APICS e-News

As port laborers and terminal operators continue contract talks on the US West Coast, retailers are preparing for potential disruptions by bringing in more holiday merchandise, Forbes reports.

As construction is underway on a project to widen the Panama Canal, which would enable large cargo vessels to pass through to the East Coast, many ports along the West Coast are scrambling to adapt, the New York Times reports.

Despite a series of heavily publicized automobile recalls by General Motors (GM) in 2014, Bloomberg Businessweek reports that, over the last five years, the biggest source of product recalls is not GM but its Japanese rival, Toyota.

A railcar shortage is plaguing farmers, automakers, and oil companies, but it may be a boon to railcar manufacturers and supporting industries, the Wall Street Journal reports.

A fungus known as coffee rust so far has caused more than $1 billion in damage across Latin America, affecting yields of the Arabica coffee bean, which is used in most high-end and specialty coffees. Now, the US government is increasing efforts to help farmers fight the disease, the Associated Press reports.

The US aerospace and defense industries are seeing greater numbers of mergers and acquisitions, company leaders choosing to combine forces as budgets are cut and tougher times are expected ahead, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Despite being in the middle of a supermarket discount war, many UK suppliers say they are breathing easy, Reuters reports. Major British chains Tesco, Asda, and Morrisons are slashing prices to compete with fast-growing Germany-based discounters. However, at least for now, these companies are not squeezing their suppliers for the reduced prices.

As the amount of data companies have to handle grows, the analytics talent required to understand this data is outstripping supply, the Financial Times reports. “We have seen a significant year-on-year increase in the demand for data scientists in both the [United Kindgom] and overseas,” says Jon Palling, global sector head for technology at recruiting group SThree.

For more than five years, Intel has worked to rid its supply chain of conflict minerals—materials used to finance armed violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)—and it’s willing to show other companies how it’s done.

Apple is looking to speed up product development and create a wider array of devices, especially in Asian markets. The company is hiring hundreds of engineers and supply chain managers in countries such as China and Taiwan often from rival tech firms including HTC, the Wall Street Journal reports.

The icy temperatures and snowstorms that have characterized much of the United States in the past six weeks have been stalling shipments, forcing shutdowns and delivery delays by some manufacturers, USA Today reports.

Representatives at Target say the data breach that resulted in the theft of 40 million credit and debit card numbers was caused by credentials that were stolen from a vendor, the Wall Street Journal reports.

After several high-profile factory accidents and protests at factories in Asia, companies are performing more audits and making greater investments in supply chain monitoring. Meanwhile, many brands also may be rethinking their focus on low-price production.

An improving economy led to some of the best US auto sales in six years, but analysts caution that demand may fall in 2014. Sluggish December sales may point to an inevitable slowdown as many customers have already bought new cars, and today’s cars last longer than before.

A UK government report says the food and drink industry is vulnerable to criminals looking for huge profits and there is a "worrying lack of knowledge" about how severe the infiltration can be.

The holiday season starting often sees retailers offering deep discounts, but the discounts aren’t actually all that great for consumers, but they’re even worse for suppliers, who bear much of the associated costs to provide the discounts.

Even using the best software available, manufacturers may be years away from the degree of knowledge required to declare their supply chains conflict free.

Solar manufacturers are recovering from a two-year slump even faster than tech companies bounced back after the dot-com bubble burst in the late 1990s. Some solar manufacturers are even getting boosts despite not turning a profit in the last year.

Companies are using big data techniques to analyze government procurement and spending, turning this information into a marketable resource. This data helps contractors identify future opportunities, best prices, and competitors.

Innovation is one of the themes of APICS 2013. One central question is, how can supply chain and operations management professionals deliver experiences instead of just products? It’s essential to make deeper, personal connections with both end customers and people inside the organization.