In the face of accelerating e-commerce activity, labor problems, and a host of other challenges, supply chain companies are stepping up their training and continuous education initiatives for employees and customers.
This week, sustainability ratings company EcoVadis launched an e-learning platform designed to help customers improve sustainability practices and performance, specifically helping them tackle what the company calls “priority improvement areas” in environment, labor and human rights, ethics, and sustainable procurement. Called EcoVadis Academy, the online platform offers 16 courses in five languages, all of which incorporate interactive navigation, videos, and case studies to engage employees in their companies’ sustainability initiatives.
Users can start with introductory courses that provide a baseline knowledge and then progress with more in-depth content that allows them to address improvement areas with specific actions, the company said.
Danish robotics company OnRobot is also stepping up with a new training initiative, launching its Learn OnRobot platform in late October. The free online learning tool guides users of all skill levels through the steps required to design and deploy collaborative robot (cobot) applications. The company describes the program as a library of simple, direct, how-to videos and 3-dimensional simulations that offers detailed information on collaborative applications, including machine tending, palletizing, pick and place, and sanding. The platform is accessible via PC, smartphone, and tablet and aims to mitigate labor shortages by helping companies more quickly and effectively deploy cobot automation solutions.
Company leaders say the program is part of its efforts to “democratize” technology. It is available to customers and prospective customers.
“OnRobot’s solutions break down the barriers to automation adoption by making affordable, industry ready, easy-to-use technologies available to companies of all sizes,” Enrico Krog Iversen, OnRobot’s CEO, said in a statement. “Learn OnRobot continues this democratizing, barrier-busting tradition by making collaborative application know-how freely available to anyone with an internet connection, from prospective customers curious about our offerings, to partners, to integrators, and to end users of all skill levels looking to maximize the success of their automation deployment.”
Supply chain technology company Blume Global is investing internally with a continuing education program designed to help employees at all levels enhance their business and supply chain skills. The programs are offered in conjunction with online course provider Coursera and Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business (GSB).
The Stanford program is designed to help employees develop leadership skills, and it consists of a virtual intensive along with a five-day residential program on the Stanford GSB campus. Employees receive a certificate from Stanford GSB upon completion.
With Coursera, Blume employees have access to 80 hours of training during business hours via the Coursera platform, including courses and guided projects on supply chain management, data science, software engineering, programming languages, cloud, IT, IT Ops, testing tools, Google Cloud Platform, and web development.
GE Vernova today said it plans to invest nearly $600 million in its U.S. factories and facilities over the next two years to support its energy businesses, which make equipment for generating electricity through gas power, grid, nuclear, and onshore wind.
The company was created just nine months ago as a spin-off from its parent corporation, General Electric, with a mission to meet surging global electricity demands. That move created a company with some 18,000 workers across 50 states in the U.S., with 18 U.S. manufacturing facilities and its global headquarters located in Massachusetts. GE Vernova’s technology helps produce approximately 25% of the world’s energy and is currently deployed in more than 140 countries.
The new investments – expected to create approximately 1,500 new U.S. jobs – will help drive U.S. energy affordability, national security, and competitiveness, and enable the American manufacturing footprint needed to support expanding global exports, the company said. They follow more than $167 million in funding in 2024 across a range of GE Vernova sites, helping create more than 1,120 jobs. And following a forecast that worldwide energy needs are on pace to double, GE Vernova is also planning a $9 billion cumulative global capex and R&D investment plan through 2028.
The new investments include:
almost $300 million in support of its Gas Power business and build-out of capacity to make heavy duty gas turbines, for facilities in Greenville, SC, Schenectady, NY, Parsippany, NJ, and Bangor, ME.
nearly $20 million to expand capacity at its Grid Solutions facilities in Charleroi, PA, which manufactures switchgear, and Clearwater, FL, which produces capacitors and instrument transformers.
more than $50 million to enhance safety, quality and productivity at its Wilmington, NC-based GE Hitachi nuclear business and to launch its next generation nuclear fuel design.
nearly $100 million in its manufacturing facilities at U.S. onshore wind factories in Pensacola, FL, Schenectady, NY and Grand Forks, ND, and its remanufacturing facilities in Amarillo, TX.
more than $10 million in its Pittsburgh, PA facility to expand capabilities across its Electrification segment, adding U.S. manufacturing capacity to support the U.S. grid, and demand for solar and energy storage
almost $100 million for its energy innovation research hub, the Advanced Research Center in Niskayuna, NY, to strengthen the center’s electrification and carbon efforts, enable continued recruitment of top-tier talent, and push forward innovative technologies, including $15 million for Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) work.
