Food Logistics January/February 2023

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SOLVES LAST-MILE CHALLENGES IN FOOD DELIVERY

In order to get perishable products to the market in the best condition, we use a foam mandrel process with foam-in-place insulation to wrap the 3000R® reefer with a 360-degree, 100% void free foam envelope. With no joints to foam later, our process delivers optimum thermal efficiency. Contact your local Utility Dealer.

Maximizing customer value through continuous improvement and innovation, CJ Logistics provides customers visibility to supply chain data to help them improve, optimize and make informed decisions. Data is transformed into intelligence.

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MITIGATING CARGO THEFT IN FOOD DISTRIBUTION

Earlier this month, I presented at PLM TrustLink’s Food Distribution Summit in Naperville, Ill. Flanked by industry greats such as Amber Engebretson, supply chain Center of Excellence senior manager for Chipotle; Bridgette Blitch, a legal expert on food safety regulations; and Liz Sertl, senior director, community engagement at GS1, I used my 30-minute timeslot to talk about safety and security in food distribution…. namely, cargo theft.

For those of you who have not experienced cargo theft yet, consider yourselves lucky. That’s because cargo theft in the food distribution space is a really big deal.

In fact, according to TT Club, the food and beverage industry experienced the most cargo theft in 2022. Think about that. In relation to theft of semiconductors, pharmaceuticals and other forms of product theft, food and beverage topped that.

But, it’s not just the product itself being stolen.

Events that involved theft of at least one heavy commercial vehicle such as a semi-truck or semi-trailer

increased by 17% year-over-year, according to a CargoNet study, and the average value of cargo stolen in an event was $214,104, equivalent to an estimated $223 million in cargo. To put that into perspective, 98 trucks and 119 trailers were reported stolen in one quarter.

Increased theft activity around major intermodal hubs was also a big thing in 2022, with California remaining the top state for reported events in 2022. Meanwhile, theft in Georgia increased by 34% year-over-year, due in part to organized crime groups that took advantage of increased traffic to the Port of Savannah.

And, think about those fake Facebook profiles that try to become friends with you. Fictitious pickups act in the same way. CargoNet recorded 96 more fictitious pickups in 2022 compared to the year prior, a 600% increase year-over-year.

According to TT Club, carrier fraud accounted for 84% of claims involving fraud or deception in 2022.

Even though many of today’s U.S. and global cold food chains continue to face the same threats they’ve been facing the past 2-3 years, understanding and overcoming such threats will help companies achieve some stability.

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Food Logistics (USPS 015-667; ISSN 1094-7450 print; ISSN 19307527 online) is published 6 times per year in January/February, March/ April, May/June, July/August, September/October, and November/ December by AC Business Media, 201 N. Main Street, Fort Atkinson, WI 53538. Periodicals postage paid at Fort Atkinson, WI 53538 and additional mailing offices.

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The Journey of Avocado Toast

The journey of avocado toast is far from simple and involves many characters working behind the scenes, especially logistics companies. From cross-border logistics to cold chain shipping, logistics companies work around the clock so that consumers can have the foods they want, when they want them, no questions asked.

Dani EtkinSpigelman, VP of business development at TA Services, explains that while consumers find avocados unrefrigerated in supermarkets—or smeared on toast—they require specialized refrigerated shipment. By keeping avocados cold throughout their supply chain journey, ripening slows and customers receive them at peak ripeness.

After preparation for shipment, the next major step in cold chain logistics for avocado consumption is crossing the U.S.Mexico border. To cross the border, the shipment will have to go through U.S. Customs and Border Patrol. Paperwork will need to be filed in advance, and to navigate the complexities of crossborder logistics, many companies turn to a third-party logistics (3PL) provider.

Cold chain logistics reveals its complexities as combining perishable foods is far less simple than one may assume. Remembering that avocados require precise temperatures, so too, do all perishable foods. In fact, each ingredient of this avocado toast—bread, tomatoes, arugula, and mozzarella cheese—all have unique shipping requirements.

Scan the QR code to learn more

https://foodl.me/t0mrt4

Food Commodities Climb in Price

Food manufacturing produce price index (PPI) is up 10.4% yearover-year and 25.9% above pre-pandemic levels seen in February 2020, according to Consumer Brands Association (CBA).

“There are countless factors impacting production costs right now as ongoing supply chain disruptions are constantly at play,” says Tom Madrecki, VP of supply chain for CBA. “As CPG manufacturers adjust their inventory strategies, staffing and recruitment models and shipping decisions to account for the supply chain challenges, the federal government must take action to boost supply chain resiliency.”

Key commodities continue to show wholesale prices well above last year and significantly higher than pre-pandemic norms. Year-over-year, eggs spiked 158%, grains increased 29% and pasta is up 37%. While there was some decline in wholesale meat prices, turkeys are up 40% over last year. Diesel fuel has risen 62% year-over-year, making a significant impact on the CPG industry, which accounts for one-fifth of all freight transportation.

Scan the QR code to learn more https://foodl.me/u90w7d

Women Celebrated in Logistics

Professional growth often starts with a conversation and on open dialogue to understanding the strengths and weaknesses of yourself and the industry you work in. The 2022 Women in Supply Chain Forum sparked those conversations about women in the supply chain and offered a workshop on collaborative problem solving. The keynote speaker, Sarah Barnes-Humphrey, host of Let’s Talk Supply Chain podcast, kicked off the event with insight into how self-advocacy and diversity improves the supply chain and empowers men and women alike.

The Forum featured both panel discussions and fireside chats with applicable topics to professional and workforce development. The Forum also brought together women, and men, of all backgrounds—in life and business. Some of these women were Supply & Demand Chain Executive’s 2022 Women in Supply Chain award winners and this gave the event a chance to celebrate them in person. The networking opportunities were compounded by various receptions and conversation tables that allowed attendees to share stories, connect on socials and truly celebrate the diversity of women in the industry.

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TA Services

@Tomas Ragina.stock.adobe.com

Phillip Kelly

Autonomous Sourcing During Food Inflation

Food inflation has been increasing at its fastest rate since 1979. Supply chain challenges like delays, transportation disruption, worker unrest and more amid a looming recession have led to higher prices and shortages of household favorites. As a result, the cost of groceries in the United States has soared 13% from 2021, with little signs of slowing down. In the UK, inflation has recently hit 10.1%. Working-class families are feeling the heat, and businesses are at a loss.

Thankfully, there is a secret weapon that procurement teams can use to their advantage, according to Dylan Alperin, head of professional services at Keevlar. With autonomous sourcing, businesses can reduce costs, drive operational efficiencies, decrease time to market and more—no matter the sudden situation at hand. The result: guaranteed continuity and supply chain resiliency, without robbing the working-class family at the grocery store.

Scan the QR code to learn more

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Online Grocery Shopping Today

Seventy percent of consumers in a Phononic survey say they will buy most of their groceries for holiday meals and/or holiday parties in-store, yet 84% of retailers still expect their online grocery delivery and curbside pickup operations to increase in the next year.

“Given the explosive adoption of curbside pickup and last mile delivery over the last few years, it’s clear that online grocery shopping is here to stay,” says Dana Krug, SVP and general manager at Phononic. “Yet there are challenges that our industry report highlights—notably, concerns around food safety, consumer trust and consideration in sustainability within the industry from both sides—that show there is an opportunity for retailers to strengthen business with their online delivery and curbside pick-up. With cold chain technology slated to be a multimillion-dollar investment for nearly a third of retailers over the coming year, identifying more sustainable technology such as solid-state cooling can offer game changing results for both retailers and customers. Solid state cooling also checks the sustainability box for retailers, providing a non-toxic, low carbon footprint option that doesn’t use harmful Global Warming Potential (GWP) refrigerants. Implementing changes such as this has the potential to revolutionize the industry.”

Scan the QR code to learn more https://foodl.me/efdei2

Causes of Food Waste Today

@Lomiso.stock.@adobe.com

Food insecurity and sustainability are two of the most talked about challenges today. But it’s important to realize they’re not mutually exclusive. In fact, they’re intertwined. Nearly 10% of the world’s emissions are caused by the manufacturing of food that will ultimately go to waste. Svante Göthe, head of sustainability at RELEX Solutions, outlines top causes of waste across the food supply chain, and how technology can help grocery stores meet customer needs while reducing the food they must throw out and ultimately cut their footprint:

Properly assessing demand requires grocery chains to understand both macro and micro trends across locations. For instance, ingredients for baked goods may climb in demand nationwide right before the holidays. But the popularity of fillings for these goods may differ from region to region.

Food merchandising is a tricky business, especially for the products customers would typically find around the supermarket’s outer ring, such as fresh produce, meat and dairy. Customers are unlikely to purchase bruised or over-ripened fruits and vegetables. Steaks, pork and chicken nearing their sell-by dates are also often rejected in favor of food that will stay good for another week or longer. For grocery stores, the last two years have been one of the most turbulent periods on record. COVID-19 led to supply shocks in every corner of the retail marketplace, and grocery stores felt the heat. Meat suppliers went offline because of outbreaks, and demand soared for products that don’t typically fly off the shelves, such as toilet paper.

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https://foodl.me/lwa08o

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Changing Policies, Changing Agriculture

A well-functioning agricultural sector is a crucial component for any successful and sustainable economy, given its core role in the production of food and raw materials. Supply chains of many sectors rely on crops, fibers and fuels, linking them to agriculture and its impacts.

As new sustainability policies for crop and animal production continue to emerge, the corporate sector needs to be ready. Demonstrating sustainable agricultural production is becoming critical to preserve access to local and global markets, says Margarita Lysenkova, manager—sector program, Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).

