Welcome to 2017! We hope you and yours had a great holiday and are ready for an exciting and progress-filled New Year. Let’s take a look at some of the first stories to grab our attention in 2017:
I. We are always a fan of a year in review post. Dan Gilmore, the editor of Supply Chain Digest, takes us on a ride through the top trends and themes of 2016. One of his trends points to the continued growth of eCommerce and the impact on brick and mortar.
Statistics from the US Dept. of Commerce showed e-commerce growth of 14-15% in quarters 1 to 3 in 2016, and no doubt Q4 will show similar growth. That means e-commerce sales will double roughly every 5 years or so.
II. The numbers are in for the most recent air cargo season and they are off the charts. Air Cargo News shares, “The latest figures from analyst WorldACD show that the air cargo industry had the “best peak season in years” in 2016, with demand growth recovering from a slow start and yields improving at their fastest pace since 2010.”
III. Once again Amazon has shocked and awed. Plans for their airborne fulfillment center have been shared and it’s impressive. (Yes, Death Star AND Mothership analogies have both been made in the press.) Thrillist wonders out loud if the center will ever come to fruition, “Of course, unleashing this sort of complex aerial system would require a whole lot of approval from aviation authorities, and would likely run up against a bunch of restrictions. And to that end, it’s unclear whether Amazon has any intention of legitimately pursuing this in the first place, or is simply hedging its bets for the future.”
IV. Forbes completely sucked us in with their piece on American manufacturing. In “U.S. Manufacturing: It’s Not Your Granddad’s Grubby Factory” Harold Sirkin tries to figure out if the industry is about to die out or if it’s about to explode with progress. Sirkin shares, “While some of the rhetoric on this subject is occasionally overblown, it’s clear that we need to find ways to interest more Americans in manufacturing careers and prepare them for the jobs of the future.”
Image Credit: Joe Leavitt via Twitter
As of September 8, 2020, Crimson & Co (formerly The Progress Group/TPG) has rebranded as Argon & Co following the successful merger with Argon Consulting in April 2018.
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