Noted: The Supply Chain in Brief
New and noteworthy in the supply chain
Green Seeds
- 3M, a global manufacturing and technology company, aims to source 100 percent of its energy needs from renewable electricity in all its facilities around the world, beginning with its St. Paul, Minnesota, headquarters. Along with converting operations to wind and solar power, the company produces solutions for customers that improve the reliability and efficiency of renewable energy.
Shovel Ready
- Walmart is set to open a new consolidation center in Colton, California, in July 2019. The distribution center, which is expected to create more than 600 full-time jobs for the area by 2021, streamlines the replenishment process for suppliers to improve stock availability.
M&A
- Maersk acquired custom brokerage business Vandergrift. The purchase allows Maersk to strengthen, broaden, and streamline its service offerings to customers.
- 3PL and supply chain management provider C.H. Robinson purchased The Space Cargo Group, a provider of international freight forwarding. The acquisition is part of its global growth strategy.
- Freight brokerage firm FLS Transportation Services acquired Scott Logistics as part of its goal to increase its U.S. footprint and provide customers of both companies with greater coverage.
- GlobalTranz Enterprises acquired Our Freight Guy, a freight brokerage and logistics company. Our Freight Guy’s Riverside, California, location will become a GlobalTranz branch office.
- J.B. Hunt Transport, a subsidiary of J.B. Hunt Transport Services, purchased Cory 1st Choice Home Delivery. The investment advances its final-mile delivery capabilities for bulky products.
Good Works
- Averitt Express associates (pictured) provided more than 4,100 hours of community service as part of the annual 40 for 40 Community Challenge. From Oct. 1 through Dec. 31, 2018, they served 4,166 hours, with 87 facilities across Averitt’s system giving to various efforts including clothing, food and toy drives, and blood donations.
- C.R. England and England Logistics set a goal to provide funding for one million meals for children in 2019 across the United States and Mexico as part of the One Initiative campaign, which fights childhood hunger. In 2018, the companies funded more than 1.6 million donated meals.
Sealed Deals
- CEVA Logistics expanded its global partnership with IKEA to open a New York distribution center. Located on Staten Island, the center prioritizes home delivery to customers who order products online or purchase items at an IKEA store or Planning Studio. CEVA manages the site under a five-year deal, providing warehouse management and fulfillment services.
- Pet food manufacturer Royal Canin rolled out FuturMaster’s cloud-based demand planning software as part of a supply chain initiative to standardize processes across the globe and improve efficiencies. The new technology helps manage the growing complexity of supplying the right products at the right time to more than 100 markets around the world.
- Rituals Cosmetics, a home and body cosmetics brand, selected Logility Voyager Solutions in an SaaS environment to help increase forecast accuracy, minimize the potential for lost sales, position inventory across the supply chain, and support the speed and frequency of new product innovations.
Up the Chain
- Torben Weilmuenster was elected chairman of the governing council of Poseidon, a pharmaceutical logistics network. The group is comprised of pharma ocean freight shippers and logistics providers aiming to reform pharmaceutical logistics and make ocean freight the default mode for bulk medicines. Weilmuenster currently heads global supply chain management at Merz Pharma GmbH & Co. KgaA.
Recognition
- Southeastern Freight Lines, a provider of regional LTL transportation services, received Home Depot’s 2019 LTL Carpet Carrier of the Year award. Key metrics include adherence to transit time standards, gap time of final delivery, and ability to provide electronic status updates within defined time frames.
- Scott’s Miracle-Gro Company presented Dayton Freight Lines, a provider of regional LTL transportation services, with the Transportation Excellence award, which recognizes superior performance in the LTL category. This is the eighth time Dayton has received the award.
- Tyson Foods named Transplace, a provider of transportation management services and logistics technology solutions, its 3PL of the Year. Tyson gives the award to third-party contract carriers for excellence in customer service, communication, safety, and innovation.
- G&D Integrated, a supplier of transportation and logistics services, received furniture e-tailer Wayfair’s 2018 Platinum Carrier award. Wayfair presents the award to companies providing outstanding middle-mile transportation services.