Fully Automated, Self-Driving Vehicles: Is Auto Industry Getting Ahead of Itself?

October 04, 2022 • Press Releases

Mobility Confidence Index Study in Collaboration with PAVE and MIT Advanced Vehicle Technology (AVT) Consortium  

TROY, Mich.: 4 Oct. 2022 — As the automotive industry methodically advances toward greater vehicle automation, consumer readiness for higher levels of automation remains low—even declining slightly from 2021—making it challenging to bring vehicle buyers into the modern mobility movement. According to the J.D. Power 2022 U.S.

MIT Agelab Awards Five Scholarships to Students Who Further Intergenerational Connections

September 29, 2022 • News

Since 2015, the MIT AgeLab has awarded scholarships to high school students who developed intergenerational programs — initiatives that bring together younger and older people for knowledge-sharing and social connection — in their communities. On Sept. 9, five $5,000 OMEGA scholarships were given to high school students across the United States, supported by the sponsorship of AlerisLife, a senior living and rehabilitation and wellness services company headquartered in Newton, Massachusetts, and AARP.

QS Ranks MIT SCM #1 Supply Chain Management Master’s Program in the World for 2023

September 29, 2022 • Press Releases
The 10-month program is ranked #1 globally overall for the third year in a row and on Value for Money, Employability, Alumni Outcomes, and Thought Leadership indicators. MIT's Supply Chain Management master's program has been ranked the #1 SCM master's in the world by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) for the third consecutive year. For its 2023 rankings, QS evaluated SCM master’s programs in 11 countries and ranked MIT SCM #1 based on indicators including alumni outcomes, employability, thought leadership, and value for money, as well as reputation among industry professionals and academics.

Need to Have Smarter Food Supply Chains to Prevent Waste, Say Experts

September 27, 2022 • In the Media

According to the United Nations Environment Programme, as much as a third of all fresh food produced is lost or wasted before it reaches our tables. The World Union of Wholesale Markets Conference in Abu Dhabi this October aims to "opportunity to reshape global food systems," say the event organizers.

Fedex Says Shipping Volume is Down. That’s a Bad Sign for the Global Economy

September 16, 2022 • In the Media

When FedEx told CNBC that their current dip in shipping volume is a starting sign of a looming global recession, shipping company stock prices dropped. MIT Megacity Logistics Lab Director Matthias Winkenbach says that this may be a wake up call to FedEx and other shipping and logistics companies to change how they approach necessary innovations.

Josué Velázquez Martínez on Resilience and Sustainability

September 13, 2022 • In the Media

In the face of supply chain disruptions, such as Covid-19, the Ukraine War, and high inflation, MIT LIFTLab and MIT Sustainable Supply Chain Lab director Josué Velázquez Martínez says that there is a silver lining: organizations are learning that supply chains have tangible vulnerabilities to focus on, and that they need to focus on building resilience.

The crucially important points ESG critics are missing

September 07, 2022 • In the Media
Recently, the notion that investment funds do good in the world by using their considerable influence to steer the for-profit firms that they invest in towards helping combat societal ills came under new and severe criticism. The attorney general of Arizona, along with attorneys-general from 18 other states, wrote an open letter to BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, suggesting that its reliance on environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria in its investment decisions puts the funds that they manage for their clients (including many state employee retirement funds) at unnecessary risk. The “Wall Street Journal” editorial board co-signed to this position in an I-told-you-so-style editorial titled, “The ESG investing backlash has arrived.” Florida governor, and potential Republican presidential candidate, Ron DeSantis even publicly presented new legislation that would prohibit Florida’s state fund managers from considering ESG information when investing state money. For three years now, the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics and the Council for Supply Chain Management Professionals have conducted an annual survey of global supply chain managers regarding their firms’ sustainability efforts. From what we see in the research, what critics of ESG investing get right is that (1) investors are a leading driver of pressure on firms to improve their sustainability, and (2) that ‘sustainability’ means very different things to different people.

Unlocking the Potential of Digital Twins in Supply Chains

August 18, 2022 • In the Media

Özden Tozanli and Maria Jesús Saénz write in MIT Sloan Management Review about the immense potential of Digital Twins in Supply Chain

Supply chain sustainability is here to stay

August 11, 2022 • In the Media

When the pandemic hit in March 2020, many companies had to scramble to keep operations in motion. Employees were sick or wanted to stay home if possible, manufacturing stalled in many places, and at the same time, consumers turned to e-commerce for anything and everything. It was a perfect time for companies to let their goals for sustainable supply chains slide.

Report finds supply chain sustainability focus areas continue to shift, evolve

July 28, 2022 • Press Releases
Findings from the State of Supply Chain Sustainability 2022 show that, while focus areas have shifted in the past year, overall attention to supply chain sustainability efforts continues to rise. The report is founded on a large-scale international survey of supply chain professionals with over 3,300 respondents conducted in late 2021. Survey results are combined with 15 executive interviews and supported by news and social media content analysis from the same year. Geographically, the report found notable differences between firms headquartered in the Global North and those in the Global South in terms of which dimensions of SCS they prioritize, which has critical implications for supply chain managers doing business internationally.

How is the war in Ukraine impacting the global supply chain?

July 26, 2022 • In the Media

The Russia-Ukraine war is having an outsized impact on the global supply chain, impeding the flow of goods, fueling dramatic cost increases and product shortages, and creating catastrophic food shortages around the world, according to experts at a virtual symposium hosted by the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics.

The upheaval to the supply and demand of goods is exacerbating the already untenable human toll of the conflict, which shows no signs of abating.

