The Week of December 19th:10 things eft’s been reading

As always, we aim to get some things in front of you that you might have missed or not have otherwise seen. This week some particularly interesting pieces. Do you know where the shipping container originated from? Who isn’t involved in autonomous? Will jobs return even though they’re now done by robots?

1. Black Friday and cyber Monday may get a ton of attention during thanksgiving, but another supply chain takes a beating also: the food supply chain. Reflecting On Supply After Thanksgiving Food Sales. (Strategic Sourceror)

2. Can jobs return to the US if those jobs are now automated? Trump Can’t Deliver The Rust Belt Jobs He Promised Because Work Has Changed. (Wired)

3. Jabil is looking to use 3D printers for actual production using HP’s latest tech. Jabil Moves One Step Closer to a 3D Future. (IndustryWeek)

4. Given what happened last week in Chicago, neighbouring state Michigan looks to be proactive in its approach to developing legislation for new technology. You Can Now Develop, Test and Buy a Self-Driving Car in Michigan. (Road Show)

5. Past eft collaborator Harry Moser of the Reshoring Initiative drops a few lines in this piece explaining his take on punishing companies looking to move jobs overseas making a good point that this doesn’t address all the jobs that already left – which far outweigh those that are on the cusp of leaving. Trump’s Way of Saving Jobs Has Companies on Edge: Threaten Big Tariffs and Make it Personal. (LA Times)

6. Innovation is one of the biggest challenges businesses face in supply chain. The NY Times explores the importance of using outsiders for driving innovation in logistics. Namely, how was the container developed? The Power of Outsiders. (NY Times)

7. Apple’s head-line grabbing AirPods got off to a shaky start with delays in production. Between December 13th and December 14th, order delivery times already slipped from December 22nd to December 29th (A pretty critical miss in terms of date-timings there)  Apple AirPods Finally Go On Sale After Delays. (Engadget)

8. Google’s out of the self driving car business – ish – it’s going to focus instead on partnering with actual car builders with their technology. Clearly building a car from the ground up is a little bit more difficult than they imagined. Google Has Reportedly Stopped Developing Its Own Self-driving Car. (TechCrunch)

9. In related news, automotive supplier Delphi is also getting into the autonomous making the number of those involved in autonomous pretty much everyone. That being said, it’s increasingly clear how important this technology is going to be. Not Just A Supplier: Delphi To Start Autonomous Ride Sharing Outfit. (Road Show)  

10. Packaging might be one of the often over-looked aspects of supply chain, but as eCommerce continues its torrent, it might gain more attention. That being said, those days of ordering some headphones on Amazon and having them come in a box that a whole speaker system could fit into seem to be gone already. Regardless, these guys have built a machine that can buila perfectly sized box. This Machine Creates a Custom Perfectly-Sized Box For Whatever You’re Shipping. (Gizmodo)

 

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