Ben Ames has spent 20 years as a journalist since starting out as a daily newspaper reporter in Pennsylvania in 1995. From 1999 forward, he has focused on business and technology reporting for a number of trade journals, beginning when he joined Design News and Modern Materials Handling magazines. Ames is author of the trail guide "Hiking Massachusetts" and is a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism.
As members of the 118th Congress begin the opening weeks of their two-year run, business groups are lobbying those elected officials to pass meaningful legislation to strengthen supply chains that have battered by wild economic conditions.
“Supply chain should remain at the forefront of legislators’ agenda this Congress,” Consumer Brands’ vice president of supply chain, Tom Madrecki, said in a release. “Consumer Brands is eager to partner with Representatives Johnson and Blunt Rochester to advance new legislative paths forward on supply chain policies that will keep products moving at the speed of the consumer no matter what disruptions may arise.”
According to Rep. Johnson, House Republican leadership has talked about wanting to bring a supply chain package up for a vote in the full House of Representatives in May.
That package could include an effort to improve the Ocean Shipping Reform Act (OSRA) of 2022, which was sponsored by a bipartisan group including Johnson and Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) in the House and by Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and John Thune (R-SD) in the Senate. “We want to do some things with ocean shipping that clean up mistakes and deficiencies in the previous bill, but then also put into place reforms with an eye toward China,” Johnson said.
Several industry groups have since called for tweaks to OSRA, saying that supply chain stakeholders need to share more data with each other in order to meet the law’s goal of clearing cargo delays at backlogged container ports.
The potential legislative package could also include support for another bill that is co-sponsored by Johnson, an effort to bring more drivers into the interstate trucking sector that is known as the SHIP IT Act. That bill also has the support of Reps. Jim Costa (D-Calif.), Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.), Mike Bost (R-Ill.), and John Rose (R-Tenn.). “We took the very best truck driving ideas and put it into what is called the SHIP IT Act. And that is, I think, tailor made to be able to build a big bipartisan consensus, not just in the House, but also the Senate,” Johnson said.
Finally, Rep. Blunt Rochester discussed her own bipartisan package of bills that would tackle supply chain issues and support domestic manufacturing of critical goods. Blunt Rochester said she recently worked with fellow House Energy and Commerce Committee members to build bipartisan momentum for those ideas. “I talked about the fact that we would be introducing this package of bills, and that I am hopeful and excited to work with Republicans on doing something. Because the option of not doing something is not there. We must do something,” she said.
Autonomous mobile robot (AMR) manufacturer Seegrid Corp. is breaking up with Raymond Corp. (a division of Toyota), serving 90-day notice today that it will terminate its product and distribution agreements with the forklift vendor.
“This move will allow us to sell and service the full Seegrid-branded product line across all market segments rather than serving a large portion of the market through Raymond,” Joe Pajer, CEO of Seegrid, said in a release. “We are seeing more customers desire a direct relationship with Seegrid as we roll out our new lift truck products and release innovative technology enhancements across our product line.”
Raymond did not respond to a request for comment on the announcement.
Seegrid’s product catalog includes AMR solutions for palletized material handling, such as the Lift CR1, Lift RS1, and Tow Tractor S7 models. The company’s shift in go-to-market strategy follows a year marked by record-breaking end-user sales, with particularly high demand for our advanced autonomous lift truck solutions, he said.
“We appreciate Raymond’s partnership in our earlier years,” Pajer said. "At the same time, we have carefully studied our business relationship with Raymond and concluded that we are in a better position to deliver the benefits of our innovative technology to all customers if we do so directly and with Seegrid-branded products only. We are very excited to make our full product line available to all customers.”
Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Aptean said the move will add new capabilities to its warehouse management and supply chain management offerings for manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors, retailers, and 3PLs. Aptean currently provides enterprise resource planning (ERP), transportation management systems (TMS), and product lifecycle management (PLM) platforms.
Founded in 1980 and headquartered in Durham, U.K., Indigo Software provides software designed for mid-market organizations, giving users real-time visibility and management from the initial receipt of stock all the way through to final dispatch of the finished product. That enables organizations to optimize an array of warehouse operations including receiving, storage, picking, packing, and shipping, the firm says.
Specific sectors served by Indigo Software include the food and beverage, fashion and apparel, fast moving consumer goods, automotive, manufacturing, 3PL, chemicals, and wholesale / distribution verticals.
Schneider says its FreightPower platform now offers owner-operators significantly more access to Schneider’s range of freight options. That can help drivers to generate revenue and strengthen their business through: increased access to freight, high drop and hook rates of over 95% of loads, and a trip planning feature that calculates road miles.
“Collaborating with owner-operators is an important component in the success of our business and the reliable service we can provide customers, which is why the network has grown tremendously in the last 25 years,” Schneider Senior Vice President and General Manager of Truckload and Mexico John Bozec said in a release. "We want to invest in tools that support owner-operators in running and growing their businesses. With Schneider FreightPower, they gain access to better load management, increasing their productivity and revenue potential.”
Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, but Mode Global said it will now assume Jillamy's comprehensive logistics and freight management solutions, while Jillamy's warehousing, packaging and fulfillment services remain unchanged. Under the agreement, Mode Global will gain more than 200 employees and add facilities in Pennsylvania, Arizona, Florida, Texas, Illinois, South Carolina, Maryland, and Ontario to its existing national footprint.
Chalfont, Pennsylvania-based Jillamy calls itself a 3PL provider with expertise in international freight, intermodal, less than truckload (LTL), consolidation, over the road truckload, partials, expedited, and air freight.
"We are excited to welcome the Jillamy freight team into the Mode Global family," Lance Malesh, Mode’s president and CEO, said in a release. "This acquisition represents a significant step forward in our growth strategy and aligns perfectly with Mode's strategic vision to expand our footprint, ensuring we remain at the forefront of the logistics industry. Joining forces with Jillamy enhances our service portfolio and provides our clients with more comprehensive and efficient logistics solutions."
In addition to its flagship Clorox bleach product, Oakland, California-based Clorox manages a diverse catalog of brands including Hidden Valley Ranch, Glad, Pine-Sol, Burt’s Bees, Kingsford, Scoop Away, Fresh Step, 409, Brita, Liquid Plumr, and Tilex.
British carbon emissions reduction platform provider M2030 is designed to help suppliers measure, manage and reduce carbon emissions. The new partnership aims to advance decarbonization throughout Clorox's value chain through the collection of emissions data, jointly identified and defined actions for reduction and continuous upskilling.
The program, which will record key figures on energy, will be gradually rolled out to several suppliers of the company's strategic raw materials and packaging, which collectively represents more than half of Clorox's scope 3 emissions.
M2030 enables suppliers to regularly track and share their progress with other customers using the M2030 platform. Suppliers will also be able to export relevant compatible data for submission to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), a global disclosure system to manage environmental data.
"As part of Clorox's efforts to foster a cleaner world, we have a responsibility to ensure our suppliers are equipped with the capabilities necessary for forging their own sustainability journeys," said Niki King, Chief Sustainability Officer at The Clorox Company. "Climate action is a complex endeavor that requires companies to engage all parts of their supply chain in order to meaningfully reduce their environmental impact."