News

By Jim Rice, Deputy Director, MIT CTL

This is the first in the series of Innovation Strategies columns from the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics. In the coming issues, MIT CTL will explore the development and implementation of innovative supply chain solutions and practices.

Revolutionary innovations capture the imagination and motivate people. But how many supply chain innovations (SCI) are truly revolutionary?

Supply chain and logistics play key roles in responding to both acute and chronic humanitarian crises. Whether the cause is a natural disaster, armed conflict or simply undeveloped infrastructure, Jarrod Goentzel says the MIT Humanitarian Response Lab is working to improve supply chain response.

Read the full article and watch the video here.

Chris Caplice, executive director of the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics, discusses his research on identifying dominant designs in logistics and how these designs, in which companies are heavily invested, may be disrupted by emerging trends. [Run Time (Min.): 10:20]

Watch the video here

Having a sustainable supplier network is now a near-universal goal among companies - but so far, getting there hasn't been easy.

Australia’s University of Sydney Business School's Institute of Transport and Logistic Studies (ITLS) has joined with six of the world's leading research institutions in an effort to address the complex challenges facing ports and their related maritime and logistics industries.

The group, to be known as the Global Port Research Alliance (GPRA), aims to establish a global research and training platform in port operations, maritime and logistics through collaboration between its members and with industry

When companies engage with a shipper, regardless of the industry or the complexity of the supply chain, the first area to focus on is where supply chain stands in the organization.  Although supply chain management is now a generally understood function in most companies, organizations often struggle to get supply chain management on the key initiatives list for their CEO’s.  There could be a number of reasons for that omission.  We often hear that supply chain management is just too complicated or broad to take a focused approach.

Effective collaboration on logistics can move mountains — and reduce emissions.

By Dr. Edgar E. Blanco and Ken Cottrill

By Dr. Joseph F. Coughlin, Director of the MIT AgeLab

Aid doesn't start flowing until after a disaster takes place, but NGOs and relief organizations need cash before it all hits the fan. How do you solve that pickle of a problem?

A week after typhoon Haiyan slammed into the Philippines, food, water, and medicine started pouring into the island nation, but they arrived with no designated way to reach the storm's neediest victims.

By Andrea Carter

Andrea Carter has more than 20 years experience as a human resources professional, including responsibility for developing supply chain talent. This column is based on a talk she gave at the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics. She is currently Vice President of Human Resources at a global apparel company.

People often frame professional development as a climb up the career ladder. However, in my experience, this analogy does not accurately reflect reality, particularly in a dynamic profession such as supply chain management.

SCMx, described as a "virtual classroom," is under development at Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Center for Transportation and Logistics.

Wherever logistics and supply chain professionals gather, the subject of the supply chain talent shortage is sure to come up. Companies worldwide are having trouble attracting, hiring, developing, and retaining experienced managers, and even less luck finding promising young talent who will become the profession's next generation of leaders.

Contact:
Sarah J. Smith
Communications Specialist
MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics
+1 617.253.4592 / sajsmith@mit.edu

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) today announced approximately $63 million in grants to 33 University Transportation Centers (UTCs) to advance research and education programs that address critical transportation challenges facing our nation.

As a Region 1 UTC, MIT CTL's Safety New England University Transportation Center, led by Dr. Joseph Coughlin, was awarded over $2.5 million.

Read the full press release at the DOT website.

Picture this chain of events: people living in small homes aren't able to store as much food as people in larger homes, so they might tend to purchase groceries more often. That sort of shopping behavior then leads them to prefer buying their food from close-by neighborhood stores, which might also be smaller and unable to stock as much product as huge supermarkets. And that, in turn, means delivery trucks will need to come more often.

MITx, the massive open online course (MOOC) effort at MIT, has announced new certificates for completion of sequences of related modules or courses on the edX platform. The sequences, called “XSeries,” represent a new approach to MOOC instruction and certification across integrated offerings more expansive than the individual courses that have thus far defined the MOOC landscape.

Researchers say the platform will help manufacturers more quickly rebound from natural disasters and political unrest.

By Joel Schectman

As ever-larger “megacities” become home to more and more of the world’s people, the supply chains that bring essential supplies to these crowded populations will become increasingly complex.

By Edgar Blanco

Translating floods of data on increasingly complex supply chain operations into actionable decisions is one of the most difficult challenges facing practitioners today. And one of the most promising solutions is new ways to visualize and analyze the data. Companies are developing sophisticated data displays that augment supply chain talent by making it easier for managers to analyze, interpret, and act on operational data.

By Jim B. Rice, Jr.

In his Aug. 5 Journal of Commerce article, “Decline of the Single-User Terminal,” Bill Mongelluzzo describes how vessel operators are eliminating their proprietary terminal operations in favor of using public terminals.

They may or may not know it, but by embracing the public option these operators are increasing port resilience.

Here are the main reasons why.

Read the full article here.

By Lisa M. Krieger

OAKLAND -- Today, a massive container ship holding millions of dollars' worth of cargo is headed from Asia to California.

But it isn't taking the shortest and most logical trip to the Bay Area. Instead, it will veer south to a berth in Long Beach or Los Angeles.

This Week's Supply Chain News, The Supply Chain Television Channel

By Vince Bond Jr.

Self-driving vehicles have the potential to make immobility among elderly people and those with disabilities a thing of the past, experts say.

Declining vision and other physical impairments will no longer inhibit people from going out to eat or visiting their favorite stores, the experts say.

Two reviews of Chris Caplice's article in the Summer 2013 issue of Supply Chain Frontiers.

Supply Chain Standard

Is logistics in its ‘Model T’ phase?

The Model T Ford was the most popular car of its era - but have you ever tried to drive one? It comes as a shock when you stamp on the brake and find that it is actually reverse.

by Craig Simon, President and CEO at FedEx SupplyChain

For most of history, the supply chain that links the world together today would have been unimaginable. The road to market is now a superhighway. It is a 24/7 operation. Global trade does not sleep. In fact, it never even pauses for a nap. Wheels on the ground, wings in the sky, keels in the water connect a largely borderless world economy.

The first thing you notice about Jeff Bezos is how he strides into a room.

A surprisingly diminutive figure, clad in blue jeans and a blue pinstripe button-down, Bezos flings open the door with an audible whoosh and instantly commands the space with his explosive voice, boisterous manner, and a look of total confidence. "How are you?" he booms, in a way that makes it sound like both a question and a high-decibel announcement.