GRI 13: Agriculture, Aquaculture and Fishing Sectors, released in June, is a dedicated standard for agriculture companies. It is an extension of the GRI Standards, the most widely used sustainability reporting standards across global regions, which incorporate general due diligence requirements as well as key sectoral topics. While GRI’s standards are voluntary, they build on emerging policies and adopt requirements in line with international law, often exceeding jurisdictional regulations. GRI 13 integrates sustainability expectations across 26 topics, including those highlighted above, making it allencompassing.

Scan the QR code to learn more https://foodl.me/vhzj5x

U.S. Port Improvements Strengthen Supply Chains

The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) Maritime Administration (MARAD) announced $703 million in grants to fund 41 projects in 22 states through the Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP), the largest amount than any year in the program’s history.

More than 60% of the funds will benefit ports in disadvantaged communities and several of the projects will help reduce emissions at the ports through electrification. Additionally, more than $150 million in awards include a focus on electrification of port equipment to reduce emissions and improve air quality.

“This funding will continue to augment PIDP for the next several years, through federal fiscal year 2026 (FY2026). At a time when vital infrastructure at U.S. seaports has become the subject of national attention, this strong investment will enable projects aimed at improving and expanding port infrastructure to ensure critical cargo is transported efficiently and safely,” according to American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA).

Scan the QR code to learn more https://foodl.me/kf0zoh

Get Your Sustainable Packing Ready for 2023

With the New Year comes new rules and regulations. California is still leading the way when it comes to sustainable packaging, but now other states are following in their footsteps. It is very likely that more states will continue to follow in their footsteps to show consumers that they are sustainability savvy. Carl Tiu, first VP of food and beverage financing at BHI, offers three ways to prepare for this: assess your needs for working capital, work with your banker on capital expenditures and plan for future growth.

Scan the QR code to learn more. https://foodl.me/wfxp97

Women Break Barriers in Trucking

Although women account for around half of the labor force in this country, fewer than 8% of truck drivers are women. There are several benefits in the trucking and transportation industries that would benefit working women if they were aware of the opportunities. Candace Davis, owner-operator of Davis & Davis Transportation LLC, gives insight and advice for women trying to break through the trucking industry.

• Learn the business: Trucking companies across the country are actually raising wages to attract new workers, especially

females. It’s also an industry that doesn’t have a pay gap — drivers are paid by the mile or the load — and has clear paths for entrepreneurial advancement.

• Questions aren’t a form of weakness: Let your voice be heard and let your actions gain positive attention by making an impact from start to finish. By showing competency through actions, people will understand that women can do the job just as well as anybody else.

• Cultivate a collective mindset: The diversity of corporate culture is defined through a scope of equality, the right to professional development and career advancement opportunities for women in a competitive market.

The industry is growing, supply chains are becoming more complex and there are ample opportunities. The demand for drivers and the competitive pay that comes with the job make the trucking industry an untapped resource for women. Scan the QR code to learn more https://foodl.me/azol9y

A Winter Wonderland in Food Distribution

The practice of winterizing any food distribution fleet today has changed drastically from even just five or 10 years ago. Gone are the days of adjusting each truck based on historical perceptions or just going on experience. Brian Antonellis, SVP fleet operations at Fleet Advantage, explains that everything starts with preventative maintenance (PM) and the ability to calendarize the PM plan. Maintenance prepared for and performed in the spring and summer will have a different focus than that of winter, and distributor fleets must be able to identify the trends and areas that colder climates may affect more so than in warmer climates. Setting the appropriate annual plan will be vital to establishing the proper PM checklist at different times of the year. This can include paying close attention to fuel systems, staying vigilant on reoccurring tasks like changing tires and properly communicating cost breakdowns to the C-level.

Scan the QR code to learn more https://foodl.me/45b3ru

The Great Rate Wars in Container Shipping

There is significant market volatility that continues to disrupt the container shipping industry. With a significant oversupply of containers and a further influx of more TEUs in 2023, shipping lines continue to reduce vessel capacity and suspend services by considerable blank sailings, according to the market forecaster by Container xChange. In fact, some shippers plan to continue making capacity adjustments on services from Asia to North America, Europe and the Mediterranean to better align with demand fluctuations.

“In 2023, there is a high possibility of an all-out price war. It doesn’t seem that the capacity restrictions that we have seen in the past two years are due to return, so we’ll just have ample capacity both on the vessel as well as on the container side. With the competitive dynamics in the container shipping and liner industry, I don’t expect especially the big players to hold back, and we do expect prices to come down to almost variable costs. We also foresee market consolidation,” says Christian Roeloffs, co-founder and CEO of Container xChange. Scan the QR code to learn more https://foodl.me/mztmnb

Capacity Optimization in the Last-Mile

Capacity Optimization takes electronic requests from shipping customers to autogenerate orders. A dispatch scheduling tool calculates variables from appointment windows and truck availability to truck floor space and maximum weight. Recently launched at Fleet Enable, CEO Krishna Vattipalli says, “There is a lot of complexity in determining what freight will fit onto a truck that ends up increasing the odds of a delivery failure. Capacity Optimization ensures we are creating the most profitable routes that can be scheduled, loaded, unloaded and delivered at the appropriate time.”

• Capacity Optimization replaces manual calculations that determine if deliveries fit on trucks and meet weight limits.

• Capacity Optimization takes electronic requests from shipping customers to auto-generate orders. A dispatch scheduling tool calculates variables from appointment windows and truck availability to truck floor space and maximum weight.

The tool auto-generates delivery routes that adhere to delivery constraints.

Capacity Optimization provides the warehouse with truck loading instructions to ensure proper shipment delivery.

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https://foodl.me/sism1k

EV Charging Stations Surge Spending

Historically, says Dallas Henderson, account manager at RizePoint, consumers wanted to dash into gas stations or convenience stores, gas up their cars, grab a quick snack and be back on the road in a few minutes. Moving forward, consumers will seek destinations when they need to charge their cars. This will no longer be a fast exchange, but a more leisurely experience. Since charging an EV can take an hour or more, these consumers will need something to do (eat, shop, work) while they wait.

The increasing EV demand means that restaurants will be competing with other businesses, including shopping centers, grocery stores and convenience stores to attract EV owners and convince them to come stay—and spend—with them. This comes in the form of considering these action steps:

1. Recognizing the benefits of adding EV charging stations.

2. Attracting the key EV users.

3. Elevating sustainability efforts as a whole.

4. Filling a need for the consumer.

5. Generating awareness and brand loyalty.

6. Attracting visitors as well as locals.

Americans Agree: Video Saves Drivers

Despite safety efforts deployed by many fleets, Americans feel greatly impacted by unsafe fleet driving behaviors, according to a study by Solera Holdings, LLC.

7. Prioritizing QA and safety.

8. Monitoring suppliers along the supply chain.

9. Pivoting from punitive to collaborative inspections. Scan the QR code to learn more

https://foodl.me/f9h7an

“The industry has come a long way in improving driver safety standards, and it’s important that we continue on this journey collectively, especially as there are public perceptions to overcome,” says Michal Yariv, VP and GM of strategic initiatives at Solera. “First and foremost, driver safety needs to be a top priority for fleet managers to ensure drivers can do their job and get home safely at the end of the day, and video technology with built-in driver coaching is the key to achieving optimum safety.”

The vast majority of respondents (89%) believe commercial truck drivers could benefit from further safety training. In addition, two-thirds believe video-based safety systems would have a positive effect on commercial truck drivers’ ability to drive safely.

Scan the QR code to learn more https://foodl.me/0tcim3

Sustainable Considerations in Transportation

Josh Boulk, president at Trax Technologies, says it’s no secret that supply chain processes directly impact the environment. As the demand for corporate social responsibility grows, supply chain leaders must make strategic course corrections and chart a path toward sustainable supply chain operations. These efforts must be defined and timely but also reasonable and scalable.

Adopting sustainable supply chain practices is a top priority for transportation and logistics leaders. But the question of how to achieve this isn’t one-size-fits-all. That’s why it’s essential to understand the fundamental steps before launching a full-fledged

Kiosk for Supply Chain Safety

IntelliTrans introduced Kiosk functionality within the IntelliTrans transportation management system to keep truck drivers in their cabs. Doing so improves safety, speeds up check-in process and reduces on-site time by 30 minutes or more.

sustainability strategy that include scalable solutions, internal alignment, engagement with suppliers and established goals and overall tracking.

Business leaders are welltrained to establish performance indicators, set goals and track performance. However, you need sound data and data governance processes to do it. That’s where freight audit and payment come in, along with regular data cleansing and other operational best practices. A freight audit and payment program can capture the foundational transportation logistics data needed to build a sustainability program and measure KPIs over time.

Scan the QR code to learn more https://foodl.me/c3wdpp

Cargo Theft is Still Supply Chains #1 Concern

CargoNet recorded 1,778 supply chain risk events across the United States and Canada in 2022. In 2022, supply chains were more concerned with disruptions because of it’s effect on inflation. However, theft is still the top concern for supply chains to keep in mind. There were 96 more fictitious pickups in 2022 than there were in 2021. This was especially prominent in states such as California and has since spread to Washington, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Texas.

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https://foodl.me/q85n7n

“Previously, the guard in a guard shack had to look at his clipboard to validate whether a particular truck should be on the property,” says Brian Cupp, director of operations at IntelliTrans. “Guards needed to validate that the driver was with the right company with the correct load and that the driver could check-in. With Kiosk, the guard knows this information before the truck arrives, allowing him to wave the driver into the yard without the driver having to stop and get out of the truck. Even better, the warehouse personnel preparing shipments sees when a truck is approaching the facility prior to check-in, providing advanced confirmation of the required product staging. This new self-service experience has really helped employee and driver satisfaction, as well as reduced on-site time.”

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https://foodl.me/zjcbi5

TOP5 SUPPLY CHAIN THREATS TO IMPACT SUPPLY CHAINS IN 2023

2022 saw a lot of instability within the supply chain. From port and rail strikes to inflation, driver shortage and more, industry experts predict it may take supply chains close to 2-3 years to turn around.