“These investments represent our serious commitment and responsibility as the leading energy manufacturer in the United States to help meet America’s and the world’s accelerating energy demand,” Scott Strazik, CEO of GE Vernova, said in a release. “These strategic investments and the jobs they create aim to both help our customers meet the doubling of demand and accelerate American innovation and technology development to boost the country’s energy security and global competitiveness.”
Artificial intelligence (AI) and the economy were hot topics on the opening day of SMC3 Jump Start 25, a less-than-truckload (LTL)-focused supply chain event taking place in Atlanta this week. The three-day event kicked off Monday morning to record attendance, with more than 700 people registered, according to conference planners.
The event opened with a keynote presentation from AI futurist Zack Kass, former head of go to market for OpenAI. He talked about the evolution of AI as well as real-world applications of the technology, furthering his mission to demystify AI and make it accessible and understandable to people everywhere. Kass is a speaker and consultant who works with businesses and governments around the world.
The opening day also featured a slate of economic presentations, including a global economic outlook from Dr. Jeff Rosensweig, director of the John Robson Program for Business, Public Policy, and Government at Emory University, and a “State of LTL” report from economist Keith Prather, managing director of Armada Corporate Intelligence. Both speakers pointed to a strong economy as 2025 gets underway, emphasizing overall economic optimism and strong momentum in LTL markets.
Other highlights included interviews with industry leaders Chris Jamroz and Rick DiMaio. Jamroz is executive chairman of the board and CEO of Roadrunner Transportation Systems, and DiMaio is executive vice president of supply chain for Ace Hardware.
Jump Start 25 runs through Wednesday, January 29, at the Renaissance Atlanta Waverly Hotel & Convention Center.
The year 2024 will go down as a bit of a mixed bag for transportation. The truckload market remained sluggish, and maritime rates rose due to the ongoing wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. Capacity remained high, while fuel prices came down. Meanwhile shippers loaded up on inventory ahead of anticipated rises in tariffs.
As we begin 2025, we asked three industry experts for their takes on what the new year may bring for transportation and logistics. Participants included: Sal Campos, managed transportation operations leader at logistics service provider Ruan; Allan Miner, CEO of the third-party logistics company CT Logistics; and Julie Van de Kamp, chief customer officer for the freight data and analytics platform Sonar.
The past two years have been sluggish for transportation companies. What do you expect for 2025?
Sal Campos: There have been expectations for a rise in rates for the past two years that haven’t materialized. Capacity in the industry has remained resilient in the face of these low rates, and trucks are leaving the market more slowly than anyone had anticipated. We are reasonably comfortable that rates have hit bottom and will not go any lower, but any rebound may be more gradual than carriers would like.
Julie Van de Kamp: The conditions that have suppressed freight rates have mostly been on the supply or capacity side of the equation—demand, or volume, has been fairly robust throughout the year. We think that this imbalance is coming to an end, as evidenced by Sonar’s truckload tender rejection rates breaching 6% back in November. Shippers who pushed contract rates down aggressively in 2023 and 2024 now face upside risks to their rates and the threat of a routing guide breakdown. Third-party logistics providers may experience a temporary squeeze as spot rates rise against the contract rates they have with their customers, but they will be key in finding capacity for retailers, manufacturers, and suppliers as they get their pricing sorted out.
Allan Miner: There should be an uptick in shipping due to the reductions in interest rates leading to the end of the freight recession in the U.S. The U.S. presidential results are showing positive consumer and corporate attitudes; therefore, spending activity for the U.S. consumer, which drives elevated shipping activities for companies as well.
How will the new administration affect trade and logistics policy?
Julie Van de Kamp: I think the Trump administration’s policies combine for a beneficial effect on transportation companies in North America. The prospect of higher tariffs on goods from China are causing aggressive inventory builds to front-run these deadlines, increasing demand for transportation services. At the same time, lower corporate taxes will spur capital expenditures and investment in production. We think that economic ties with Mexico and Canada will grow tighter as regional trade grows in importance relative to “global” trade.
