Transportation TIP List: Week of January 28th, 2018

This past weekend, prominent icons gathered to recognize the brightest in the music industry at the annual Grammy awards. And this week we’ve put together a star-studded TIP List that features new supply chain growth strategies and insight into the role that collaborative logistics can play in the physical internet. Grab a front-row seat and catch all of the trends impacting transportation below!

•  It’s Time for CFOs to Rethink Their Supply Chain Management Strategy: Growth was the number one business priority for CEOs in 2017, according to a recent survey by Gartner Inc. And since supply chain costs are typically the biggest portion of a company’s profit and loss, CFOs are taking a more hands-on, strategic approach to supply chain management to drive growth.

• Collaborative Logistics’ Role in the Emergence of the Physical Internet: Imagine moving cargo across continents as smoothly as computers process data. If the physical internet reaches its full potential, it could have the power to transform the movement of goods and people – and could be embedded into freight supply chains by 2050.

• U.S.-NAFTA Freight Value Posts 13th Straight Monthly Gain: U.S.-NAFTA freight totaled $100.6 billion in November as all five major transportation modes carried more freight by value with partners Canada and Mexico in November 2017 compared to the same time a year earlier.

• As U.S. Truck Capacity Tightens, Shipments Cross-Modal Lines: The lines that traditionally divide truckload and LTL shipments are blurring as truckload capacity gets tighter and retail demand stronger, said speakers at the SMC3 JumpStart 2018 conference. LTL and truckload carriers are carving out a “middle lane” between their sectors as freight volumes rise.

• Tax Incentive Puts More Robots on Factory Floors: New tax rules are hastening automation and modernizing U.S. factories by giving manufacturers an incentive to buy machinery and boost productivity in a tight labor market. The revised tax code allows companies to immediately deduct the entire cost of equipment purchases from their taxable income.

What top industry trends do you have your eye on?