Let that sink in… 2-3 years. Thinking back to when COVID-19 first hit the United States, it’s been 2-3 years since, and look at how much the supply chain has changed, grown and evolved.

Case in point: Pre-pandemic research from the McKinsey Global Institute found that on average, companies experience a disruption of 1-2 months in duration every 3.7 years.

Fast forward to present day, and more than half of executives do not expect a return to a “normal” supply chain until the first half of 2024 or beyond, while 22% expect disruptions to continue until the second half of 2023, according to a survey presented by Carl Marks Advisors.

These executives also see a number of threats clouding the picture and complicating a return of a more reliable supply chain, most notably the war in Ukraine (30%) and labor concerns (24%). Additionally, more than two-thirds of supply chain executives said they are “very concerned” that the U.S. economy could tilt into a recession over the next 12 months as a result of rising interest rates, high inflation and geopolitical uncertainty.

“With no apparent end to the Ukraine conflict in sight, we would expect fuel costs to continue to put pressure on supply chains for the remainder of the year, and possibly beyond,” adds Peter Keogh, managing director, Carl Marks Advisors. “Moreover, with the U.S. economy potentially entering recession, we could see an extended period of uncertainty. In this environment, it will be incumbent on organizations to review their sales forecasting, continue to monitor their on-hand inventory levels, and revisit their procurement strategies.”

These threats come in a number of formats and target various sectors of the supply chains.

For example, IBMs’ X-Force Threat Intelligence Index 2022 found that manufacturing was the most attacked industry in North America. Meanwhile, a survey by Anchore says that software supply chain attacks targeted three out of five companies. And, more than half of organizations (54%) now consider supply chain security as a top area of focus.

“Supply chain due diligence is increasingly important, particularly as ESG is emerging as a key indicator in positioning companies for success in the global marketplace. Visibility, transparency and knowledge are the keys to effective due diligence,” says Suzanne

Offerman, director, product management, international trade, Thomson Reuters. “But obtaining this necessary transparency is seen as a challenge for many organizations, across industries and geographies, especially amidst a complex regulatory landscape. That’s because many companies don’t have proper insight into the intricacies of their sourcing operations, like how they may rely on forced labor practices, for instance. This is extremely problematic; forced labor has a terrible human cost on vulnerable populations, as well as impacts how international companies operate.”

What’s more is, today’s disruptions are inevitable. In fact, they’ve been challenging supply chains for years, just in different capacities. And today, it’s these disruptions that are now threatening many of the U.S. and global supply chains.

“Since the inception of COVID, the idea of a stable supply chain is completely foreign, and the next 2-3 years will not be a turnaround scenario, but will be focused on creating as much stability as possible despite the global instability,” according to Glenn Koepke, GM of network collaboration at FourKites. “I suspect that the supply chain landscape of mid-to-late next year will be our new normal for a while.”

Here's an outline of the Top 5 threats set to impact supply chains in 2023.

1. Lack of resiliency

If there’s one takeaway over the past few years, it's that supply chains need to be more resilient, according to Patricia Riedl, supply chain lead in North America for Accenture.

“Being resilient means having the knowledge and tools to either predict or respond to disruptions—ideally both and ideally within budget. The question is how to do this. A good start is identifying vulnerabilities across all tiers of the supply network with a supply chain resilience stress test. Once these risks are identified, companies can work to build more resilient supply chains with greater visibility or ‘intelligent visibility.’ This is a more costeffective way to create more resilient supply chains—by combining structural and dynamic viability with artificial technologies and artificial intelligence. Companies with greater visibility are more likely to maintain revenue by serving demand during disruption,” adds Riedl.

In fact, a majority of companies are still struggling to build resiliency into their operations, according to a survey from Orbus Software. Although 89% of companies have experienced some form of disruption over the last two years, over half of enterprises are struggling to increase resiliency, with 44% lacking a dedicated team. Those enterprises that suffered disruption stemmed from staff shortages (56%), supply chain issues and increased business costs (48%) coupled with increasing technology costs (44%). Plus, an unstable environment opens doors for higher risk

potential. And, this continuous instability continues to challenge the cold food chains in several ways.

“Supply chain instability has become an ever-growing pain point among food shippers, and yes, much of the problems arise from inconsistent labor. Reliable real-time data is more key now than ever to minimize the bullwhip effect in organizations,” says Daniel Knauer, Midwest regional sales for Emerson’s cold chain business. “For example, retail and restaurant operators want to know when their shipments will be arriving and if those shipments were kept at the correct temperature throughout the route in order to meet their food quality and safety standards.”

2. Driver shortage

The American Trucking Associations (ATA) reported a shortage of 80,000 drivers last year, an all-time high that could reach 160,000 by 2030. And, to think, in 2020, the trucking industry employed more than 1.95 million heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

But, for the last two years, the trucking industry has been faced with what can only be described as the perfect storm of unanticipated challenges that has since created a downward spiral.

"Based on our estimates, the trucking industry is short roughly 78,000 drivers," says ATA chief economist Bob Costello. "That's down slightly from 2021's record of more than 81,000, but still extremely high historically."

Furthermore, the shortage could swell to more than 160,000 over the next decade, based on current driver demographic trends and projected growth in freight demand. To keep up with demand, the industry must hire nearly 1.2 million new drivers over the next decade. And, the shortage is not unique to the United States—Germany, Italy, Argentina, Mexico, and China all report shortages of

 The industry must hire nearly 1.2 million new drivers over the next decade to keep up with demand.

Going into the New Year, there’s a lot of uncertainty with what’s going to happen with the global economy.

@ungvar.stock.adobe.com

drivers in the past year.

However, data analytics and other technologies are in position to somewhat tighten the gap so that operations can continue to run, driver or no driver.

“Using data points from previous shipments, the devices can perform a much more detailed analysis to reveal deeper insights and long-term trends, such as shippers or shipping lanes where temperature excursions seem to occur most frequently; products that are most susceptible to temperature issues; seasonal and geographic factors that impact reefer temperatures; and distribution centers (DCs) that may be allowing careless cold chain management,” says Daniel Knauer, Midwest regional sales for Emerson’s cold chain business. “Most importantly, data provides an objective record of cold chain temperatures in-transit. In challenging times like these, where truckers and retailers simply can’t afford the negative impacts of rejected loads, data serves as an arbiter of supply chain disputes. It takes emotion out of the equation by providing indisputable proof of precisely when and where temperature excursions occur.”

3. Limited warehouse capacity and fulfillment

Earlier this year, the Association for Supply Chain Management (ASCM) and KPMG LLP launched its monthly Supply Chain Stability Index, which identified logistics as the predominant cause of stress in

the supply chain, accounting for 78% of variability, followed by capacity (10%) and supply (12%).

Basically, “the Stability Index demonstrates supply chains are still fragile,” according to Douglas Kent, EVP of corporate and strategic alliances for ASCM, as expressed in Food Logistics’ SCN Summit: Future of Supply Chain webcast.

which required infrastructure changes to warehouses.

This D2C model has now become the catalyst for limited warehouse availability in today’s food logistics landscape.

“Warehousing capacity remains very volatile, especially in the cold storage market. Cold chains require a significant investment in assets or partnerships to ensure available warehousing capacity in key geographic markets to meet customer demands,” says Koepke. “In addition, the handoff between providers, inevitable delays and unpredictable extreme weather events makes cold chain shipping a challenge. Evidence of these difficulties is that roughly one-third of global fresh fruits and vegetables are thrown away because their quality has dropped below an acceptable limit. While major disruptions always pose a threat, it is the lack of monitoring, alerts, collaboration and communication that most often dooms cold food chain shipments.”

As a result, companies are now moving to lease facilities vs. own, creating a shortage in rental units available as well.

“If we look at pre-pandemic to now, we’re two times more fragile/less stable now than we were pre-pandemic. We looked at supply, demand and fulfillment. And more than 65% of the instability came from fulfillment, which is shocking because we don’t even think about that. We don’t typically adjust our forecast or our demand picture based on constraints in fulfillment. But when you think about it, it makes perfect sense. How much fulfillment disruptions have we had? Take a look at port closures, truck driver shortage and warehouse space constraints. They’ve been super prolific. We have these real issues,” he adds.

The e-commerce boom is also responsible for overturning warehouse capacity in the cold food logistics market. Case in point: many grocers and retailers incorporated a direct-to-consumer (D2C) arm to their business model,

A total of 50,000 extra warehouses of more than 50,000 square feet are projected to be added to the global warehouse stock between 2022-2027, according to Interact Analysis, with 20% of all warehouses projected to be fulfillment centers.

Because these mega-warehouses are taking over, warehouse users are signing leases for 37 facilities of 1 million square feet or larger in the United States in the first half of 2022, up from 24 in the first half of 2021, according to a report from CBRE. Eighty-five of the Top 100 leases are new leases rather than renewals, and traditional retailers and wholesalers accounted for the largest share with thirdparty logistics (3PL) firms close behind.

4. Freight shipping

Perishable freight shippers are not immune to issues of lost, damaged or stolen shipments, as outlined in the most recent UPS Capital report. In fact, 55% of freight shippers experienced loss of time and resources to resolve the issue, while 48% experienced loss of sales and revenue. Meanwhile, 67% of companies shipping

@sculpies.stock.adobe.com

Supply chain threats come in a number of formats and target various sectors of the supply chains. Go to https://foodl.me/cft68t to learn more.

perishable food remarked that their customers are the most affected by complaints due to delays.

"Forty percent of merchants reported that they expect to see an increase in damaged or expired merchandise, and a third of merchants anticipate the need to invest in weather stabilizing shipping packaging over the next five years. Rising temperatures and other extreme weather conditions is a threat to cold food chains, however merchants are thinking about the future and how to safeguard their goods and margins," says Ryan Fannon, director of product management and user experience, UPS Capital. "Freight shippers stand to lose $180,000 or more each year due to lost, stolen or damaged shipments. With claim filings on the rise, swift resolution is crucial. Shippers can reduce financial repercussions and focus on customer resolution by partnering with third-party insurance providers. While shipping mishaps may be unavoidable, mitigating threats to your company’s finances and reputation is key."