Allan Miner: The new administration is going to have an initial positive impact on trade, but tariffs on Chinese manufactured products will have a negative impact on international trade and logistics activity for the next several years.
Sal Campos: We expect change. The new administration has made it clear they are planning to increase the tariffs levied on companies importing into the United States. There is a commitment to impose 10%–20% tariffs on imports regardless of the country they come from and 60% or higher on goods originating from China or from Chinese companies manufacturing abroad. At the same time, there is a commitment to reducing the regulatory impact on U.S.-based production, making it much easier for companies to nearshore their production. There are a lot of moving parts here, and the full impact remains to be seen. All that being said, manufacturing drives the transportation sector like nothing else, so even small increases in U.S. manufacturing output could have an outside impact on the supply chain and the transportation economy.
A lot of government funds have been spent on improving infrastructure over the past several years. Has that made a difference in our transportation networks?
Julie Van de Kamp: It has in some places. A lot of government money for infrastructure has gone to things like urban transit projects to reduce car traffic and improve pedestrian safety in cities, but that hasn’t really impacted transportation. On the other hand, dredging projects and new cranes at ports all over the East Coast have significantly increased the throughput of those container terminals. A new international bridge across the Rio Grande at Laredo was finally approved by the Biden administration in October. A new bridge across the Mississippi at Memphis is also in the works. These kinds of projects are necessary but make small, incremental improvements to the overall fluidity of the transportation network—they don’t necessarily have direct effects on capacity, volume, or rates. Instead, there might be small reductions in shipment delays and improved on-time performance; drivers might be able to log more miles per day.
Allan Miner: Unfortunately, due to restrictive labor rules and regulations at all of the major East and West Coast ports, the investment in infrastructure will only have a minimal impact on improving capacity and timeliness in our domestic transportation network.
Sal Campos: There are projects we are seeing firsthand here in Iowa, including the $68.6 million mixmaster interchange reconstruction project that will make a difference to safety and traffic flow here locally. Unfortunately, most of the allocated funds are there to simply catch up on repairs of our current infrastructure that are decades past due. While these are needed repairs and improvements, and they will certainly decrease the chances of catastrophic failures, they do little to impact congestion and traffic flow for our drivers. Only a small percentage of the overall funding will go to road expansion and new highway infrastructures.
Aside from smaller players exiting the market, is there anything that can be done to reduce the current overcapacity?
Sal Campos: As we’ve attended several large transportation conferences recently, I’ve been struck by the continued optimism about a turnaround in the second half of 2025. Many large carriers expressed optimism and said they were well positioned with excess capacity to quickly take advantage of an improving freight market. While that commentary was from a small sample of the overall trucking market, I believe it gives us a window into why this freight recession has hung around for so long. Carriers are really clinging to their assets tightly, so they don’t miss the rebound when it finally comes. The best way to see the market rebound is to see the pie get bigger, so everyone isn’t fighting over the same piece.
Allan Miner: Unfortunately, the macroeconomic impact on the supply chain will continue to impact overcapacity in many shipping lanes and geographic regions.
Julie Van de Kamp: Since deregulation, the freight market naturally corrects itself over time. The latest oversupply was a direct result of an overstimulated economy, and it’s taken longer than typical to correct. One of the great things about the freight market is that it's self-healing, but this also means that it can be volatile and the pendulum swings between over- and under-supply of capacity. All that to say, the current overcapacity will correct within the next few months.
Will lower interest rates help to increase transportation-related investments?
Julie Van de Kamp: Lower interest rates mean that money is cheaper and therefore a wider range of capital projects—some of which may have been on the border of feasibility before—can achieve acceptable rates of return. So, borrowing and investing will be incentivized. Real estate development and construction will be stimulated, as well as homebuying, not to mention other capital expenditures like equipment purchases. For carriers specifically, it will be cheaper to replenish their fleets with new trucks; lease terms will be more favorable. We expect the Fed to keep moving interest rates down as long as inflation stays relatively under control, and it should continue to stimulate borrowing, investment, and economic growth, all of which are positives for transportation demand.
