Tim Judge, president and CEO of Agillitics, will share the various ways integrated data analytics can be leveraged to enhance the performance of supply chain operations at the Manhattan Momentum conference. Judge will be a panelist in the session “Mixing up the Perfect Unified Data Model Cocktail with RNDC” on Wed., May 24, from 8:30 a.m. – 9:15 a.m. MST.
Founded in 2014, Agillitics is an industry-leading firm that helps supply chain industry companies receive more value from their existing data. The company has developed custom-designed solutions that provide insight to industry leaders in order to combine vital data that was once housed on various systems and platforms.
“Agillitics is immersed in data on a daily basis, so Manhattan Momentum provides a great opportunity to share best practices with industry peers and inspire discussion,” said Judge. “Manhattan Active Solutions generate terrabytes of data each year, which is a significant amount of information that companies can take advantage of to further drive the success of their business. This session is meant to inform supply chain companies of how they can utilize their data, various analytics, and techniques to gain insights into key metrics.”
This month, Manhattan was named a Leader in the 2023 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) for the 15th consecutive year.
The AgiSight Platform is Agillitics’ platform solution that streamlines and analyzes data. It is a platform that ensures quick time to value and measurable return on investment (ROI) as modules can be implemented in as little as 90 days. It is a non-invasive, cloud-based data ingestion that produces savings across functions and departments within supply chain companies.
“This is a topic that we devote our time to ensuring industry professionals fully understand and we leverage the data that will essentially propel their businesses forward,” continued Judge. “Having a sustainable data strategy is key, and applying up-to-date technology to store, transmit, and model data is a priority. This ultimately helps gain insight into supply chain optimization, inventory management, and resource utilization. These are all topics that will be discussed at the conference.”
Manhattan Momentum will be held May 22-25 at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort & Spa in Phoenix, AZ. To learn more about Agillitics, the AgiSight Platform, and their presence at Manhattan Momentum this year, visit Agillitics.
In a statement, DCA airport officials said they would open the facility again today for flights after planes were grounded for more than 12 hours. “Reagan National airport will resume flight operations at 11:00am. All airport roads and terminals are open. Some flights have been delayed or cancelled, so passengers are encouraged to check with their airline for specific flight information,” the facility said in a social media post.
An investigation into the cause of the crash is now underway, being led by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and assisted by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Neither agency had released additional information yet today.
First responders say nearly 70 people may have died in the crash, including all 60 passengers and four crew on the American Airlines flight and three soldiers in the military helicopter after both aircraft appeared to explode upon impact and fall into the Potomac River.
Editor's note:This article was revised on February 3.
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.
That is important because the increased use of robots has the potential to significantly reduce the impact of labor shortages in manufacturing, IFR said. That will happen when robots automate dirty, dull, dangerous or delicate tasks – such as visual quality inspection, hazardous painting, or heavy lifting—thus freeing up human workers to focus on more interesting and higher-value tasks.
To reach those goals, robots will grow through five trends in the new year, the report said:
1 – Artificial Intelligence. By leveraging diverse AI technologies, such as physical, analytical, and generative, robotics can perform a wide range of tasks more efficiently. Analytical AI enables robots to process and analyze the large amounts of data collected by their sensors. This helps to manage variability and unpredictability in the external environment, in “high mix/low-volume” production, and in public environments. Physical AI, which is created through the development of dedicated hardware and software that simulate real-world environments, allows robots to train themselves in virtual environments and operate by experience, rather than programming. And Generative AI projects aim to create a “ChatGPT moment” for Physical AI, allowing this AI-driven robotics simulation technology to advance in traditional industrial environments as well as in service robotics applications.
2 – Humanoids.
Robots in the shape of human bodies have received a lot of media attention, due to their vision where robots will become general-purpose tools that can load a dishwasher on their own and work on an assembly line elsewhere. Start-ups today are working on these humanoid general-purpose robots, with an eye toward new applications in logistics and warehousing. However, it remains to be seen whether humanoid robots can represent an economically viable and scalable business case for industrial applications, especially when compared to existing solutions. So for the time being, industrial manufacturers are still focused on humanoids performing single-purpose tasks only, with a focus on the automotive industry.
3 – Sustainability – Energy Efficiency.
Compliance with the UN's environmental sustainability goals and corresponding regulations around the world is becoming an important requirement for inclusion on supplier whitelists, and robots play a key role in helping manufacturers achieve these goals. In general, their ability to perform tasks with high precision reduces material waste and improves the output-input ratio of a manufacturing process. These automated systems ensure consistent quality, which is essential for products designed to have long lifespans and minimal maintenance. In the production of green energy technologies such as solar panels, batteries for electric cars or recycling equipment, robots are critical to cost-effective production. At the same time, robot technology is being improved to make the robots themselves more energy-efficient. For example, the lightweight construction of moving robot components reduces their energy consumption. Different levels of sleep mode put the hardware in an energy saving parking position. Advances in gripper technology use bionics to achieve high grip strength with almost no energy consumption.