What’s more is, there is significant market volatility that continues to disrupt the container shipping industry. With a significant oversupply of containers and a further influx of more TEUs in 2023, shipping lines continue to reduce vessel capacity and suspend services by considerable blank sailings, according to the market forecaster issued by Container xChange. In fact, some shippers plan to continue making capacity adjustments on services from Asia to North America, Europe and the Mediterranean to better align with demand fluctuations.

“In 2023, there is a high possibility of an all-out price war. It doesn’t seem that the capacity restrictions that we have seen in the past two years are due to return, so we’ll just have ample capacity both on the vessel as well as on the container side. With the competitive dynamics in the container shipping and liner industry, I don't expect especially the big players to hold back, and we do expect prices to come down to almost variable costs. We also foresee market consolidation,”

says Christian Roeloffs, co-founder and CEO of Container xChange.

5. Possible recession

A possible recession doesn’t just impact retailers, homeowners and consumers alike.

Looking back at 2020 when COVID-19 hit, the

United States experienced a spike in food spending due to the increase in stay-athome environment. During lockdown, the GDP rose to almost 6%, according to Wells Fargo data.

But what does this mean for an impending recession in 2023 in relation to the cold food chain? Well, it’s all relative.

Food manufacturers could expect an improvement in labor availability and slowing wage growth, according to Wells Fargo, and the quit rate of employees would fall. Freight rates from factory to retail would decrease, helping margins as well. Less demand from other sectors and lower crude oil prices would certainly pressure freight rates lower for a while.

What’s more is, surging inflation remains one of the overarching themes in ACT Research’s latest State of the Industry report.

“The prospect of a U.S. recession has grown materially since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and as of the July issue of ACT’s NA OUTLOOK report, a 2023 recession is now the base-case expectation, with freight volumes beginning to contract in Q3’22,” says Kenny Vieth, ACT Research’s president and senior analyst. “Meanwhile, supply chain disruptions remain a wild card, as the war in Ukraine continues and China announced fresh lockdowns following another surge in COVID infections.”

Economists say there’s a 35% probability that the United States tips into recession over the next year, which is below the median of 65% among forecasters in a Wall Street Journal survey. But data on economic activity is nowhere close to recessionary, mainly because the GDP grew 2.6% (annualized) in the third quarter and despite the ongoing labor shortage, the country added 261,000 jobs in October.

In fact, there’s a roughly one in three risk of a U.S. recession over the next year, according to Bloomberg.

Morgan Stanley Research reports food prices, which have been up 65% globally over the last 2 years, will begin to drop come 2023. Morgan Stanley also

 Ongoing port and labor negotiations will continue to threaten both domestic and international supply chains.

@sculpies stock adobe com

predicts the increases will be lower than expected, presenting some relief in 2023 to companies that benefit from lower foodinput costs, such as retailers, restaurants and packaged food companies.

Going into the New Year, there’s a lot of uncertainty with what’s going to happen with the global economy. Other threats entail port and labor negotiations, trade relationships, the ongoing Russia/ Ukraine war, achieving compliance in food safety and environmental, social, governance (ESG) regulations.

“We have inflation that continues to rise. We have ongoing surges of COVID both here and overseas. And then labor uncertainty. The biggest challenge is the West Coast ports and the labor negotiations are ongoing. The overall trade relationship between U.S. and China. China 301 tariffs remain place. Would like to see

these come off. Just figuring out a way to better address the issues with China, both on the trade front, on the human rights front, as well as the other competition issues. And national security. There’s the ‘what-if’ scenario with regards to Taiwan that we should be taking a look at and planning for. People need to gameplan and be ready if something does occur. The ongoing challenge with the war in Ukraine as well,” according to Jonathan Gold, VP of supply chain and customs policy for the National Retail Federation, as expressed in Food Logistics’ SCN Summit: Future of Supply Chain webcast.

Even though many of today’s cold food chains face the same threats they’ve been facing the past 2-3 years, understanding and overcoming such threats will help companies achieve some stability.

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More than half of executives do not expect a return to a “normal” supply chain until the first half of 2024 or beyond.

THE PROGRESSION OF ELDS INTO 2023 AND BEYOND

In 2019, electronic logging devices (ELD) became a congressionally mandated requirement for all motor carriers and drivers to record driver Hours of Service (HOS) data. This was done as an effort to help create a safer work environment for drivers and make it easier, and faster, to accurately track, manage and share records of duty status. Later, specifications for ELD materials were announced and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) released education on those requirements, how to reach them and a full list of compliant devices.

This graph (page 21), by the FMCSA, shows how HOS violations have fallen since ELDs have been in use. This helps prove the importance of these devices and the pivotal role they play in keeping drivers, and those around them, safe. Additionally, ELDs can be integrating into other management platforms like payroll

and maintenance scheduling. The affects of such can boost its practicality in the workplace.

“ELDs make it harder to adjust numbers of service hours so that drivers will stick to their HOS requirements. They provide many benefits to the food industry, including enhanced safety. With an ELD installed, drivers can submit more accurate and immediate driving times and dispatchers can better monitor drivers to ensure they are resting when required,” says Sam Polakoff, CEO and founder of BrillDog. “ELDs also provide metrics so you can analyze which trucks are enroute, which drivers are on a break and which drivers are going to be late for a delivery. Additionally, they provide metrics on how well the driver is driving, such as hard braking or driving over the speed limit. ELDs can help with discovering which route is faster, how much time is needed to load/unload and which drivers drive safer than others.”

Evolving through mobile data

As the evolution of technology has continued to transform most devices, mobile service providers have updated their data sourcing to levels surpassing 3G. As of Feb. 22, 2022, the FMCSA has mandated that ELDs be updated past 3G, and has been phasing out for most major carriers such as AT&T, Sprint/T-Mobile and Verizon. As a result, many ELDs have lost compliance, though extensions were granted for specific devices over the course of the year, with set dates.

The FMCSA has continued to advise

users to ask their ELD provider about their plans for upgrading or replacing devices as changes come into effect, sooner rather than later, and providers have been told to contact customers still using 3G-reliant ELDs. Polakoff says that some carriers simply wait until their device “goes dark” before spending the money and effort to upgrade—a costly decision that could come along with consequences. Once the mandate is in full effect and the mobile carriers stop service that’s it—most grace periods and windows for remedy will have come and gone. AT&T retired their 3G network as of February 2022. Sprint,

including their LTE network, retired as of March and June 2022. T-Mobile concluded theirs in July 2022 and Verizon end of 2022.

“Once the network pulls the plug on 3G, these devices will no longer be able to communicate over the network and the carrier will have to upgrade,” says Polakoff. “Mobile carriers are shutting down their 3G networks in favor of more advanced networks like 4G. ELDs that can support 4G networks will work. If the mobile carrier goes to 5G, you need to make sure your ELD supports that type of network. Another thing to consider is cross-border transportation. Canada has different ELD requirements than the U.S., so if you drive in/out of Canada, you may have to use another type of ELD.”

Canadian and cross-border operations have been met with their own changes regulated by the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators (CCMTA) that announced their own “soft-enforcement” mandate through Jan. 1. Frank Stowers, senior product manager at Trimble Transportation, says “this enforcement window, centered on ‘elevated education and awareness,’ is intended to help fleets gain an understanding of the rule and how to comply with its technical requirements,” citing the differences between Canadian

5m3photos/stock.adobe.com

 Hours of Service compliance graph from implementation through 2022.

FMCSA

mandates and the United States. For example, if a malfunction or diagnostic event is noted on an ELD, drivers must notify the motor carrier immediately, unlike in the United States where they are given a grace period of 24 hours. Being aware of all rules and regulations regarding ELD use in your given area is key to maintaining usability.

The risks and rewards

Failure to comply with the changes in the United States regarding 3G harms companies in major ways; without upgrading or switching your ELD to a newer 4G network, carriers are subject to noncompliance penalties and HOS regulations. Fines for ELD violations can range from $1,000-10,000, according to the North American Transportation Association, with the highest fine ever recorded being $13,680.

enforcement official, then he or she will be charged with ‘no record of duty’ status. Truckers must log into their ELDs before starting a journey and log out when complete and those that don’t are also charged with a ‘no record of duty’ status.”

Bill Vitti, president and CRO at Transflo, says, “we still see division in the industry surrounding the ELD mandates as organizations like the FMCSA suggests ELDs have improved safety on the roads, whereas proponents with the OwnerOperator Independent Drivers Association

scrambling to meet the demand, many have taken the opportunity to improve upon these ideas by coupling the devices with the use of other solution, such as telematics, to further the effect.

“An important element to examining the impact of ELD requirements is data. Immense amounts of data are now available due to the required ELDs recording multiple stats with telematics technology. This abundance of data offers safety-based details such as digital accident recreation, hard-braking incidents, speed and more. Beyond safety and compliance, the telematics data has additionally helped many fleets with operational efficiency and truck maintenance visibility (including opportunities for preventative maintenance and pre-planning). Telematics data also gives flexibility to fleets, allowing them to analyze all this data and create their own reporting, enabling business growth,” says Vitti.

The transitions of mobile service, 3G to 4G, has increased demand for ELDs and created standout products. Unfortunately, supply chain disruption has a reach here, which has slowed some production due to the shortage of semiconductors stemming from COVID-19. This was one factor the Canadian mandate took to hear when issuing their extension to the beginning of 2023, allowing sufficient time for fleets to ensure they source and receive the hardware needed within a reasonable period based on the current state of the world.

