Chris Caplice PhD ’96, executive director of the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics, has been appointed MIT senior research scientist for his long-term commitment to research and education in supply chain management. Over the past two decades, Caplice has developed and deployed theoretical models and educational innovations that have had a global impact on supply chain practice and education. In 2016, Caplice was named a Silver Family Research Fellow and became the only nonfaculty member at MIT to receive an endowed chair.
August 23, 2019 • Articles
InterContinental Hotels Group will replace mini-shampoos and conditioners with possibly more efficient bulk products by the year 2021.
But environmental activists shouldn’t rejoice just yet.
August 21, 2019 • MIT CTL Thought Leadership
Battery-powered heavy-duty trucks emit lower volumes of greenhouse gases and polluting particulates than conventional diesel-powered trucks, but they must haul weighty battery units that reduce their revenue-earning payloads. Researchers at MIT’s Energy Initiative and Plasma Fusion and Science Center (PFSC) have developed a possible solution: a plug-in hybrid engine system that transitions big long haul rigs to electric power.
In addition to overcoming the weight penalty of all-battery power, the concept engine is significantly cheaper than diesel units and performs just as well in most operating conditions.
August 20, 2019 • Articles
The concept of supply chain transparency was virtually unknown 15 years ago, yet today it commands the attention of mid- and senior-level managers across a broad spectrum of companies and industries.
August 08, 2019 • MIT CTL Thought Leadership
The recent announcement by UPS that it will start delivering packages on Sundays next year is another sign of the inexorable growth of e-commerce — and the number of delivery trucks on the roads. More vehicles equal more fuel consumed and more CO2 emitted, increasing the pressure on companies to invest in fuel efficiency technology.
Research at the MIT Sustainable Logistics initiative shows that investing in greener trucks is not the only way to shrink the carbon footprint of the last mile. Companies can cut CO2 emissions as well as fuel bills by analyzing critical features of their delivery operations such as the types of vehicles used, where vehicles operate, and the topography of routes, and reallocating delivery capacity.
Coppel, one of Mexico’s largest retailers, piloted the findings and achieved significant savings. The company now plans to roll out a more ambitious program based on the research.
July 25, 2019 • Articles
What could be better than a graduate level education from one of the country’s best supply chain management programs? How about a graduate degree with training from two of the country’s best supply chain management programs.
In some respects, that’s the rationale behind a 100% online Master’s program offered on the edX platform that was recently announced by MIT and Arizona State University, ranked numbers 2 and 3 on U.S. News & World Report’s annual ranking of graduate supply chain management programs. The online Master of Science in Supply Chain Management from ASU will launch in January 2020. The program is open only to students who have completed the MITx MicroMasters program credential from the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics. After completing the five MicroMasters courses with MIT, students will take an additional six courses from Arizona State.
July 24, 2019 • MIT CTL Thought Leadership
Omnichannel retailing has become the new norm in the retail sector as companies reinvent their supply chains to offer customers multiple buying channels.
Although the omnichannel model is now relatively well established, a challenge that retailers continued to grapple with is how to reconfigure their last-mile supply networks (LMSNs) to achieve better alignment between delivery responsiveness, product variety, and convenience.
A study of LMSNs* using a multiple, in-depth case study approach to unpack different network configurations identified four types of LMSNs and helps the retail industry to understand how these different options perform. The research also proposes a six-step process for planning and developing LMSN models for omnichannel operations.
July 19, 2019 • Articles
MIT CTL researchers have been making headlines in recent weeks. A range of topics encompassing last-mile delivery, sustainable logistics, the future of aging, and financial literacy, has generated a flurry of media activity including radio, TV, and podcasts.
July 17, 2019 • MIT CTL Thought Leadership
Amazon has been moving into package delivery using many of its assets, prompting observers to ponder whether the retail giant now has UPS, USPS, and FedEx in its competitive sights.
Amazon uses its own delivery network for almost half (47.6 percent and growing) of its shipments. As it has done with its fulfillment services, will it grow to challenge the existing integrators and become a common carrier?
July 12, 2019 • MIT CTL Thought Leadership
The Trump administration’s “America First” battle cry in trade negotiations may curry favor among its supporters in the United States, but weaponizing trade policy in this way undermines the fine-tuned supply chains that companies have meticulously constructed over recent decades.
Consumers across the globe — including Americans — ultimately pay the price in the form of more expensive goods and elevated uncertainty.
July 11, 2019 • MIT CTL Thought Leadership
Driven by increasing volumes of goods moving through supply chains across the globe, demand for freight transportation is expected to triple over the next few years. If we continue shipping goods as we do today, freight emissions will surpass energy as the most carbon-intensive sector by 2050, doubling carbon emissions by 2050.
Despite these grim predictions, there is a clear path forward for green freight. Using well-established efficiency techniques and existing/near-term green freight technologies, we can keep emissions at bay while still allowing businesses to grow.
A rapid and widespread change of course is required to achieve this mission — and that change needs to be tracked and communicated using the de facto metric of the sustainability movement and the language of the Paris Agreement: carbon emissions.