In Retirement, Men Have More Money, But Women Are Better At This

July 26, 2022 • In the Media

In an article for Forbes, MIT AgeLab Director Joseph Coughlin describes the clear difference in loneliness reported for retired men and women, as well as the many negative health impacts of being lonely. Longevity planning is about living well in later life, not just financial planning. Without rich social connections, health, even coupled with ample wealth, might still result in unhappiness in older age. It appears that men, in particular, must work harder than most women to invest and build their social portfolio.

Workers Of The World Are Uniting To Throttle Supply Chains

July 25, 2022 • In the Media

Increasing strain on supply chain workers, lower wages, and inflation, among other factors, are leading to strikes across the world that heavily impact many different supply chains. MIT FreightLab Co-Director David Correll, whose research focuses on the working experiences of the American long-haul truck driver, was asked for comment for a piece about labor disruptions along supply chains.

To Improve the Supply Chain, Put Women in Charge of Logistics, a Study Says

July 23, 2022 • In the Media

The Wall Street Journal asked CTL's Katie Date about a recent study which found that women perform more efficiently than men in logistics planning. Date, who heads MIT's Women in Supply Chain Initiative, points out that while the University of Akron and University of Arkansas researchers' study was based on a simulation, diversifying supply chain operations could provide great benefits for companies.

How to Get Consumers to Accept Slower Deliveries on Online Orders

July 21, 2022 • In the Media

Consumers have gotten used to fast shipping times, but at a considerable environmental cost. How can companies to persuade buyers to wait longer for packages without alienating them—and to lower companies’ delivery costs and carbon footprints at the same time?

In The Wall Street Journal, MIT CTL's Josué Velázquez Martínez and Ken Cottrill write that the right messaging and approach to sustainability can make a big difference.

Factoring the Costs of Climate Change Resilience Into Retirement Planning

July 20, 2022 • In the Media

MIT AgeLab Director Joseph Coughlin discusses how climate change will impact much of the retiring population. Is your retirement plan accounting for dangerous increases in extreme weather?

Many older adults are living in regions where there is an increasing number and growing intensity of extreme weather events...—all of which introduce a variety of costs in retirement.

Older adults are more vulnerable in weather-related disasters—their most obvious vulnerability being age-related health and disability conditions.

Can Globalization Be Rejuvenated?

July 13, 2022 • Blogs

Is globalization in terminal decline, or will it survive or even thrive in some other form? CTL Director Yossi Sheffi discusses the inequalities, and consequences, that globalization has had on many companies and even nations. 

Summer 2022 Recommended Reading from MIT

July 08, 2022 • In the Media

CTL Director Yossi Sheffi's recent book, A Shot in the Arm: How Science, Engineering, and Supply Chains Converged to Vaccinate the World, was featured in MIT News' summer 2022 recommended reading list.

Digital Transformation Is Changing Supply Chain Relationships

July 07, 2022 • In the Media

The digital transformation of businesses is creating new products, processes, and services. But to provide these new offerings, companies must share information and assets with each other in ways that were previously off-limits. For example, digitized services may require competitors to share physical assets such as warehouse space.

MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics and SKEMA to train future supply chain leaders

July 07, 2022 • Press Releases
MIT CTL teams up with the School of Knowledge Economy and Management (SKEMA) in France to deliver unique hybrid online and in-person supply chain management education opportunities to learners from around the world. "Supply chains have faced unprecedented challenges and disruptions in recent years, thus the demand for trained supply chain professionals is on the rise." According to Dr. Eva Ponce the executive director of MIT CTL's MITx MicroMasters Program in SCM.

Four Misconceptions Are Hampering the Advancement of Digital Twins

July 06, 2022 • In the Media

Digital twins (DTs)—living digital replicas of physical entities—are used widely in manufacturing to mimic and improve real-world processes and systems. However, there are far fewer applications of the technology in supply chain management. DTs could deliver similar benefits in supply chains if it were not for certain misconceptions that prevent companies from unlocking the technology’s huge potential.

MIT Researchers Have Gathered Driver-assist Data That Others Are Now Looking for

June 28, 2022 • In the Media
When the NHTSA's findings on car crashes involving driver-assist systems and autonomous vehicles were not clear, all eyes turned to MIT CTL AgeLab's Bryan Reimer and his many years of research on autonomous driving technology. "Crashes and incidents are really rare events," he said. "They're outliers. That's why we're not looking at crashes. We're looking at fundamental behaviors that lead to crashes."  "We desperately need to understand the denominators, the frequency of events and the behaviors underlying them to understand the benefits and limitations of automated and assisted driving."

New Study on Fully Automated, Self-Driving Vehicles in Canada: There’s a Problematic Knowledge Gap about Automated Vehicles

June 15, 2022 • Press Releases
Mobility Confidence Index Study in Collaboration with PAVE Canada and MIT Advanced Vehicle Technology (AVT) Consortium.

Toronto: 15 June 2022

Bryan Reimer Presents on AI and Autonomous Cars for the Future Networked Car Symposium

June 12, 2022 • Blogs

Dr. Bryan Reimer presented on the potential for advances in artificial general intelligence to produce a new generation of automated vehicles. To begin with, he noted that roadway safety is a global, undertreated public health crisis, with over 1.25 million fatalities worldwide every year. The fully automated vehicle represents a “holy grail” to address these harms. Vehicle automation has been a technological dream for the better part of the last century, and in the last decade, AI has produced new hopes for the potential to create a truly automated car.

Students Imagine Better Products, Services, and Infrastructure for an Aging Society

June 06, 2022 • News

A pop-up hearing aid exposition called HearWeAre. A travel agency that matches older and younger travelers for group adventures. An app that guides outgoing hospital patients through every step of the discharge process. These are a few of the projects presented by students on the final day in the MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP)’s class Global Aging and the Built Environment.