“The retiring of 3G affects everyone, some more than others, depending on their cell provider and ELD/telematics provider. We’re now in a time where it’s no longer a question of ‘if’ but ‘when’ fleets need to replace their devices. Some cellular providers have already retired 3G with others completing their discontinuation of the technology in the coming months. The 3G phase-out has increased competition between ELD providers as thousands continue to seek out 4G-compatible replacement devices.”

(OOIDA) disagree.”

Polakoff says, “if any trucker fails to transfer data from the ELD device when prompted to do so by an authorized

The only true defining factor here seems to be data—the data collected by the ELD devices themselves and the data compiled from those metrics that provide necessary information on safety and compliance that could improve the field. While mandated upgrades in ELDs have left some providers

“ELDs came into the industry in distinct phases, starting with the mandate requiring the switch from paper logs to ELDs, phasing out AOBRDs (Automatic Onboard Recording Devices), etc.” Vitti says, “In the beginning, it was all new for everyone with fleets primarily focused on just the HOS compliance aspect, but over the past couple of years we’ve seen a shift leading to more fleets asking, ‘what else

 ELD data on a smartphone device.

Moab Republic/stock.adobe.com

can this technology do for me?’ Again, the data is profound here with recordings of vehicle breakdowns, engine faults, fuel and mileage, accident reporting, idle times, and more,” Vitti says. Vitti continues, “The retiring of 3G affects everyone, some more than others, depending on their cell provider and ELD/ telematics provider. We’re now in a time where it’s no longer a question of ‘if’ but ‘when’ fleets need to replace their devices. Some cellular providers have already retired 3G with others completing their discontinuation of the technology in the coming months. The 3G phase-out has increased competition between ELD providers as thousands continue to seek out 4G-compatible replacement devices.”

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A future beyond Hours of Service

Telematics data collection can be a great assistant alongside ELD tracking. Many fleets are using this resource already, collecting data and organizing it as a useful tool for productivity. According to Vitti, there is an opportunity to use data recorded through telematics solutions to make the analytics translatable into a meaningful, tangible thing. There is, now more than ever, a possibility for data collection to go beyond simply meeting compliance and providing safety that is almost impossible to ignore.

As mobile devices evolve, there are many advantages to the advancement of this technology, including faster data rates, smoother transfer of information and an increase in overall efficiency. The hesitation to adopt these changes, for users and suppliers creates risk for drivers in the seat and for ELD providers who may put their devices in jeopardy of becoming noncompliant and therefore obsolete. The future of ELD technology revolves around the advancements made by networks and how providers grow with it. Moving from 3G to 4G is a part of that natural progression, but as mobile carriers now move to even stronger networks, ELDs will need to continue to follow the trends, support the changes and utilize emerging technology to leverage future users.

NOT ALL ROCK STARS ARE MUSICIANS; MANY ARE RIGHT HERE IN THE COLD CHAIN

Famous musicians aren’t the only rock stars around. There are several rock stars right here in the cold food chain, and many of them are recipients of this year’s Food Logistics’ Rock Stars of the Supply Chain award.

These rock stars developed platforms, integrated automation and led teams through disruption after disruption. They’ve helped their companies pivot and adapt. They’ve promoted workforce development, faced supply chain challenges, mitigated risks and helped to heal the supply chain.

Many of these winners are actively involved in understanding customers’ needs, creating problem-solving solutions, ensuring the safe transport of cold food and beverages and adopting sustainable measures.

The words used to describe them range from strategic, motivated and dedicated to passionate, educator and transformative.

Instead of leading from the top, they lead from within, integrating themselves into the day-to-day tasks of their employees to fully understand the opportunities, pitfalls and options for improvement.

Something else to note about these rock stars is that they are truly shaping the future of today’s—and tomorrow’s—global cold chains. They’re thought leaders craving collaboration. They’re visionaries sharing the same common goal—to solve problems within the supply chain. They’re mentors to today’s youth looking for a place in the supply chain. They provide proactive solutions, invest in their employees and view disruptions as opportunities to improve, enhance and excel.

And, they continue to do so with grace, agility, flexibility and resilience.

And that… rocks.

Food Logistics’ Rock Stars of the Supply Chain award recognizes the industry’s most influential individuals whose achievements, hard work and vision have shaped the global cold food supply chain. Winners come from all facets of the cold food supply chain—from growers, producers, manufacturers, wholesalers, packagers and grocers to transportation, warehousing, distribution, software and technology.

One such rock star is Nitin Gupta, founder and CEO of Beans. ai, who was named Food Logistics’ 2023 overall Rock Star of the Supply Chain winner. (See page 25 for more).

Gupta founded Beans.ai under the mission to fundamentally

solve the last-mile challenges in food delivery. Gupta was also named a Rock Stars of the Supply Chain winner in 2022 and Beans.ai is a recipient of Food Logistics’ Top Tech Startup award.

“In a post-pandemic world, I’ve learned that the accuracy of last-mile logistics is critically important to a company's profits and customer service. As online consumption increases, the predictability of when goods get delivered will become a key differentiator for brands and retailers,” Gupta says. “With a mapping database of 70% of all hard-to-locate U.S. addresses, like apartments, hospitals and universities, we are providing the precise data needed to make the last mile of the supply chain more efficient—a crucial tool as the industry faces a global shortage.”

It’s truly an honor to celebrate the rock stars of the cold chain. Check out the full list of winners on page 29. Nominations for next year’s award will open September 2023. Until then, congratulations to the true rock stars of the supply chain, who continue to keep the cold food chain moving.

BEANS.AI FOUNDER NITIN GUPTA

SOLVES LAST-MILE CHALLENGES IN FOOD DELIVERY

Nitin Gupta, founder and CEO of Beans.ai, was named the overall winner of Food Logistics’ 2023 Rock Stars of the Supply Chain award.

It was 2018, when Nitin Gupta was testing out the food delivery waters. He worked at Uber, and while redeeming his monthly $300 UberEats credit, noticed a discrepancy in GPS/ locational data between the food delivery driver and his address.

“I rarely ever got food successfully delivered to my apartment. Many times, the drivers would come to the leasing office and call me to come down and get the food. It was frustrating because I had a small baby at home at the time, and when I started talking to my friends, I quickly realized everyone who lived in apartments was facing the same issue,” Gupta says.

Then, Gupta’s mom, who was in town visiting from India, experienced a medical emergency at his apartment.

“We called 911 and the paramedics made it to my apartment with literally a minute left to save my mom, despite them reaching my complex 15 minutes prior,” he adds. “At that time, I assumed the government and first responders had the data needed to accurately track down apartment units, but quickly learned that wasn’t the case.”

So, he quit Uber and created Beans.ai, a geospatial intelligence company that maps hyper-accurate location data and improves routing algorithms to locate hard-to-find destinations.

“In the past, while en-route to an emergency, first responders would have to refer to a ‘target hazard’ binder full of printouts while frantically adjusting their masks and tool belts. With Beans Route, a Beans.ai product, their mobile devices tell them not only the best route to take, but [also] the best spot to park the truck,” Gupta says. “In an emergency, every minute counts and the potentially outdated data found in target hazard binders is unacceptable.”

Fast forward to today, and Beans.ai, now a 4-year-old company, is said to be the world’s leading last-mile logistics company after publicly launching with $19 million in funding, over 500 customers and powering more than 200 million deliveries with a 99.99% accurate solution. Beans.ai was also named one of this year’s Top Tech Startups, presented by Food Logistics and Supply & Demand Chain Executive

“One of the biggest challenges in the food supply chain lies in the last 100 feet of delivery. Most of the other parts of the supply chain are constrained by physics—for example, you cannot really cook food any faster. However, our data shows that drivers waste between 2-25 minutes in the last 100 feet, all because of the lack

of data,” Gupta says. “Beans.ai is commoditizing the last 100-foot geolocations and making the deliveries predictable by providing drivers with exact instructions like where to park, where to enter the building, gate codes, elevator availability and delivery policies.”

It’s these reasons why Food Logistics named Gupta this year’s overall winner of the Rock Stars of the Supply Chain award. (Gupta was also named a Rock Stars of the Supply Chain winner in 2022).

The Rock Stars of the Supply Chain award recognizes influential individuals in the industry whose achievements, hard work and vision have shaped the global cold food supply chain. Food Logistics’ received a little over 100 nominations for this award, but what differentiates Gupta from other award winners is his ability to solve the last-mile challenge in food delivery, scale that solution across many other industries and offer a safer, more efficient way to transport product and services within the last 100 feet of its journey.

“In a post-pandemic world, I’ve learned that the accuracy of last-mile logistics is critically important to a company's profits and customer service. As online consumption increases, the

 Nitin Gupta, founder and CEO of Beans.ai, was named the overall winner of Food Logistics’ 2023 Rock Stars of the Supply Chain award.

Beans.ai

predictability of when goods get delivered will become a key differentiator for brands and retailers. This makes solutions like Beans Route all the more valuable and necessary,” Gupta says. “With a mapping database of 70% of all hard-to-locate U.S. addresses, like apartments, hospitals and universities, we are providing the precise data needed to make the last mile of the supply chain more efficient—a crucial tool as the industry faces a global shortage.”

From food delivery drivers to first responders

While Beans.ai helps close the gap in the last-mile journey for food delivery drivers, it’s Gupta mission to save lives that takes the company to the next level.

“In addition to delivering goods efficiently and elevating the driver experience, I have been working on bridging the gap between public safety and private enterprises. While private enterprises are happy to pay big bucks to help drivers and optimize logistics, public safety teams need this same data to save lives. This is why we have been offering our data and products for free to paramedics and firefighters for years. For instance,

during the height of the pandemic, I worked with a county fire chief to help map Santa Clara County’s COVID-19 testing sites,” Gupta says. “The supply chain has been and will continue to be the backbone of any economy. Whether it’s the first or the last mile, unless people and goods can move predictably and smoothly from one place to another, economies simply do not grow.”