Sal Campos–Ruan: I don’t see that having a major impact for most companies. Transportation companies invest in trucks, trailers, and drivers. Our rolling assets have a finite life cycle, and while we can delay purchases for a while, eventually, you must replenish this rolling stock. It was unfortunate that during COVID—when we all needed assets and interest rates were low—that the manufacturers could not keep up with the demand. Now that interest rates are high, they can build more trucks and trailers than carriers need.
Allan Miner: [Lower interest rates will help] only to the extent that investments in new tractors and trailers will be reduced by three to five years.
Have you introduced artificial intelligence (AI) into any of your operations? In what areas and how has it made an impact?
Allan Miner: Yes, we have begun to use AI in some of our simpler, repetitive tasks that are not too complex.
Sal Campos: As this technology begins to mature, we’ve found two areas show a potential for promising returns. We’ve been using RPA [robotic process automation] for a while in our workflow automations, and AI has allowed us to pick up some nice efficiency gains, especially in the FP&A [financial planning and analysis] areas. On the safety and compliance side, companies have begun to use AI to help parse through enormous amounts of data available to help predict areas of risk so that they can work upstream to prevent them.
Do you expect fuel costs to decline or rise in the coming year, and how will that affect the industry?
Sal Campos: I tell our procurement team all the time that if trucking companies could accurately predict fuel prices, we would sell all of our trucks and just invest in the commodities market. We’d make a lot more money without all the hassle of operating trucks! There are so many factors that drive the supply and demand of diesel that even the most sophisticated experts are often wrong. Our focus is to have fair fuel programs with our suppliers and customers that allow us to hedge against cost changes so that they don’t materially impact us either way. I believe most trucking companies take the same approach.
Julie Van de Kamp: In 2025, fuel prices are expected to decline slightly on a national level. This forecast is supported by OPEC's recent decision to maintain its voluntary production cuts for the remainder of the year, delaying plans of an output hike that would risk further deterioration in oil prices. President-elect Donald Trump campaigned on pro-growth energy policies, including the opening of federal leases for oil and gas, which would add to U.S. production levels that have repeatedly hit record highs over the past 12 months. If the Ukraine situation is resolved quickly, regardless of the specifics, it could lead to the lifting of sanctions on Russian oil, further adding to global supply.
Allan Miner: Fuel costs will be declining as the new federal government reinstitutes domestic oil production incentives and capabilities in North America.
What do you think is the future of electric-powered vehicles (EVs), and has your opinion shifted with current conditions?
Sal Campos: We have adopted electric trucks on a very limited scale and only where it is economically viable for both Ruan and our customers. We believe the yard tractor is the right application to continue electrification/decarbonization efforts. It is a creative, reliable, sustainable transportation solution that improves driver satisfaction and can be lower cost versus diesel deployment. I believe we are not even remotely close to having the technology or infrastructure for wider adoption, especially in heavy-duty Class 8 applications. We would probably need to increase our truck and driver fleets by 50% to accommodate the lowered payload (EVs are much heavier) and long charging times (it only takes 15 minutes to fuel a diesel). Those extra costs would ultimately be passed on to the consumer. We are currently piloting/testing other solutions, including renewable diesel, renewable natural gas, hydrogen fuel cell, etc.
Julie Van de Kamp: Electric-powered vehicles have a bright future, and there are certainly use cases in commercial transportation where they would be a good fit. The very best use cases for electric commercial vehicles are in local delivery—returning to the same motor pool each night simplifies battery recharging. The frequent stopping and starting in urban traffic, which is extremely fuel-inefficient and causes higher emissions, are easily handled by electric vehicles. Over-the-road trucking is a different story: The miles are long, often into unfamiliar regions; the routes are irregular and change frequently; and maximizing shipment weight and range really matter. There are a lot of reasons why long-haul truckers want the range and flexibility from internal combustion engines, so we expect that segment to convert to EVs last, if at all.
How can distributors and shippers better prepare their shipments to help carriers?
Julie Van de Kamp: Distributors and shippers can better help their carriers by making their freight and processes as efficient and driver-friendly as possible. Through conversations with shippers and my experience in working for a carrier, a broker, and now a data company, I’ve learned the following: Aligned strategies and relationships that allow for long-term partnerships and open communication and mutual reliance on more than just transactional freight are the most beneficial [tactics].