June 18, 2019 • Press Releases
On June 6, the MIT AgeLab, in partnership with AARP, presented the fourth annual OMEGA scholarship awards to three accomplished young adults from New England. Sidonie Brown from Brookline High School in Brookline, Massachusetts, Brook Masse from Mount Greylock Regional High School in Williamstown, Massachusetts, and Jay Park from Newton South High School in Newton, Massachusetts, were each awarded a 2019 OMEGA scholarship.
June 06, 2019 • Articles
The origins of many items on our tables are unknown to the everyday consumer. However new technologies and traditional ways of farming are beginning to close this information gap between farmer and consumer. As a result demand from consumers for better information could transform our food system from the ground up. “That single package of ground beef can be coming from hundreds of different sources,” says Alexis Bateman, the director of the Responsible Supply Chain Lab at the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics. “In the seafood industry, there’s a lot of actual fraud…so people want to make sure it’s the right fish.” Recently, people have been realizing there is something lacking from their diets: quality information.
May 14, 2019 • Articles
Every decision is the right one as long as it works for the family.
This story was intended to share perspectives on bringing families with children to Cambridge from abroad while studying at MIT. These are our stories as ten-month and five-month on-campus Master’s candidates. While writing it together, we had some enlightening arguments. We talked about the roles of men and women in families, the difference between moms and dads in children’s eyes, gender equality, and the social perceptions of it.
May 13, 2019 • Articles
With greater longevity, the quest to avoid the infirmities of aging is more urgent than ever.
Aging, like bankruptcy in Hemingway’s description, happens two ways, slowly and then all at once. The slow way is the familiar one: decades pass with little sense of internal change, middle age arrives with only a slight slowing down—a name lost, a lumbar ache, a sprinkling of white hairs and eye wrinkles.
May 13, 2019 • Articles
With the implementation of 5G wireless, IoT’s B2B services will speed up, but will the logistics sector be ready for the ride?
Technologies related to shipping and logistics technologies are accelerating. The rollout over the next few years of 5G wireless will bring with it the speeding up of the Internet of Things (IoT), an ability of machines to instantaneously communicate with us and with each other.
February 06, 2019 • Press Releases
The Lifestyle Leaders Panel convened at MIT AgeLab in the Center for Transportation and Logistics for a presentation and focus group session on transportation in older age.
February 04, 2019 • Press Releases
The winning finalists of the AWE - Advancing Women Through Education scholarship were awarded at MIT on 30 January 2019. The award, to be given annually and currently valued at $72,000, is the first ever full-tuition award specifically for women in the 20-year history of the MIT SCM program. It represents a significant commitment by MIT SCM, the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics, and AWESOME to encourage women to prepare for and perform successfully in supply chain leadership roles.
January 07, 2019 • Articles
It seems that no self-respecting company can be without a digital transformation (DT) strategy these days. But shifting an organization from an analog mindset to the brave new world of digitalization is a long and challenging journey. Where do you start, how do you prepare employees, and once there, how do you engender trust in digitalized processes?
December 18, 2018 • Press Releases
Massachusetts Tech, Innovation, and Aging Service Leaders Award Four Organizations Combatting Loneliness in Older Adults A group of industry, academic and government partners affiliated with Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker’s Council to Address Aging announced today the winners of the In Good Company: The 2018 Optimal Aging Challenge, a global competition designed to ident
December 04, 2018 • Articles
France is considering a state of emergency to quell some of the worst social unrest the country has seen in over a decade. A Monday appearance at the COP 24 climate change summit by French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe was abruptly canceled. Philippe instead spent the day with political leaders, discussing how to defuse nationwide protests that have increasingly turned violent.
December 02, 2018 • Articles
This week, General Motors announced plans to halt production at several of its plants. The move could see over 14,000 jobs lost, 8,000 of which are in North America. GM chief executive Mary Barra told reporters that while the company doesn’t foresee an economic downturn, the cuts are needed to “get in front of it while the company is strong and while the economy is strong.” Wall Street reaction was positive, with GM stock rising sharply.
November 27, 2018 • Articles
Why we need operations and management research
From malaria testing to micro-retail stores to global business operations, a clear understanding of what is happening in the supply chain is essential to exist and succeed. Observation of operations and knowledge of human actions alone are not enough. According to W. Edward Demming, "The world is drowning in information but is slow in the acquisition of knowledge." MIT CTL and SCALE researchers take aim at the deluge of information and translate it into working knowledge with their applied research.
November 04, 2018 • Articles
By: Bryan Reimer
Self-driving Not well understood
The convenience of low-cost on-demand personal mobility has taken our roads by storm. Young and old alike are leveraging ride-hailing platforms at an increasing rate. Driverless taxis may further accelerate the use of personal or shared ride-hailing services as part of an increasingly automated lower cost mobility system. The ramifications for personal vehicle ownership, environmental impact, use of public transport, and congestion are not yet well understood.
October 31, 2018 • Press Releases
New England Hall of Fame
The 2018 New England Supply Chain Conference Hall of Fame Award winner is Bruce C. Arntzen, Ph.D. He has contributed in distinctly outstanding ways to the Supply Chain profession. The following summary is an excerpt from the full article.