With over 12 million apartment units mapped, Beans.ai hosts the largest database of precise mapping locations in the United States. Beans.ai’s data precisely navigates to the second address’ front door through a series of semantic waypoints. Beans.ai mapped over 70% of all hardto-locate addresses across the country, including 12-million-plus apartment complexes. Its technology powers over 4% of all residential deliveries in the United States—up 100% in less than a year, and its 10-million-plus address points and 50-million-plus points of interest also serve other use cases such as telecom, retail and first responders.

“Beans.ai has powered over 200 million deliveries, saving its partners 3 minutes on average per delivery. Since last year, Beans.

ai has serviced over 80,000 active drivers and has increased its total employee headcount by 20%. Beans data takes drivers within 10 feet of a customer’s front door to reduce failed deliveries by 25% and calls to the customer by 75%. In the last year, Beans.ai raised $19 million to further scale its rapid growth, reaching 500-plus customers. By maximizing efficiency and reducing drive times, Beans.ai users saved an average of 30% on gas costs in 2022.

“Before I started Beans.ai, I was leading the finance and fraud engineering department at Uber, which tried to identify efficiencies in the system and replicate them across different markets. Before Uber, I was at Google, twice, where I led all their local commerce initiatives. Google was quickly moving in the direction of supporting gig economy platforms like Uber, Lyft and DoorDash both on Google Search and Google Assistant,” Gupta adds. “Given my experience with the companies above, I had started to note a big hole in the supply chain, primarily caused by a lack of focus on drivers. Most platforms were either focused on customers or operations managers, but none really targeted the driver experience. Navigating apartments, for example, was one of the biggest problems drivers were facing and that is where they lost money.”

“Across the country, drivers face accidents, serious injury and sometimes death just to bring us our deliveries,” he adds. “Our data is a game-changer for drivers because it provides location data up to ten feet from a customer’s front door. This is especially helpful at night when apartment numbers are rarely lit. We help drivers navigate to the closest driveable location nearest to the building entrance, and are also able to see the locations of stairways and elevators. Drivers who are looking to boost their personal safety while making deliveries can minimize the amount of time they spend outside their vehicle.”

What’s more is, Gupta is scaling Beans.ai to be more about filling that 100-foot gap.

Over the last month, Beans.ai went from processing and routing 1.2% of U.S. residential delivery volume to 3%, he adds. That means, every 3-4 packages being delivered to homes today are done so with the help of Beans.ai in some way, either

 While Beans.ai helps close the gap in the last-mile journey for food delivery drivers, it’s Gupta mission to save lives that takes the company to the next level.

Beans.ai

through better geocoding, better address verification or better routing.

“We've also started mapping out the indoor pathways of buildings in 2022. While many companies before have tried indoor navigation, none of them have been able to map buildings at scale. Today, we're mapping over 250 buildings a day, and plan to map support indoor navigation in over 75% of all U.S. residential buildings by the end of 2023,” he adds.

Beans.ai’s product suite includes Beans Maps+, which provides hyperaccurate location data for apartments, condominiums, hospitals and universities, along with hard-to-locate first, secondary and beyond address information such as number of floors, building access codes

and parking locations; Beans Route, which provides geocoding services to over 35 cities, enabling first responders to reach people at-risk quickly and efficiently; and Beans Optimize, a dynamic route-planning engine that builds optimal route plans to calculate the number of vehicles based on capacity, labor, traffic and time window constraints.

“The supply chain industry is huge, from big and bulky delivery to instant food delivery. Within each industry, there are problems ranging from procurement, to warehousing, to loading of trucks (or cars), to the final leg of delivery,” Gupta says. “A solution that works for one part of the system may not work for another industry. Therefore, building a one-size-fits-all

solution is extremely hard.”

“Through our improved location data and an industry-leading optimization engine, Beans.ai has been able to meaningfully reduce the carbon footprint of every delivery it has optimized. Our customers have seen a 40% reduction in the total miles traveled to complete the same amount of deliveries, a 72% increase in delivery efficiency and a 40% reduction in the number of vehicles needed to complete the same number of deliveries,” Gupta adds. “We've worked hard to make the lives of food delivery drivers better. With this award, we're hoping that we can reach out to even more customers, so that the number of drivers who benefit from our products grows 10 times faster. After all, who doesn't want a happy driver delivering their food?!”

Prasad Gandhikota is one of a few professionals who has risen to the very top of his chosen field, supply chain manufacturing. He is instrumental in delivering the most complex digital and business transformation programs nationally and internationally, working for some of the greatest companies in the consumer products, aerospace and defense, life sciences, automotive and food processing industries. Prasad has achieved and sustained national and international acclaim throughout his 23 year career. He has done so by solving the most complex supply chain problems, through the implementation of modernized information technology systems like S/4 HANA to streamline end-to-end supply chain business processes. This work has optimized the supplier network, controlled costs, forecasted demand more accurately, improved supply chain visibility and managed inventory/ supplier relationships and risks more effectively. His latest contributions to Conagra Brands, a leading frozen food manufacturing company, include streamlining the cold supply chain processes during a multi-billion-dollar mergers and acquisitions program to keep the company competitive during the most volatile and challenging periods of COVID-19, increased food demand, supply chain transportation challenges, etc. This work has caught the attention of Food Logistics, which honored him with the most prestigious and coveted Rock Star of The Supply Chain Award 2023. This is awarded to individuals who enjoyed sustained national and international acclaim.

Prasad Gandhikota continues to advise Fortune 500 companies in United States and Canada in their supply chain transformation journeys working as a senior advisor in manufacturing cloud success services consulting division of SAP America.

He can be reached at:

Address: 7953 W Spur Drive Peoria AZ 85383

Email: prasad.gandhikota@sap.com

g_s_vprasad@yahoo.com

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE TRUE

OF THE SUPPLY CHAIN, WHO CONTINUE TO KEEP THE COLD FOOD CHAIN MOVING.

Below are a few standouts:

Kevin Coleman, CEO CJ Logistics America

Kevin Coleman, CEO of CJ Logistics

America, oversees the company’s integrated supply chain management capabilities, value chain expansion areas and business functions. He has been with the company for 20 years in various customer-facing roles, most recently as chief customer officer and CEO, Canada. He led the launch

and growth of the company’s consulting services platform, the development of its robust network optimization capabilities, the implementation of best-of-breed systems and the evolution of business intelligence and data visualization. Coleman also provides a leadership liaison between CJ Logistics America and its Seoul, South Korea, headqurters. One of his areas of focus is helping customers leverage CJ Logistics’ technology, engineering, systems and solutions to develop predictive business intelligence and insights.

Prasad Gandhikota Senior Systems Analyst, Supply Chain Manufacturing (formerly with) Conagra Brands

Prasad Gandhikota plays a critical role in providing SAP systems production support to 35 manufacturing plants, Americold centers and independent distribution centers across the United States. Formerly serving as senior systems analyst, supply chain

manufacturing for Conagra, he is responsible for supply chainheavy SAP integration programs across 2-3 manufacturing plants in each wave for manufacturing and product quality space. Tasks include understanding how the supply chain business processes work closely with business partners in manufacturing and quality; documenting business requirements and gaps; configuring SAP systems; designing and building solutions; reviewing functional specifications; system integration testing; supporting business partners in user acceptance testing and more.

Elizabeth

Salvo Dir., of Regulatory & Consulting Services ESHA/FoodLogiQ

Since 2016, Elizabeth Salvo has served as the regulatory and consulting services director at ESHA Research, which merged with FoodLoigQ last year, where she leads both the labeling and regulatory consulting and software training activities for food and beverage manufacturers seeking regulatory

Justin Myatt Branch Manager, Nashville Trailer Bridge, Inc.

Justin Myatt serves as branch manager of Trailer Bridge’s Nashville freight brokerage location, a site that he launched, which to date, employs 5 team members and achieved $1 million in revenue. Myatt invested his time and attention to training a new generation of logistics professionals, sharing his experience and expertise around moving fresh and

compliance across the United States, Canada, European Union, and Mexico requirements. Salvo’s consulting services team offers regulatory guidance and outsourced product label development and coordinates over 40 training classes per year. She also oversees the training and workforce development of over 400 food industry professionals per year, leading general software training seminars, providing training at customer locations for private team training and approving more than 10,000 nutritional labels for the food industry.

frozen freight and provided training beyond his branch, educating others throughout the company’s network of branches in North America. He also serves as the company’s resident produce expert, providing training to other team members on the intricacies of moving time-sensitive freight. He is now one of more than 20 representatives from across the company’s network that participates in an extensive leadership training program that consists of four, two-day sessions. Myatt also provides thorough communication in a volatile industry that gives shippers the peace of mind needed.

Greg Utter

Senior Managing Director

| Alpine Supply Chain Solutions

Daniel Adams

Director of Traffic | AMX

Mitch Mazzaro

Director of Temperature-Controlled Solutions | Arrive Logistics

Kyle Costner

Enterprise Partnership Manager, Arrive Fresh Certified | Arrive Logistics

Grant Smith

Account Development Manager, Arrive Fresh Certified | Arrive Logistics

Keith Moore

CEO | AutoScheduler.AI

Johnny Ivanyi

Supply Chain Director, Global Head of Distribution

Excellence | Bayer Crop Science

Nitin Gupta

Founder & CEO | Beans.ai

Derek Rickard

Director of Sales | Cimcorp Automation Ltd.

Adam Gurga

Sales Manager, North America | Cimcorp Automation Ltd.

Kevin Coleman

CEO | CJ Logistics America

Prasad Gandhikota

Senior Systems Analyst, Supply Chain Manufacturing | (formerly with) Conagra Brands

Ganesh Gandhieswaran

CEO & Co-Founder | ConverSight.ai

Brian Carlson

Principal | Cornerstone Edge

Barry Bradley

Head of Supply Chain | Crisp

Kim Bryden

Founder & CEO | Cureate

Peter Coratola Jr.

