Transportation TIP List: Week of October 30th, 2016

Daylight saving time ends this Sunday, which means we “fall back” and gain an hour of both sunlight and sleep. And that extra hour should free up a little bit of time to “fall into” this week’s TIP List. See below for all the stories, including intermodal transportation trends, news of Uber’s first self-driving truck and the impact of 3D printing on the supply chain industry.

• Intermodal Transport: The Little Engine That Could: After two years of steady acceleration, intermodal transportation in North America hit a slowdown in 2016. Volume in the second quarter of 2016 fell by 6.1 percent compared with the same quarter in 2015.

• Amazon Could Be A Lot Bigger Than We Think: Amazon’s data-savvy e-commerce model may have a far bigger reach in retail than commonly understood — signaling more threats to mass market retailers. In fact, Amazon’s yearly sales account for about 15% of total U.S. consumer online sales.

• Uber’s Self-Driving Truck Makes Its First Delivery: 50,000 Beers: Uber and recent acquisition Otto outfitted a truck with $30,000 worth of hardware and software in order to make the world’s first autonomous truck delivery — which consisted of 50,000 cans of Budweiser.

• US Crude Oil Stockpiles Drops Unexpectedly: Nationwide crude stockpiles unexpectedly fell 553,000 barrels in mid-October. Supplies along the West Coast decreased by 2.26 million barrels to 47.1 million, the lowest since January 2015.

• Motor Carrier Regulations Update: Caught in a Trap: The nation’s 44th president has led a regulatory assault on American business, specifically the $748 billion trucking industry. During Obama’s two terms, Washington regulators have produced 600 major regulations, with dozens more in the pipeline.

• Additive Manufacturing in the Spare Parts Warehouse is Increasingly Feasible: There has been some breathless coverage of the impact of 3D printing on the supply chain; and it has been speculated that additive manufacturing may be able to transform the spare parts supply chain.

• Supply Chain Futurists Predict the Impact Of Digital Transformation: Digital transformation can have a serious impact on your organization. For example, a digital supply chain can lower procurement costs by 20%, reduce supply chain process costs by 50% and increase revenue by 10%.

What industry trends are you gaining insight into this week?