Weekly Roundup - Another Risk of Supply Chain Disruption, Truck Driver Shortage and New Amazon Robot

The recent seizure of a ship by Houthi rebels threatens the traffic in the Red Sea, one of the busiest shipping routes in the world, and jeopardizes global interests. The Red Sea and Suez Canal are crucial shipping routes for transporting goods, including LNG supply from Arab countries to Europe and Chinese goods headed for Europe. The seizure of the ship has led to the return of war premiums for oil and shipping, indicating that war risk premiums will rise. Shipping insurers are assessing the escalation in rhetoric from the Houthis with caution, weighing the potential for a wider flare-up in an area that is already high risk. Geopolitics disrupting maritime trade can hike inflation when global inflation is seen to be cooling and central bankers might pivot early next year to cutting rates.

A recent International Road Transport Union report reveals that the global truck driver shortage is expected to double by 2028. The shortage is attributed to widening age and gender gaps in the industry, with only 12% of drivers below the age of 25 and 6% being women. While truck driver shortages have increased globally, there have been slight improvements in Europe and the United States due to softer transport demand. Without intervention, it is estimated that over 7 million truck driver positions could be unfilled by 2028 in surveyed countries. This shortage is already impacting businesses, causing hiring difficulties, limited expansion, and revenue losses. To address the issue, the IRU suggests that governments lower the minimum driving age and subsidize qualification costs to attract more drivers to the profession.

Amazon has introduced its latest warehouse robot, Titan, which is designed to carry heavy loads of up to 2,500 pounds. The mobile unit will be deployed at the SAT1 fulfillment center in San Antonio, Texas, where it will transport larger, bulkier items like household appliances and pallets of pet food. The robot was created by combining technologies from previous generations of Amazon's mobile robots, including the battery and charging management solution from Hercules and hardware components from Proteus. Amazon believes Titan has many potential uses, including transporting inventory across storage floors and bringing it directly to employees.

Read more on recent highlights

• Supply chain issues continue impacting low-income housing projects
• Creighton University economist Ernie Goss says supply chain issues have improved for retailers
• Real-time data top weapon in battling retail supply chain hurdles
• Intel maps out chips supply chain GHG initiative

Dive deep into research

"A dynamic material distribution scheduling of automotive assembly line considering material-handling errors" by Binghai Zhou, Mingda Wen (2023)

"Knowledge extraction for solving resource-constrained project scheduling problems through decision tree" by Lin-Lin Xie, Yajiao Chen, Sisi Wu, Rui-Dong Chang, Yilong Han (2023)

"The effects of tie strength and data integration with supply base on supply disruption ambiguity and its impact on inventory turnover" by Rahul Pandey, Dipanjan Chatterjee, Manus Rungtusanatham (2022)

"The impact of supply chain relationship configurations on supplier performance: investigating buyer–supplier relations in the aerospace industry" by Ulrich Schmelzle, Prabhjot S. Mukandwal (2022)

Events

The Future Battery Forum 2023

When: 27. - 28. November 2023

Where: Berlin, Germany

What: What: Almost 900 senior leaders from OEM and the Supply Chain will attend the Forum. B2B meetings will connect participants, exhibitors, and invited buyers. More than 40 decision-makers from Wacker Neuson, Akasol, Panasonic, Varta, and RockTech Lithium are expected and will have the chance to exchange tangible solutions in the exhibition.

B2B matchmaking with AI connects you with your target group all along the supply chain. Access to industry leaders and experts in the field of battery technology. Chance to showcase your products and solutions to potential investors and business partners. Opportunity to stay up-to-date on the latest trends and innovations in the industry.

Immersive Tech Week 2023

When: 28. November - 01. December 2023

Where: Rotterdam, Netherlands

What: Immersive Tech Week is mainly focused on immersive technologies such as augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality. Professionals like developers, entrepreneurs, enterprises, and investors working in XR get together at the event and make it the largest Tech event of its kind.

There is also a large expo area showcasing projects and demos from emerging tech startups and top companies in the immersive industry. The goal of the event is to help accelerate the adoption and integration of VR/AR/XR. Only through education, collaboration, and the fostering of an active community in Europe the goal be reached.

React Day 2023

When: 8. - 12. December 2023

Where: Berlin, Germany

What: React Day Berlin is a major JavaScript conference focused on the React framework. The conference features talks and workshops by JavaScript and React experts, designers, and developers. The aim of React Day is to provide attendees with practical knowledge about building modern web and mobile apps using React. The workshops allow attendees to build real applications with guidance from React experts. The conference targets JavaScript developers who want to learn React or improve their skills.