Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Continuing education initiatives address robotics, sustainability, and more

Supply chain companies are launching training and education initiatives to tackle technology, labor challenges.

webinar-g80b013958_640.jpg

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.

Recent

More Stories

wind turbine making electricity

GE Vernova to invest $600 million in U.S. manufacturing sites

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.

Keep ReadingShow less

Featured

Jump Start 25 conference opens in Atlanta

Jump Start 25 conference opens in Atlanta

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.

Keep ReadingShow less
an illustration of global logistics and transportation along with headshots of Q&A panel members

Logistics and transportation market: poised for change

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.

Keep ReadingShow less
Study: Industry workers bypass essential processes amid mounting stress

Study: Industry workers bypass essential processes amid mounting stress

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.

Keep ReadingShow less
photo of container ship cruising

Project44 tallies supply chain impacts of a turbulent 2024

Following a year in which global logistics networks were buffeted by labor strikes, natural disasters, regional political violence, and economic turbulence, the supply chain visibility provider Project44 has compiled the impact of each of those events in a new study.

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.

Keep ReadingShow less