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Randy Mullett on Washington Chris Kane on Distribution Jonathan Wright on Sustainability Art van Bodegraven: The Art of Art Steve Simmerman on Technology Steve Blau on Real Estate/Industrial Property Stephen Cain on Europe Herb Shields on Consumer Goods and the Supply Chain Jack Ampuja on Supply Chain Optimization Karl Manrodt on DC Metrics Steve Ganster on Asia -- Resources E-Newsletters White Papers New Products Conference Guides Conference Reports Events Industry Announcements -- Earth day inspires green logistics for trucks, trains, and forklifts By Ben Ames | May 08, 2019 | 1:36 PM | Categories: Green Logistics Skeptics may say the vision of a sustainable supply chain is a contradiction in terms, thanks to the emissions spewed by 18-wheeler trucks, cargo jets, containerships, forklifts, and parcel delivery vans as they whisk freight around the globe. The challenge may be tough, but a growing number of logistics service providers are convinced there are business benefits to going green. Just Monday, supply chain specialist APL Logistics Ltd. announced it is bolstering its sustainability practice by hiring an Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) Climate Corps fellow to create a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Calculator. According to the Singapore-based 3PL, which has its U.S. headquarters in Scottsdale, Ariz., the calculator will allow customers to model greenhouse gas reduction scenarios. Ordinarily, the move wouldn’t mean much on its own. But this year, it came shortly after the annual flurry of press releases that hits reporters’ email boxes every April 22, touting sustainable supply chain announcements for Earth Day. This year’s theme was all about cutting emissions: Mack Trucks unveiled today its fully electric garbage truck, the LR battery electric vehicle (BEV) that will begin testing in 2020 with the New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) . Toyota and Kenworth unveiled a jointly developed fuel cell electric heavy-duty truck , to be deployed as part of the Zero and Near-Zero Emissions Freight Facilities Project (ZANZEFF), hauling cargo received at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. Forklift manufacturer Kalmar, part of Cargotec, introduced a fully electric version of its Empty Container Handler , taking another step toward its goal of offering an electric version of every product in its portfolio by 2021. Food industry redistributor Dot Transportation Inc., a subsidiary of Dot Foods Inc., deployed an Orange EV T-Series pure electric terminal truck at its DC in Modesto, Calif. The Stockton Terminal and Eastern Railroad (STE) and the railroad and transportation management company OmniTRAX unveiled an environmentally-friendly locomotive at its depot in San Juaquin County, Calif. Grocery store The Save Mart Companies (TSMC) said it would run all its transportations operations using 100 percent renewable drop-in diesel produced by Neste MY Renewable Diesel, offsetting the emissions of over 5,500 cars on the road a year. By slashing emissions in nearly every corner of the supply chain, operators could team up to make a collective dent in the clouds of greenhouse gasses that contribute to climate change, while continuing to turn a profit and still deliver their loads on time. OmniTRAX's environmentally friendly locomotive Mack's fully electric garbage truck Fuel-cell electric heavy-duty truck from Toyota and Kenworth Kalmar's electric Empty Container Handler Dot Foods' Orange EV electric yard truck Save Mart trucks will run on renewable diesel Comments (7) | Permalink Sharper Image catalog bucks the e-commerce trend with… Post-it notes? By Ben Ames | January 15, 2019 | 6:14 PM Conventional wisdom in retail circles holds that e-commerce is displacing traditional paper catalog sales in part because it allows stores to target individual consumers with tailored product recommendations generated by their buying histories. However, fans of the specialty toy and personal goods catalog “The Sharper Image” may have noticed that this winter’s holiday edition departed from that narrative. Instead of mailing its typical compilation of gadgets and gizmos, the “Holiday Preview 2018” version included a special twist. Thanks to modern printing technology, the catalog included virtual, digital “Post-it notes” superimposed over various pages, transforming the generic catalog into a list of personalized pitches. The note on the cover read “Welcome back! Look for this note inside for personalized recommendations based on your past purchases.” Curiosity raised, I flipped to an inside page and found other digital sticky notes reading “CHECK this out!” or “you deserve THIS!” scrawled in a computer font suggesting handwritten script, as if a friend had bookmarked the catalog to highlight thoughtful suggestions. In my version, a wireless TV speaker selling for $149.99 was marked with a digital note reading “You need this!” while a multi-surface cordless mop listed at $179.99 bore the tag “order it today!” (The note did not answer my deeper question, which is to ask whether normal mops aren’t ALREADY both multi-surface and cordless, and cost considerably less than $179.99). A surround sound shower system worth $99.99 was marked “take a look!” while a $129.99 smart sensing digital ultrasonic humidifier said “exclusively for you!” and a $99.99 premium innovative defrosting tray was tagged “your new favorite!” The e-commerce revolution is probably here to stay, notwithstanding The Sharper Image’s clever marketing ploy. After all, online retailing offers a host of other competitive benefits over mail-order fulfillment, such as faster home delivery speeds for orders, an exoneration of the postal fees needed to mail the volumes, and the agility to instantly update inventory and prices. Still, the approach marked a clever way to push back again a dominant school of thought, showing that logistics practitioners will probably always be adjusting to new sales modes and strategies. … and in case you’re curious, I did not order any of the curated goods described above. Drop me a line if you want to share a product review of that magical mop. Comments (2) | Permalink Birthdays of logistics firms in 2019 show burst of innovation By Ben Ames | January 04, 2019 | 8:58 AM | Categories: Technology A post went around social media over the New Year’s break, listing the ages in 2019 of a handful of consumer technology firms. The firms range from upstarts like the crowd-sourced, ride-hailing service Lyft (7 years) and the social network Snapchat (8 years) to stalwarts like personal computer pioneers HP (80 years) and IBM (108 years). The full list follows: Lyft: 7 years Snapchat: 8 years Uber: 10 years Twitter: 13 years Facebook: 15 years Tesla: 16 years Google: 21 years Mozilla: 21 years Netflix: 22 years Amazon: 25 years Apple: 43 years Microsoft: 44 years Intel: 51 years HP: 80 years IBM: 108 years Source: Emil Protalinski, News Editor, VentureBeat In the spirit of that exercise, we were curious about compiling a similar list for the logistics sector. Here are the ages in 2019 of companies providing supply chain services from freight brokering to robots, shipping visibility, transportation, systems integration, material handling, and retail. The list reveals a burst of innovative data sharing and robotics products launched on the market in the past decade, as well as impressive longevity for software providers and traditional transport platforms. What results will a similar exercise produce in another 10 years? At the rate our industry is creating clever solutions, the answer is sure to surprise. Check back in this column in 2029 for the big reveal… Ub...