INSIGHTS
Getting Back-to-Basics for Supply Chain Professionals
While innovative technologies, globalization and growing access to data have all helped transform the supply chain, they have also created complexity, disconnects and competing priorities. A return to the fundamental principles governing supply chains is underway.
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Understanding the Talent Crisis
The supply chain industry has been hit hard by labor shortages, with many organizations struggling to fill critical supply chain roles. Attracting and retaining talent remains a top priority for shippers and 3PLs, as supply chain operations have become increasingly more complex and demand new skillsets.
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Tapping into the Potential of Reverse Logistics
The rise of e-commerce and shifting consumer preferences caused by the COVID-19 pandemic have brought reverse logistics into the spotlight. Often discounted as the back half of the supply chain equation, reverse logistics has now become an integral part of B2B and B2C business, as well as a key opportunity to improve customer satisfaction.
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Maturity of ESG: Shippers, 3PLs, Transportation Providers Increase ESG Efforts
Corporations' environmental, social and governance (ESG) efforts remain a top priority among businesses worldwide. The supply chain provides significant opportunities to improve ESG efforts through clean transportation, implementation of electric vehicles (EVs), sustainable facilities and cold chain refrigerants. Whether it is an annual report or an ESG statement, companies are feeling an increased push to provide actual numbers around sustainability improvements.
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Rebalancing Underway: Shippers Focus on Resilient Supply Chains
Rebalancing the global supply chain has been a topic of the Annual Third-Party Logistics Study for years, originally highlighting the potential for increased nearshoring and the shifting of inventory due to disruptions. However, today's supply chain operates within an even more dynamic and uncertain environment. Port congestion, global conflicts and labor shortages have necessitated the need for supply chain resiliency, which has now become a cornerstone principle.
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Continued Demand for Cold Chain
Cold chains-supply chains specializing in the packaging, storing, loading and movement of temperature-sensitive products-must perform flawlessly to ensure properly cooled products reach the end user. Cold chains not only face the same difficulties as other supply chains (i.e., port congestion, cost pressures), but additional challenges in heavy infrastructure investments, temperature monitoring and a shortage of qualified and skilled workers.
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Technology as a Differentiator
Supply chains used to be about physical assets and infrastructure to move boxes. Now supply chains are all about information flows, moving data and capturing intelligence. Technology serves as a key differentiator in today's market, especially among 3PLs that leverage technology as a medium to increase revenue and elevate business growth. Today, technology is just as important as people.
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The Truck Driver and Maintenance Technician Shortage
The truck driver shortage remains a top concern in the trucking industry. While all industry sectors have struggled finding enough drivers, the driver shortage is most acute in the longer-haul, for-hire truckload market, according to Bob Costello, chief economist for American Trucking Associations (ATA). Increased demand for freight, pandemic-related challenges from early retirements, closed driving schools and DMVs, and other pressures have pushed up demand for drivers.
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