NOTED: Supply Chain Highlights

NOTED: Supply Chain Highlights

From philanthropy initiatives to recent mergers and acquisitions, here’s what’s new and notable in the supply chain.

Green Seeds

  • RoadOne IntermodaLogistics launched an electric truck pilot with IKEA, the Port of Baltimore, and Nikola Corporation. It is the first company at the Port of Baltimore to engage in an electric truck pilot, and RoadOne estimates the initiative will remove 11,000 gallons of diesel fuel per truck in one year.
  • Furthering its commitment to sustainable action, beverage giant PepsiCo expanded its use of 100% waste-based thermoplastic across its supply chain. Working with UBQ Materials, PepsiCo switched to reduced-carbon pallets, ordering 30,000 pallets that incorporate UBQ’s thermoplastic product.

Good Works

  • Logistics provider cargo-partner, along with aid organization Jugend Eine Welt and its partner, the Salesians of Don Bosco, are working together in Moldova to help young refugees from Ukraine overcome trauma and integrate into their new country. The project benefits 40 refugee children and 40 Moldovan children.

Up the Chain

  • Dana Duckworth joined AFFLINK, a supply chain solutions marketplace provider, as vice president of supply chain solutions. Her role includes developing end-user business in key market segments and leveraging relationships within the supplier/distributor community to drive growth. Duckworth previously coached women’s gymnastics at the University of Alabama.
  • Kari-Out, a manufacturer, importer, and distributor of take-out food containers, named Mitch Kahn vice president of manufacturing and supply chain management and hired Dave Fredrickson as vice president of sales.
  • Electric carmaker Lucid Group appointed Evelyn Chiang as VP of process transformation and Walter Ludwig as VP of global logistics. Chiang has held executive leadership roles at SAP, Tesla, and other global technology companies and was most recently COO at Siteimprove.
  • Marc Rodriguez was hired as director of warehouse operations for the kegs services and supply chain management team at Hillebrand, a logistics services provider to the alcoholic beverage industry.
  • Bolloré Logistics appointed Francois-Xavier Colin to the position of general manager of supply chain for the Americas. In this new role, Colin is responsible for leading strategy and process, and growing the company’s contract logistics business line in the United States, Canada, and Latin America.

Sealed Deals

  • Shanghai-based electronic components manufacturer Siemens Switchgear embarked on the second phase of a smart manufacturing automation project that adds Geek+ goods-to-person picking and materials handling robots to Siemens’ warehouse.
  • Toyota Motor in Kazakhstan expanded its partnership with logistics provider Gebrüder Weiss to include spare parts distribution, auto transport, daily parts deliveries, and warehouse logistics.
  • Home accessories designer Creative Co-Op selected the GAINS Performance Optimization Platform to improve visibility throughout its growing multi-channel businesses.
  • AMPORTS, a North American auto processor, selected AI-based yard management optimization software from INFORM. The company will implement the software at its Jacksonville, Florida and Benicia, California terminals, among other locations.
  • Grocery and convenience item distributor Blue Sky Distribution now manages its rapid e-commerce growth and extreme peaks in order volumes using the Descartes OzLink Mobile Warehouse solution.

M & A

  • KLLM Transport Services, a temperature-controlled truckload carrier in North America, acquired refrigerated transport firm Quest Global, located in Cartersville, Georgia.
  • PS Logistics’ subsidiary DMT Trucking acquired Noble LLC, Noble Trucking, and Noble Logistics, making it one of the largest 53-foot lightweight flatbed carriers in the country, with more than 400 power units and 1,000 trailers.
  • A.P. Moller-Maersk continued its acquisition spree by purchasing project cargo specialist Martin Bencher for an enterprise value of $61 million.
  • Indiana-based logistics broker Backhaul Direct acquired trucking company Baker’s Express, gaining more than 250 vehicles available for regional transport that will help ease local supply chain backlogs.
  • UPS plans to purchase multinational healthcare logistics provider Bomi Group, adding 3,000 employees across 14 countries, as well as approximately 350 temperature-controlled vehicles and 4 million square feet to the UPS Healthcare global footprint.

Recognition

  • Bettaway Beverage Distributors was named by Schneider Transportation Management as the top-performing mid-sized truckload contract carrier in Schneider’s carrier-of-the-year program. Schneider selected Bettaway for exemplary support of its truckload brokerage operations.
  • Dave Micha, a welder at The Raymond Corporation, won gold at the Toyota Material Handling Group Skills Competition, beating competitors from the United States, China, France, Italy, and Sweden. The competition consisted of performing tack welding, executing semiautomatic welding, and finishing the surface of a steel pressure vessel.
  • The Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) presented three professionals with industry awards. Ted Prince, chief strategy officer and co-founder of Tiger Cool Express, received the IANA Silver Kingpin Award for his career-long industry contributions. Jim Newsome, executive advisor to the South Carolina Ports Authority, is the honoree for the 2022 Chairman’s Award, in recognition of his dedication to the association. And Congressman Alan Lowenthal, representing California’s 47th District, is the recipient of the Intermodal Achievement Award for his consistent support of the freight supply chain.
  • Landstar honored its safest independent owner-operators at the 2022 Landstar BCO All-Star Celebration. The company’s newest class of Million Mile Safe Drivers—truckers who have driven at least one million consecutive miles with Landstar without a preventable accident—includes 112 new One Million Mile Safe Drivers, nine new Two Million Mile Safe Drivers, and five new Three Million Mile Safe Drivers.