Innovation of the Year: Smart packaging creates right size box for every item shipped from e-commerce centers
Winner: Staples & Packsize International; Runner-Up: PepsiCo; Finalists: LMI, Motorola Solutions, Pa. Liquor Control Board, IBM
The importance of produce traceability has been made devastatingly clear in recent years by well publicized incidents of illness, and even death, due to contaminated lettuce, spinach, cantaloupes and more. While officials in such cases spend weeks tracing the contamination to its source, all growers, wholesalers and retailers suffer market consequences.
The majority of high-tech manufacturers are limited in utilizing their modern enterprise resource planning solutions and understanding how technology innovation can drive greater customer experience, according to a survey conducted by IDC Manufacturing Insights.
With excessive packaging as the top complaint of customers, Staples found a technology that created the right size box for every item shipped from its e-commerce centers. In doing so, it wins the annual Supply Chain Innovation Award, sponsored by SupplyChainBrain and CSCMP.
For 2013, airlines are expected to return a global net profit of $12.9bn. This is expected to lead to a net profit of $19.7bn in 2014. Both are improvements on previous months. The upward revision reflects lower jet fuel prices over the forecast period as well as improvements to the industry's structure and efficiency. Passenger markets continue to outperform the cargo business, which remains stagnant both on volumes and revenues.
General Motors is joining the voluntary U.S. Environmental Protection Agency SmartWay Partnership, which will drive benchmarking of fuel consumption and reduction of emissions by its freight shippers and carriers with the goal of further shrinking the company's carbon footprint.
The majority (80 percent) of supply chain managers do not see their supply chain as an enabler of business strategies within their organisation, according to a recent survey.