Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

CSCMP NOTEBOOK

New podcast series focuses on labor recruitment and retention

Now available: Supply Chain in the Fast podcast on finding and retaining skilled labor.

Supply chains are dealing with many stressors these days, especially when it comes to finding skilled labor. In the most recent series of episodes from the podcast “Supply Chain in the Fast Lane”—jointly produced by the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) and CSCMP’s Supply Chain Quarterly—experts from all corners of the industry sound off on the challenges companies face recruiting and retain supply chain talent as well as best practices and success stories.

The new series, sponsored by Scope Recruiting and Vanderlande, features eight episodes. Mark Baxa, CSCMP’s president and CEO, kicks off the series by giving an overview of today’s labor challenges and providing a sneak peek of initiatives CSCMP is putting in place to help alleviate the labor shortage. 


In addition to Baxa, podcast guests include:

  • Claudia Knowlton-Chike, a retired supply chain executive with companies that included IBM, GE, Motorola, Facebook, and Google, talks about what steps companies can take to recruit a diverse talent base and what they can do to retain them.
  • Mike Regan, chief relationship officer at logistics services provider TranzAct, shares how labor recruitment and retention has changed over the years and what companies can do now to help solve some of those pesky supply chain labor challenges.
  • Charlie Saffro, president and founder of CS Recruiting, discusses the importance of having good retention practices, common reasons supply chain managers leave a company, and what skills are most in demand.
  • Shekar Natarajan, chief supply chain officer at retailer American Eagle, talks best practices retailers can incorporate to recruit and retain employees as well as what technologies can transform the supply chain landscape and help ease labor challenges.
  • Rosemary Coates, executive director of the Reshoring Institute, explores how the lack of skilled labor can serve as a sticking point for companies that are considering reshoring and near shoring manufacturing or production.
  • Meredith Singletary, senior human resources director at logistics provider DHL, discusses ways shippers can work with their logistics service providers to address the labor shortage.
  • Melanie Nuce, senior vice president of innovation and partnerships at industry standards organization GS1 U.S., gives an overview of what labor challenges their members are facing and how developing uniform supply chain standards can help companies overcome labor issues.

To subscribe, follow, or listen to all the podcast episodes, visit www.supplychainquarterly.com/podcasts or click on your favorite podcast service and search for “Supply Chain in the Fast Lane.”

As we head into 2023, the collaboration continues with part 4 of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals and Supply Chain Quarterly’s podcast series. The fourth podcast series will focus on transportation distribution technologies.

 

Recent

More Stories

cover of report on electrical efficiency

ABI: Push to drop fossil fuels also needs better electric efficiency

Companies in every sector are converting assets from fossil fuel to electric power in their push to reach net-zero energy targets and to reduce costs along the way, but to truly accelerate those efforts, they also need to improve electric energy efficiency, according to a study from technology consulting firm ABI Research.

In fact, boosting that efficiency could contribute fully 25% of the emissions reductions needed to reach net zero. And the pursuit of that goal will drive aggregated global investments in energy efficiency technologies to grow from $106 Billion in 2024 to $153 Billion in 2030, ABI said today in a report titled “The Role of Energy Efficiency in Reaching Net Zero Targets for Enterprises and Industries.”

Keep ReadingShow less

Featured

Logistics economy continues on solid footing
Logistics Managers' Index

Logistics economy continues on solid footing

Economic activity in the logistics industry expanded in November, continuing a steady growth pattern that began earlier this year and signaling a return to seasonality after several years of fluctuating conditions, according to the latest Logistics Managers’ Index report (LMI), released today.

The November LMI registered 58.4, down slightly from October’s reading of 58.9, which was the highest level in two years. The LMI is a monthly gauge of business conditions across warehousing and logistics markets; a reading above 50 indicates growth and a reading below 50 indicates contraction.

Keep ReadingShow less
iceberg drawing to represent threats

GEP: six factors could change calm to storm in 2025

The current year is ending on a calm note for the logistics sector, but 2025 is on pace to be an era of rapid transformation, due to six driving forces that will shape procurement and supply chains in coming months, according to a forecast from New Jersey-based supply chain software provider GEP.

"After several years of mitigating inflation, disruption, supply shocks, conflicts, and uncertainty, we are currently in a relative period of calm," John Paitek, vice president, GEP, said in a release. "But it is very much the calm before the coming storm. This report provides procurement and supply chain leaders with a prescriptive guide to weathering the gale force headwinds of protectionism, tariffs, trade wars, regulatory pressures, uncertainty, and the AI revolution that we will face in 2025."

Keep ReadingShow less
chart of top business concerns from descartes

Descartes: businesses say top concern is tariff hikes

Business leaders at companies of every size say that rising tariffs and trade barriers are the most significant global trade challenge facing logistics and supply chain leaders today, according to a survey from supply chain software provider Descartes.

Specifically, 48% of respondents identified rising tariffs and trade barriers as their top concern, followed by supply chain disruptions at 45% and geopolitical instability at 41%. Moreover, tariffs and trade barriers ranked as the priority issue regardless of company size, as respondents at companies with less than 250 employees, 251-500, 501-1,000, 1,001-50,000 and 50,000+ employees all cited it as the most significant issue they are currently facing.

Keep ReadingShow less
photo of worker at port tracking containers

Trump tariff threat strains logistics businesses

Freight transportation providers and maritime port operators are bracing for rough business impacts if the incoming Trump Administration follows through on its pledge to impose a 25% tariff on Mexico and Canada and an additional 10% tariff on China, analysts say.

Industry contacts say they fear that such heavy fees could prompt importers to “pull forward” a massive surge of goods before the new administration is seated on January 20, and then quickly cut back again once the hefty new fees are instituted, according to a report from TD Cowen.

Keep ReadingShow less