President & CEO | EASE Logistics

Joe Amici

Director of Consolidation | Echo Global Logistics

Kristin Pulte

Senior Sales Executive | Edge Logistics

Cody Steigerwald

Director of Operations | ELITE Transit Solutions

Christopher Harkema

Senior Director, Technology | enVista

Jack Martin

Consultant | enVista

Becca Turner

Consultant | enVista

Elizabeth Salvo

Director of Regulatory & Consulting Services | ESHA /FoodLogiQ

John Flynn

CEO | Fleet Advantage

Al Barner

SVP, Strategic Fleet Solutions | Fleet Advantage

Doug Baker

VP, Industry Relations

| FMI - The Food Industry Association

Dr. Carey Dukes

CEO | Global 888 Supply Chain Solutions, LLC

Matthew R. Ott

President & CEO | Global Cold Chain Alliance (GCCA)

Don Miller

CSO | Globe Tracker

Trisha McRoberts

Group VP, Strategic Sourcing

| Golden State Foods (GSF)

Dawn Warner

Director, Inventory Management, Liquid Products North America | Golden State Foods (GSF)

Tim Cognata

Director of Business Development | Hillebrand

Kaitlyn Wagner

Manager of Business Intelligence | Hillebrand

Gregg Mellott

Director of Sales | iGPS Logistics

David Elias

Moreno Valley Depot Manager | iGPS Logistics

Mikael Bengtsson

Industry & Solution Strategy Director, Food & Beverage | Infor

Marcel Koks

Industry & Solution Strategy Director, Food & Beverage | Infor

Jill Hochstetler

Director of Logistics Operations | Jarrett

Riana Lynn

CEO | Journey Foods

Jan Kristensen

Head of Innovation & Technology | Körber Supply Chain

Ken Johnson

CEO | Leonard’s Express

Greg Lehmkuhl

President & CEO | Lineage Logistics

Allan Dow

President | Logility, Inc.

Chelsea Brady

Director of Implementation & Professional Services | Longbow Advantage

Amy Guffey

Director of Knowledge Management & Project Manager | Made4net

Brian Everett

Senior Partner | MindShare Strategies

Tim Krauskopf

CEO | Motiv Power Systems

John Crawford

Co-Founder & CTO | Ndustrial

Dwight M. “Kip” Palmer

CEO | Palmer Family of Companies, The

Steve Chambers

VP of Operations | Penske Logistics

Erica Edwards

SVP of Supply Chain, PepsiCo Beverages North America, West Division | PepsiCo

Don Durm

VP, Customer Solutions | PLM Fleet, LLC

Shannon Curtis

Product Manager for Class II, ZaP & iADS

| Raymond Corporation, The Brad Kosner

SVP, Multimodal | Redwood Logistics

Robin Gregg CEO | RoadSync

Tiffany Pankratz-Umbehr

Senior Managing Director, Head of Consumer Goods & Retail | SGS Maine Pointe

Urs Grütter

CEO & Chairman

| Stoecklin Logistics, Inc./Stoecklin Logistik AG

Florian Loinard

Product Management Director

| SymphonyAI Retail CPG

Dani Etkin-Spigelman

VP of Business Development | TA Services

Nick Recht

Sales Manager | TEKLYNX

Elaine Videau

Director of Planning

| Tillamook County Creamery Association

Justin Myatt

Branch Manager, Nashville | Trailer Bridge, Inc.

Nick Reasoner

CEO & President | TransLoop

Kendra Tucker

CEO | Truckstop

Armon Shahpar

Senior Sales, Enterprise Partnerships | Uber Freight

Jane Colazzo

SVP, Enterprise | UWL

Westv Hutchison

President & CEO | Vertical Cold Storage

Eric Vasquez

Owner | Veterans Logistics Group

Karen Taiariol

Professional Driver, Road Team Captain

| Werner Enterprises

John Hinchey

VP of Sales | Westfalia Technologies

POWERED INDUSTRIAL TRUCKS: A ROBUST MARKET

Powered industrial trucks, the workhorse in the supply chain industry, remain essential to keeping warehouse distribution moving and products on the shelf.

Industrial Truck Association (ITA) estimates that its members manufacture and sell more than 80% of all powered industrial trucks sold annually in North America.

The products manufactured and sold by ITA members include sit-down counterbalanced forklifts, both electric and engine-powered; order pickers; stand-up and walk-behind platform trucks; powered and non-powered pallet trucks; automated guided vehicles; and rough terrain trucks, among others. Through its years of maintaining robust statistics reporting and engineering programs, ITA established joint programs with sister organizations in Europe and Asia to address statistics reporting and engineering issues to help support U.S.-based industrial truck manufacturers globally.

During the previous two years, the North American market witnessed unprecedented growth in the industry with all truck classes (1-5) experiencing growth in 2021 and maintaining that strong position throughout 2022. The forklift market in 2022 recorded retail orders of 344,330 units, nearly mirroring historic market activity from 2021. Total market in 2021 for classes 1-5 set a new record with 347,677 units sold in North America.

In 2021, truck classes 1-3 showed the largest gains primarily driven by the continued demands of e-commerce and warehouse products. It’s important to remember COVID-19 remained very prevalent, and the economy was still “reopening” throughout much of 2021. By the end of 2021, electric products (classes 1-3) accounted for approximately 72% of the market compared

to 28% for the internal combustion (classes 4-5). Approximately eight of the Top 20 Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) industry categories for electric products (classes 1-3) in 2022 were food and beverage related.

The industry in 2022 continued to be a strong market amongst the backdrop of inflationary pressure and continued supply chain constraints. Internal combustion market segments (Classes 4-5) rebounded well. Retail orders in 2022 compared to 2021 were up more than 30% for Class 4 and more than 10% for Class 5. Overall industry split between electric (Classes 1-3) was 65% compared to 35% for internal combustion (Classes 4-5).

ITA also recorded an all-time high number of retail equipment orders in 2021, exceeding 347,000 units in North America. At the same time, the United States is experiencing a very tight labor market, a situation that could result in many new employees, potentially forklift operators, working in warehouses. This growth and changing labor environment makes it more important than ever to raise awareness of overall safety and the continued need for forklift operator training. Given the historic numbers of new units entering the market and the potential for many new forklift operators, it is important for the industry to remain focused on promoting operator safety.

ABOUT

BRIAN FEEHAN president, Industrial Truck Association

TOP FOOD DELIVERY TRENDS TO WATCH IN 2023

Over the last few years, the food delivery sector has rapidly grown in response to shifting consumer behaviors. In 2021, the U.S. online food delivery market value reached $23.4 billion, with expectations for growth to $42.6 billion by 2027, with a CAGR of 10.5% during 2021-2027. With this rapid growth, 2022 saw the expansion of prominent food delivery trends ranging from third-party and subscription-based to grocery and meal kit delivery.

Third-party delivery

Third-party delivery services is still one of the top food delivery trends. Afterall, when meals or groceries are just a click away, the ease and convenience can be hard to pass up. Restaurants and grocery chains are leaning into trends like this to keep up with consumer demand by partnering with multiple third-party delivery services. The downside is that the food provider loses control of delivery operations and the customer experience. To mitigate this risk, some

companies are bypassing single-provider, third-party delivery services and using a combination of owned online sites for managing customer orders, in-house food delivery management software for managing the routing and delivery and delivery as a service (DaaS) providers to perform the actual delivery.

Grocery delivery

At the onset, many grocers relied heavily on third parties for delivery fulfillment. Grocery is as brick-and-mortar as it gets, which means many smaller players lag in their digital transformation. The result is poor online experiences and little inhouse delivery automation. However, there is some good news for these digital dinosaurs. They can offer their stores as fulfillment centers for third-party delivery services or use delivery management software to up their digital game. Larger chains can also create convenient fulfillment centers in and around large cities, offering options to buy online and pick up in store. Whichever route a grocer goes, the reality is that grocery delivery is not going away.

Subscription-based

Subscription-based memberships can reduced fees and free food delivery from restaurants, grocers and beyond. These trends are even happening with recurring restaurant delivery services that help local restaurants stay afloat in communities at risk of business closure.

Delivery data

Data and analytics are everywhere. Smart businesses know that data combined with advanced analytics is what drives business growth and results. Food providers offering delivery will not be

left behind. With so much delivery data in the hands of third parties, food providers that want to better understand and optimize their delivery operations need readily available data reporting. Some food providers are building their own in-house analytics teams, while others are sourcing delivery management software with data analytics built in.

Meal kit delivery

The global meal kit delivery service market was valued at $15.21 billion in 2021 and is expected to increase 17.4% CAGR from 2022-2030, making meal kit delivery another one of the significant food delivery trends.

What’s next?

“Stacked” deliveries, or when multiple deliveries are “stacked” or consolidated to gain efficiencies for both drivers and consumers is a new trend. “Stacked” deliveries are most efficient for businesses when the driver can assist multiple customers within close proximity.

Dark kitchens, or ghost kitchens, act as an extra branch of a restaurant, marketing and producing delivery orders under a restaurant’s brand name but without the physical restaurant location.

The global drone delivery services market is anticipated to be valued at $322.2 million in 202. While drones can help solve some last-mile delivery problems, like idle time and driver costs, there’s still work to be done before they’re dropping packages on your doorstep. regulations presents sizable challenges.

KATHERINE LEHMAN director of digital marketing Onfleet

REASONS TO JOIN THE 126M POTENTIAL TELEMATICS USERS

The supply chain continues to see how information and data affects and influences the industry. Solutions such as telematics have been on the rise in adoption to assist in learning about the safety of people and equipment, managing fleets and increasing efficiency.

In a 2022 study, ABI Research forecasted that telematics subscriptions are set to increase 86% between 2022-2025. Additionally, it found that by 2027, global telematics subscriptions could reach 126 million. These numbers show exponential growth in the use of telematics in the coming years.