4 – New Fields of Business.
The general manufacturing industry still has a lot of potential for robotic automation. But most manufacturing companies are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which means the adoption of industrial robots by SMEs is still hampered by high initial investment and total cost of ownership. To address that hurdle, Robot-as-a-Service (RaaS) business models allow enterprises to benefit from robotic automation with no fixed capital involved. Another option is using low-cost robotics to provide a “good enough” product for applications that have low requirements in terms of precision, payload, and service life. Powered by the those approaches, new customer segments beyond manufacturing include construction, laboratory automation, and warehousing.
5 – Addressing Labor Shortage.
The global manufacturing sector continues to suffer from labor shortages, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO). One of the main drivers is demographic change, which is already burdening labor markets in leading economies such as the United States, Japan, China, the Republic of Korea, or Germany. Although the impact varies from country to country, the cumulative effect on the supply chain is a concern almost everywhere.
Overall disruptions to global supply chains in 2024 increased 38% from the previous year, thanks largely to the top five drivers of supply chain disruptions for the year: factory fires, labor disruption, business sale, leadership transition, and mergers & acquisitions, according to a study from Resilinc.
Factory fires maintained their position as the number one disruption for the sixth consecutive year, with 2,299 disruption alerts issued. Fortunately, this number is down 20% from the previous year and has declined 36% from the record high in 2022, according to California-based Resilinc, a provider of supply chain resiliency solutions.
Labor disruptions made it into the top five list for the second year in a row, jumping up to the second spot with a 47% year-over-year increase following a number of company and site-level strikes, national strikes, labor protests, and layoffs. From the ILA U.S. port strike, impacting over 47,000 workers, and the Canadian rail strike to major layoffs at tech giants Intel, Dell, and Amazon, labor disruptions continued its streak as a key risk area for 2024.
And financial risk areas, including business sales, leadership transitions, and mergers and acquisitions, rounded out the top five disruptions for 2024. While business sales climbed a steady 17% YoY, leadership transitions surged 95% last year. Several notable transitions included leadership changes at Boeing, Nestlé, Pfizer Limited, and Intel. While mergers and acquisitions saw a slight decline of 5%, they remained a top disruption for 2024.
Other noteworthy trends highlighted in the data include a 146% rise in labor violations such as forced labor, poor working conditions, and health and safety violations, among others. Geopolitical risk alerts climbed 123% after a brief dip in 2023, and protests/riots saw an astounding 285% YoY increase, marking the largest growth increase of all risk events tracked by Resilinc. Regulatory change alerts, which include tariffs, changes in laws, environmental regulations, and bans, continued their upward trend with a 128% YoY increase.
The five most disrupted industries included: life sciences, healthcare, general manufacturing, high tech, and automotive, marking the fourth year in a row that those particular industries have been the most impacted.
Resilinc gathers its data through its 24/7 global event monitoring Artificial Intelligence, EventWatch AI, which collects information and monitors news on 400 different types of disruptions across 104 million sources including traditional news sources, social media platforms, wire services, videos, and government reports. Annually, the AI contextualizes and analyzes nearly 5 billion data feeds across 100 languages in 200 countries.
Cargo theft activity across the United States and Canada reached unprecedented levels in 2024, with 3,625 reported incidents representing a stark 27% increase from 2023, according to an annual analysis from CargoNet.
The estimated average value per theft also rose, reaching $202,364, up from $187,895 in 2023. And the increase was persistent, as each quarter of 2024 surpassed previous records set in 2023.
According to Cargonet, the data suggests an evolving and increasingly sophisticated threat landscape in cargo theft, with criminal enterprises demonstrating tactical adaptability in both their methods and target selection.
For example, notable shifts occurred in targeted commodities during 2024. While 2023 saw frequent theft of engine oils, fluids, solar energy products, and energy drinks, 2024 marked a strategic pivot by criminal enterprises. New targets included raw and finished copper products, consumer electronics (particularly audio equipment and high-end servers), and cryptocurrency mining hardware. The analysis also revealed increased targeting of specific consumable goods, including produce like avocados and nuts, along with personal care products ranging from cosmetics to vitamins and supplements, especially protein powder.
Geographic trends show California and Texas experiencing the most significant increases in theft activity. California reported a 33% rise in incidents, while Texas saw an even more dramatic 39% surge. The five most impacted counties all reported substantial increases, led by Dallas County, Texas, with a 78% spike in reported incidents. Los Angeles County, California, traditionally a high-activity area, saw a 50% increase while neighboring San Bernardino County experienced a 47% rise.