a culture normally associated with leading companies.

With help from MIT Humanitarian Response Lab, a cargo flight carries much-needed supplies to support health systems and Ebola-response operations in Liberia.

A shipment of medical equipment that arrived in Monrovia, Liberia, from Miami, Florida, on Jan. 12 will enable 25 government hospitals to receive infection-control training. Critically, the shipment will help facilities that were partially or fully closed due to the recent Ebola crisis to recommence regular operations.