A different chip shortage The computer chip shortage for everything from vehicles, computers and smartphones in recent years has been covered extensively, but did you hear about the chip shortage for payment cards? Yep, credit card issuers are also facing a shortage of chips that are integrated into physical credit cards – especially as no…
Wind-Powered Cargo Ships Coming to a Supply Chain Near You All the hoopla and attention has been focused on going electric. But the other environmentally-friendly power source, wind, could be something you see in the near future. Namely, wind-powered cargo ships! Rate Hikes Hurting Manufacturing As the US Federal Reserve continues to hike interest rates,…
China Manufacturing Ramps Up As China opens up from their COVID restrictions, manufacturing is ramping up again. Global Shipping Heading Into a Slump While China manufacturing is ramping up, global shipping is slumping. Apple Continues Diversifying Away from China We’ve posted about this before, as Apple starts to shift their supply chain reliance on China,…
Europe Turns Gas Crisis Into Renewable Energy Revolution In an amazing display of action, Europe has turned its gas crisis from just a year ago into a revolution of clean energy. At the end of 2022, Europe’s combined renewable energy production (wind and solar) overtook natural gas. Breakthrough in Battery Recycling One of the biggest…
Aldi’s Sets Up More Local Distribution As businesses begin to diversify their supply chain risks as exposed over the last few years, Aldi’s, the grocery chain, has opened a new distribution facility in Loxley, Alabama. This new facility is set to serve 100 of their stores in the Gulf Coast area. Biden Looking to Promote…
Chinese Manufacturing Moving to Mexico In a move that makes sense, many Chinese manufacturers are setting up shop in Mexico. As customers move their business away from China-based suppliers to locations such as India, Vietnam and Mexico, it makes to meet their customers where they’re going for Chinese suppliers. Robots in Retail As AI is…
Businesses Looking for Alternatives to UPS & Fedex Businesses are learning from the recent supply chain backlog, you don’t want to have all your eggs in one basket. Now, businesses are looking at multi-carrier strategies so they’re not completely reliant on just the big carriers such as UPS and Fedex. Nigeria Opens New Seaport Nigeria…
How to Assess Vendors to Lower Staff Medical Costs Want to improve health care benefits for your staff yet keep the costs low? Here’s how. 5 Tips to Negotiate Over ANYTHING Negotiating is a key skill not just in procurement and vendor relationships, but in your every day life. Here’s five tips on how to…
China’s Loss is Mexico’s Gain As more and more manufacturers consider moving or spreading out their supply chain risks from China to other locations, Mexico is one country who’s gaining from this exodus from Chinese manufacturing. Namely, Laredo, a city of 250,000 people is experiencing a boom in trade as manufacturers move some operations to…
Manufacturing Contracted End of 2022 Now that 2022 is in the rearview mirror, here’s another reason to be glad we’ve closed the door on 2022, December metrics say the manufacturing industry contracted rapidly due to weak demand from clients. Let’s hope 2023 gets a little rosier. Dell Moving Chip Production Outside of China In a…