“Continued global disruption related to the COVID-19 pandemic, global supply chain uncertainties, port congestions and other events have highlighted the need for full end-to-end supply chain visibility. We will continue to see rising telematics adoption in commercial fleets over the next five years and beyond,” says

Alex McQueen, research analyst, supply chain management and logistics, at ABI Research.

As the industry navigates ongoing issues from COVID-19, inflationary times and looming shortages, telematics can be a great tool for further visibility and deeper insight to the ins and outs of the cold chain. Here are 3 benefits to adopting telematics:

Safety in all aspects

The need for monitoring safety has always been of utmost importance in the workplace. Today, there are more nuances of safety regarding worker health that brings about a heightened sense of urgency in conducting safe business practices. Telematics in this capacity can be found in all sections of the cold chain, from transportation to warehousing, allowing organizations to annotate safety checklists, collect monitoring data for driver compliance and

measure impacts and near misses.

ELD mandates have helped charter the course for telematics. Many fleets are now using them in conjunction to improve driver safety and visualize driver performance. Reporting things like speed and harsh driving to keep both drivers and fleet managers in-the-know, allowing for mitigation where necessary.

Pitstop reports that many fleets are aging—in drivers and equipment—and could benefit from this kind of data collection to create a safer environment by quantifying the need for updates and where they might be most beneficial. As labor shortages continue to rise, specifically in truck driving, Pitstop has seen more frequent and prolonged maintenance shop visits that hinder businesses from fulfilling their deliveries. Through tangible data, workers may feel supported, seen and safe in their role, ultimately improving retention rates.

Management as a whole

Data has proved to be a revolutionary tool for production. Analytics help users grasp the full scale of business and pinpoint exact spots that are doing well or need improvement. For many companies, even simple telematics devices like smart dashcams can improve employee training and again, lower risks of injury for drivers and save money in the long term with lower insurance premiums.

In warehousing, Allen Polk, VP of sales at Kenco Group, says that telematics solutions are becoming a warehouse managers’ greatest tool and that, “they are empowered by rich data analytics to enhance productivity, improve employee safety and satisfaction and streamline operations.”

In the fleet, telematics is being leveraged for GPS tracking to ensure critical assets are constantly monitored during transport, according to Pitstop. Additionally, it sees telematics being used to ensure trailers are operationally healthy and refrigeration is maintained, overall improving productivity to verify and make sure that the transportation process goes as smoothly as possible.

Improved machinery and longevity

Staying in the know with your equipment is the key to longevity. Vehicle and machinery health data can be collected through telematics and alert operators to maintenance schedules, recalls and fuel use. A 2021 study by Habibur Rahman, Md., Fashiar Rahman, Md., and Tzu-Liang Tseng found carbon to be a critical factor in creating an eco-friendly supply chain. Their research states “to bring advantages for the suppliers and environment, it is important to limit carbon footprints by optimizing vehicle routes and minimizing fuel consumption.” All of which, can be tracked and impacted using telematics.

Companies like Ford have adapted their own vehicle telematics to provide fuel economy data, warning light details and oil change updates. As another example, Pitstop says they use telematics data to monitor the health of tractor and trailer components and that “with predictive maintenance, you can plan for downtime and group shop visits, resource parts and technicians in advance, to keep trucks on the road longer—preventing unexpected downtime that can significantly save operations and maintenance costs.”

As companies look to add telematics to their roster, Verlen Larsen, solution architect at Transflo, says “your best resource for what’s possible is your telematics provider. Ask, ‘what tools in your system am I not using that could provide useful data for my fleet? What tools and tutorials exist?’ Ask for a demo. The more innovative telematics providers will continually be adding features and functionality to their systems and a demo might shed light on how it could improve your operation and profitability.”

Although the use of data and analytics has long been a component of the logistics industry, recent supply chain disruption has brought further awareness into the influence of its use in virtually all aspects of the industry. Telematics builds on this knowledge to assist in safety, productivity and longevity in the cold chain that work together to enhance the way the industry works and improves.

Tech in trucking highlighted. @metamorworks.stock.adobe.com

WAYS TECH WILL ELEVATE FOOD SAFETY AND QUALITY IN 2023

The food industry has faced three years of unprecedented challenges, disruptions and uncertainty. First, the COVID-19 pandemic upended the food industry, and now, product shortages and supply chain interruptions continue. Global food exports are stalled due to the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war. Climate change is destroying traditional farming. And inflation has hit a 40-year high. But fortunately, things are looking better for 2023.

tools will boost traceability, transparency, safety, quality and consistency as products move through the supply chain.

5. Brands will audit differently. During the pandemic, remote auditing soared in popularity. This supported and reinforced the collaborative model, allowing employees to work closely with auditors to conduct inspections, look for infractions and take corrective actions.

1.Tech

will help overcome the industry’s biggest challenges. Digital transformation will accelerate in 2023, as tech solutions continue morphing from “nice to have” to essential. Luckily, tech solutions have become more affordable and accessible for food businesses of all sizes.

2. Quality and accuracy are critical. Integrated software can boost accuracy, which will, in turn, boost other important metrics, such as revenue, safety, quality, compliance, customer loyalty and more. Tech tools help plan more strategically, track inventory, monitor customer preferences and anticipate upcoming needs.

3. Sustainable food production will take center stage. Expect to see prioritized sustainable food production, like vertical farming. These indoor spaces are protected from the elements (including weather and pests), and maintain ideal humidity, temperature, light and watering conditions to grow crops more efficiently and sustainably, resulting in higher yields.

4. Boost transparency throughout the supply chain. The new Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and FDA’s New Era of Smarter Food Safety Initiative requires food harvesters, processors and distributors to enhance their record-keeping to ensure more comprehensive, consistent, end-to-end food traceability. Tech

6. Tech will help lessen the labor gap. As more people pursue jobs in the food industry, see tech innovations, including artificial intelligence, machine learning and automation, make daily tasks more efficient, accurate and safe.

7. Staff retention will remain essential. Brands will use competitive wages and attractive benefits packages (like tuition reimbursement, gym memberships, more PTO, access to tech tools) to maximize staff retention.

8. Change the way you train. It will become common to pivot from punitive cultures to a collaborative culture. This means that operators won’t just dictate what employees should do and expect employees to follow blindly. Instead, they’ll explain why the rules are in place, so employees will be more likely to comply.

@okrasiu.stock.adobe.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

KARI HENSIEN president RizePoint

9. Brands will increase diversity and accountability. Hire a diverse workforce to ensure your staff represents an increasingly diverse customer base. A diverse team will have fresh ideas, perspectives, approaches and solutions.

HOW TO MAXIMIZE EMPLOYEE RETENTION IN THE LOGISTICS INDUSTRY

Many logistics and supply chain businesses struggle with employee retention. The industry has been around for a long time, and yet, is still operating on the outdated idea that employees are satisfied with a job that allows them to make money. But this assumption couldn’t be further from the truth. In order to retain talent, companies need to lean into shedding the static, old, dusty structure of compensation and benefits.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports 867,000 logistics employees quit their jobs in August. A recent survey found that the average turnover rate in the logistics industry is around 31%. Almost half of the people who took this survey reported that retaining employees is becoming harder than ever before.

Employee retention directly impacts business performance and is essential to grow and scale in the logistics sector. It is no longer acceptable to view employees as numbers or cogs in a machine; focus on creating a work environment and a company culture that considers the individual and their unique needs. Organizations need to design and implement ways in which they can galvanize all of the connecting relationships within the company. Give people a purpose and they will rise to the occasion. Engaged people power progress and this leads to prosperity for everyone.

Here are six ways to create a workplace culture that will maximize employee retention.

Increase employee retention rates

Several factors contribute to employee retention in the logistics and supply chain industry. These can include competitive salaries, performing challenging work that employees desire, comprehensive benefits and opportunities for career advancement. Additionally, companies must focus on creating positive working environments that meet their employees’ needs.

Salaries and benefits

One of the most influential ways to retain employees is to offer competitive salaries and benefits packages. Companies must ensure that their employees are paid fairly and receive benefits such as health insurance, retirement plans, stock options and performance bonuses. Regarding compensation levels in the logistics and supply chain industry, many experts recommend focusing on market rates rather than internal pay grades or levels to allow companies to provide employees with the salaries they expect and deserve. This will positively distinguish them in an extremely competitive job market.

Skills and talents

Another critical factor in employee retention is providing employees with

challenging work that uses their skills and abilities. Logistics and supply chain professionals typically have a wide range of skills, from data analysis and problemsolving to communication, organization and attention to detail. By regularly providing opportunities to learn, excel and grow, companies can foster engaged employees who feel valued for their work.

Make it personal

It is equally essential for employers in the logistics and supply chain industry to focus on creating positive working environments where employees can thrive. This might include flexible schedules, opportunities for growth and advancement, comfortable workspaces, mentoring programs and regular supervisor feedback.

Lead by example

Embodying your values as a company and leadership team will set your business up to thrive. Take the time to define your values and communicate them to every employee, no matter their position in the company. Discuss these values in the interview process, introducing them to each new interviewee. Once you establish your values, live by them every day.

Create an open dialogue

Engage your team for input on key business decisions. This communication will allow them to feel that they are not just listened to but also heard. Leadership teams need to communicate with intent and purpose because if they speak and don’t follow through, it appears nobody is genuinely listening. Clear communication establishes trust and rapport.

KYLE MLAKAR chief of staff Fox Logistics

At Trailer Bridge we understand that it’s about more than transporting a box on wheels, it’s about delivering the goods our neighbors need in their everyday lives. Whether its fresh produce or your favorite cold beverage - every load matters.

That is why we focus on delivering exceptional service to our customers ensuring each load is handled with care. Consider us your partner and lean on us for anything, anytime – because we believe it’s not just business, it’s personal.