Allan Miner: Plan to use standard pallet dimensions, weights, and classifications, so that ease of shipping, transfer, storage, and delivery are harmonious.
Sal Campos: The two most important factors are to provide ample advance notice of pickup and delivery dates/times and to be ready for the pickup and/or the delivery when the driver arrives. Drivers are planned days in advance, so a delay of even a few hours can cause a carrier to rework planning across multiple drivers and trips to account for the cascading effect of the delay.
Manufacturing and logistics workers are raising a red flag over workplace quality issues according to industry research released this week.
A comparative study of more than 4,000 workers from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia found that manufacturing and logistics workers say they have seen colleagues reduce the quality of their work and not follow processes in the workplace over the past year, with rates exceeding the overall average by 11% and 8%, respectively.
The study—the Resilience Nation report—was commissioned by UK-based regulatory and compliance software company Ideagen, and it polled workers in industries such as energy, aviation, healthcare, and financial services. The results “explore the major threats and macroeconomic factors affecting people today, providing perspectives on resilience across global landscapes,” according to the authors.
According to the study, 41% of manufacturing and logistics workers said they’d witnessed their peers hiding mistakes, and 45% said they’ve observed coworkers cutting corners due to apathy—9% above the average. The results also showed that workers are seeing colleagues take safety risks: More than a third of respondents said they’ve seen people putting themselves in physical danger at work.
The authors said growing pressure inside and outside of the workplace are to blame for the lack of diligence and resiliency on the job. Internally, workers say they are under pressure to deliver more despite reduced capacity. Among the external pressures, respondents cited the rising cost of living as the biggest problem (39%), closely followed by inflation rates, supply chain challenges, and energy prices.
“People are being asked to deliver more at work when their resilience is being challenged by economic and political headwinds,” Ideagen’s CEO Ben Dorks said in a statement announcing the findings. “Ultimately, this is having a determinantal impact on business productivity, workplace health and safety, and the quality of work produced, as well as further reducing the resilience of the nation at large.”
Respondents said they believe technology will eventually alleviate some of the stress occurring in manufacturing and logistics, however.
“People are optimistic that emerging tech and AI will ultimately lighten the load, but they’re not yet feeling the benefits,” Dorks added. “It’s a gap that now, more than ever, business leaders must look to close and support their workforce to ensure their staff remain safe and compliance needs are met across the business.”
The “2024 Year in Review” report lists the various transportation delays, freight volume restrictions, and infrastructure repair costs of a long string of events. Those disruptions include labor strikes at Canadian ports and postal sites, the U.S. East and Gulf coast port strike; hurricanes Helene, Francine, and Milton; the Francis Scott key Bridge collapse in Baltimore Harbor; the CrowdStrike cyber attack; and Red Sea missile attacks on passing cargo ships.
“While 2024 was characterized by frequent and overlapping disruptions that exposed many supply chain vulnerabilities, it was also a year of resilience,” the Project44 report said. “From labor strikes and natural disasters to geopolitical tensions, each event served as a critical learning opportunity, underscoring the necessity for robust contingency planning, effective labor relations, and durable infrastructure. As supply chains continue to evolve, the lessons learned this past year highlight the increased importance of proactive measures and collaborative efforts. These strategies are essential to fostering stability and adaptability in a world where unpredictability is becoming the norm.”
In addition to tallying the supply chain impact of those events, the report also made four broad predictions for trends in 2025 that may affect logistics operations. In Project44’s analysis, they include:
More technology and automation will be introduced into supply chains, particularly ports. This will help make operations more efficient but also increase the risk of cybersecurity attacks and service interruptions due to glitches and bugs. This could also add tensions among the labor pool and unions, who do not want jobs to be replaced with automation.
The new administration in the United States introduces a lot of uncertainty, with talks of major tariffs for numerous countries as well as talks of US freight getting preferential treatment through the Panama Canal. If these things do come to fruition, expect to see shifts in global trade patterns and sourcing.
Natural disasters will continue to become more frequent and more severe, as exhibited by the wildfires in Los Angeles and the winter storms throughout the southern states in the U.S. As a result, expect companies to invest more heavily in sustainability to mitigate climate change.
The peace treaty announced on Wednesday between Isael and Hamas in the Middle East could support increased freight volumes returning to the Suez Canal as political crisis in the area are resolved.