News

Most supply chain strategies are built to respond to shocks, such as pandemics, port closures, and geopolitical conflict. But what if the greatest disruption ahead is entirely predictable? In this new piece, Dr. Joseph Coughlin, director of the MIT AgeLab, explains why aging populations, shrinking households, and structural labor shifts are quietly reshaping demand, fulfillment, and workforce capacity, and why leaders who fail to plan for demographic reality may find themselves optimized for a world that no longer exists.

Dr. Sreedevi Rajagopalan has been elevated to Director of the Sustainable Supply Chain Lab at the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics, having previously served as a Research Scientist within both the SSCL and the Low-Income Firms Transformation (LIFT) Lab.

For Ross Collins, joining the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics (CTL) is not just a professional milestone, it is, as he puts it, “sort of poetic.” His work with MIT CTL started in 2014, when he began teaching in the Graduate Certificate in Logistics and Supply Chain Management (GCLOG) program.

A recent Wall Street Journal article highlights how Hasbro is using an immersive strategy simulation to help develop emerging leaders by placing them in complex, real-world decision-making scenarios. The experience challenges participants to think holistically about business performance, balancing market dynamics, resource constraints, innovation, and long-term strategy.

In a recent interview with The Boston Globe, Dr. Yossi Sheffi, Director of the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics, highlighted how a string of New England seafood thefts, including the disappearance of a $400,000 shipment of lobster, reflects a growing vulnerability in modern supply chains.

"When customers choose faster shipping and earlier delivery dates, the system shifts from optimized routing to whatever gets the package out fastest, and that means higher emissions."

The 2025 State of Supply Chain Sustainability report, produced by the MIT Sustainable Supply Chain Lab and CSCMP, provides a global view of how organizations are turning sustainability commitments into action. Based on insights from 1,200 professionals in 97 countries, the study finds that most companies are maintaining their sustainability goals despite regulatory and economic uncertainty, though many still struggle to embed these commitments into daily operations.

As a college student, Kevin Power never considered working in supply chain management; in fact, he didn’t know it was an option. He earned an undergraduate degree in manufacturing engineering while working full-time at an oil refinery, which demanded a rigorous routine of shift work, long days, and evening classes.

Researchers from the MIT Emerging Market Economies Logistics Lab (EMeL) have won the 2025 INFORMS Contemporary Operations in Developing Countries Competition. Bringing Contextual Optimization and Agent-Based Simulation for Urban Last-Mile Delivery Efficiency,” a study by lead author Dr. Edgar Gutierrez-Franco with co-authors Dr. Christopher Mejia Argueta and César Alberto Niño Méndez, was selected from a competitive field of 50 submissions and seven finalists.