Noted: The Supply Chain in Brief-May 2019

New and noteworthy in the supply chain

Shovel Ready

  • A M King expanded and renovated a food distribution facility it created for ALDI. The project, which brings the building to 670,000 square feet, makes way for additional cold storage and warehouse space to increase ALDI’s fresh product offerings.
  • Transplace, a transportation management services and logistics technology solutions provider, is building a new operations center in Rogers, Arkansas. The facility will support company growth and its customers’ supply chain needs.

M&A

  • Americold, an owner and operator of temperature-controlled warehouses, acquired Cloverleaf, a cold storage provider.
  • Trucking company Bison Transport acquired H.O. Wolding, a 320-truck dry van fleet.
  • Boston Dynamics, an engineering and robotics design company, purchased Kinema Systems, a deep learning-based vision logistics technology company.

  • ClearDestination, a delivery management solution company, acquired Jarca and its transportation management system products, Jfleet.
  • Burris Logistics, an end-to-end supply chain solutions provider, purchased Trinity Logistics, a 3PL provider.

Green Seeds

  • Mars Wrigley Confectionery plans to make its cocoa supply chain deforestation-free by 2025. To achieve this goal, Mars plans to ensure 100% traceability and work exclusively with supply chain partners who can meet its sustainability specifications.
  • Unilever expects its packaging to contain 50% recycled content by the end of 2019. The company is also adding a “How2Recycle” label to its packaging to provide consumers clear instructions on how to discard it. The company expects all packaging to contain these labels by 2021.

Milestones

  • A. Duie Pyle, a provider of asset- and non-asset-based transportation and supply chain solutions, celebrates 95 years of service. Founded in 1924, the company is a multigenerational, family-owned enterprise. Today, Pyle provides a range of integrated transportation and distribution services supported by 24 transportation service centers and 10 warehouses.

Sealed Deals

  • Susquehanna Glass, an engraved, screened, and etched glass retailer, partnered with TrueCommerce Foundry to bring its EDI, e-commerce, and fulfillment solutions together in one system. The tools help the retailer keep up with demand by accelerating fulfillment and handling custom labeling needs.
  • LSO, a regional shipping carrier, contracted with Bringg’s delivery orchestration platform to attain real-time visibility across its delivery network and increase driver, fleet, and warehouse efficiency.
  • Agility, a global logistics provider, signed a two-year logistics partnership agreement with Porsche Motorsports for the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia racing series. The 3PL will manage the transportation and handling of all cars across the Asia-Pacific region, and will provide spare parts support from Porsche Germany to race sites.

Good Works

  • Werner Enterprises is offering support after major floods hit the Midwest. The 3PL provided a driver to move supplies for the American Red Cross and supplied multiple trailers to different organizations to collect donations.
  • ORBIS Corporation, an international reusable packaging company, donated three gallons of milk to the Greater Chicago Food Depository for every visitor to its booth at ProFood Tech 2019. In all, the company donated 300 gallons of milk.

Recognition

  • USA Jet Airlines received the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Diamond Award of Excellence. The award recognizes companies that initiate training programs aimed at improving safety, quality, reliability, and technical knowledge that exceed standard FAA regulatory requirements.
  • The South Louisiana Chapter of the National Safety Council presented Dupre Logistics with the Occupational Safety Award of Merit. The council determines the receipient based on total OSHA recordable incidence rates.
  • Walmart Supply Chain recognized Pilot Freight Services, a worldwide provider of transportation and logistics services, as its E-Commerce Carrier of the Year, one of six service categories. Walmart chose the carriers based on their dedication to customer service and communications that improve service levels within the retailer’s supply chain.

Up the Chain

  • Macy’s appointed Dennis Mullahy as chief supply chain officer. In this new role, Mullahy oversees the retailer’s entire product supply chain, including global sourcing, inventory management, store and e-commerce distribution, transportation, indirect procurement, technology systems, sustainability, and supplier diversity.