Washington is recognizing that the American truck driver shortage might have been misdiagnosed.
Research from David Correll, a research scientist at the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics and co-director at the MIT FreightLab, has been getting some attention in Washington recently.
CTL Executive Director Chris Caplice was interviewed by Logistics Management about different market trends, such as freight recession and the seasonality of increasing fuel prices:
CTL Deputy Director Jim Rice was interviewed by Fox Business in regards to smaller ports becoming viable alternatives to overcrowded docks:
MIT FreightLab Co-Director David Correll's research was cited in a recent fact sheet released by the White House detailing the Biden administration's plans to address issues in the trucking industry:
Executive Director of MITx MicroMasters in Supply Chain Management Eva Ponce and Senior Communications Officer Arthur Grau discuss the benefits of cultivating communities in online professional education.
Eva and Arthur's article, originally posted on our MIT Supply Chain blog, was recently featured in SupplyChain247.
In an interview with NPR's Marketplace, FreightLab director David Correll discussed his research into the efficiencies and bottlenecks involved in trucking. According to his research, truck drivers on average spend only six and a half hours a day actually driving even though they are allowed, by law, up to 11 hours per day.
The MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics is pleased to announce that two students have been awarded the UPS Fellowship for the 2022–23 academic year.
David Correll and Ken Cottrill discuss the potential impact on the supply chain sustainability space by "just transition", a principle that would attempt to balance a successful economy and cleaner environment. Is just transition another short-lived buzzword - like "net zero" - that will have minimal impact on supply chain operations, or is it something more substantial?
AgeLab Director Joseph F. Coughlin writes in Forbes:
In an interview with USA Today, CTL Director Yossi Sheffi explains that, while supply chain bottlenecks are responsible for the current disruptions in deliveries to shoppers, "the main culprit is [increasing consumer] demand." He points to the timing of these bottlenecks emerging: in 2021, a full year after the onset of the pandemic.
CTL Director Yossi Sheffi was quoted in a recent SupplyChainBrain article about the Biden administration's Freight Logistics Optimization Works (FLOW) initiative, which has prioritized inviting companies like retailers and shippers, leaving out logistics tech.
Diane Rand writes in DC Velocity: "I recently came across a 2010 white paper written by Ken Cottrill at MIT’s Center for Transportation & Logisti
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., February 23, 2022 – The MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics (MIT CTL) in collaboration with global logistics company C.H. Robinson has created a custom, advanced certificate program in supply chain management for the company’s employees.
In an interview with Quartz, executive director of MIT’s master’s program in supply chain management Maria Jesus Saénz discussed the increase in supply chain professionals recruited directly from the program.
MIT CTL Director Yossi Sheffi was recently interviewed by The American Prospect about the future of just-in-time inventories, which have been called into question amid pandemic disruptions.
Just-in-time is not going to go away anytime soon, or maybe ever, because it’s just too good. […] I’m not saying get out of China or Southeast Asia. But think about distributing your purchasing power.
Supply Chain Brain recently called out the State of Supply Chain Sustainability 2021 in reference leveraging sustainability as a way to build stronger and more cost-efficient supply chains to maintain competitive advantage.
In an article for Abu Dhabi-based The National, Yossi Sheffi writes that while the global supply shortage of microchips may recover, the markets might not return to normal—and they may have actually helped seed another crisis in the form of a global economic recession.
Graduate supply chain management students from the MIT Global Supply Chain and Logistics Excellence (SCALE) Network put their heads together last month to find solutions to real-world supply chain problems in the second annual MIT Supply Chain Challenge.
Each team had 14 days from receiving its data set to come up with an innovative, feasible, and effective solution to present to the sponsor company.
The 2022 SCALE Connect conference ended in a whirlwind of group project presentations and awards ceremonies. One of the team-based challenges of the conference is the annual entrepreneurial challenge competition: a product development and pitch challenge sponsored by the ASCM Massachusetts Minuteman chapter, in the style of the hit TV show "Shark Tank". Randomly assigned student teams propose and pitch solutions to problems on the UN Global Issues List.
In The Wall Street Journal, CTL Director Yossi Sheffi writes that pandemic-induced shortages aren't a reason to dismiss the importance of just-in-time practices, as they help to reinforce resilience by strengthening the relationship along the supply chain between companies, their suppliers, and customers:
NBC10 Boston spoke with CTL Director Yossi Sheffi for a January 26 piece about recent pet food shortages. Pet adoptions increased during the pandemic, leading to higher demand for pet food and supplies at a time of ongoing supply chain disruptions and raw material shortages.
"Demand for goods started going through the roof," Sheffi said. "When this issue starts, people start hoarding, people start buying everything in sight just to make sure they are not going to run short, and this, of course, exacerbates the situation."
In an article for MIT Sloan Management Review, CTL Director Yossi Sheffi writes that rising inflation and global supply chain problems raise concerns that a recession is looming.
CTL Executive Director Chris Caplice was recently interviewed by the Wall Street Journal on current freight trends. Last month, the average contract rate for freight hit a record $2.51 per mile. Such tight trucking capacity is prompting companies to continue their current contracts with carriers to avoid competition on the open market bidding for new transportation.
“If you go out to bid, you can expect your rates will be 10% to 15% higher, on average,” he said.
MIT FreightLab Co-Director David Correll was interviewed by Scripps Media about the Biden administration's action plan on trucking, which was released Thursday. The plan, he says, is a step in the right direction and the sign of a potential shift—that drivers' time is being valued more highly and more fairly.
Watch the full interview here: