Good
day,
FourKites has joined the virtual
event crowd as businesses that typically host events are finding new ways to
engage with their audiences.
FourKites said it will host a
virtual summit from March 31 to April 2 titled, “The Future of Supply Chain Sustainability.” Among the presenters will be Dr. Dirk Holbach, corporate senior
vice president of Henkel Global Supply Chain B.V.; Meghan Stasz, vice
president, packaging & sustainability at the Consumer Brands Association;
Dustin Braun, senior director of logistics at Land O’Lakes, Inc.; Rob Haddock,
group director planning & logistics at Coca-Cola North America; Mike
Turner, former vice president of sales at UPS; and Rick Blasgen, president
& CEO of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals.
The presenters will share their
visions on how businesses can optimize operations to support sustainability.
“We all grew up in an era when the
complexity of most supply chains made it nearly impossible to identify waste
and inefficiency,” said Mathew Elenjickal, FourKites CEO. “Supply chain visibility software is now changing this for the better, and we have an opportunity
and a responsibility to make a positive impact on this global issue.”
FreightWaves had previously
announced it would be switching its FreightWaves LIVE Atlanta event to a virtual event.
Leveraging the robust and growing
FreightWaves TV platform, FreightWaves CEO Craig Fuller announced the Atlanta
event, set for May 5-6, 2020, will become FreightWaves @ Home and be held
virtually.
“We know how important FreightWaves
LIVE events are to the freight community. Startups and large enterprises alike
depend on FreightWaves LIVE to showcase their technology, network with industry
buyers, and meet up with potential investors,” Fuller said when making the announcement on March 16.
“We discovered that FreightWaves
LIVE is the type of event that thrives in a virtual setting, primarily because
we center the content around live demos, keynotes, fireside chats and even town
halls,” Fuller added. “We plan on keeping these formats, but will do them
virtually, including for speakers and demo companies. Town halls will be
converted to live chat.”
More details on the FreightWaves @ Home event will be announced soon.
Did you know?
Convey said that, as of Thursday, 40%
of retail and supply chain leaders were seeing disruptions upstream in the
supply chain, and another 26% expected to see disruptions as the COVID-19
situation continues to unfold.
Quotable:
“I chatted with my mom and dad to
see if it would be a good idea to use my allowance money to feed hungry truck
drivers.”
– Logan Miller, a 13-year-old West Virginia son of a trucker, who is donating his allowance money to truck drivers to ensure they are getting meals.
In other news:
Who has fruits and veggies? Suppliers do
The closure of restaurants
throughout the world is leaving suppliers with unsold food, creating a lot of
questions. (Bloomberg)
NFI CEO says its time to move forward
NFI CEO Sid Brown says that leaders
need to forget about what happened with COVID-19 preparations and focus on
moving forward. (Philadelphia Inquirer)
Teen gives allowance money to truckers
A teenager in West Virginia is doing his part to ensure
truck drivers are able to eat as more restaurants close, so he has been giving
his allowance money to drivers. (Metro
News)
Toyota to build fuel cell truck with Hino
Toyota has said it will work with
Hino to develop a hydrogen fuel cell truck with a range of 600 kilometers. (H2)
Trucking company explains how it is helping suppliers
A local trucking company in
Tennessee said it is running lanes it usually doesn’t run in an effort to help
keep store shelves stocked. (WNBJ TV)
Final thoughts
As more states start to shut down
in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19, the impact will begin to ripple
across the freight markets, and that ripple will likely end up costing some
truck drivers their jobs. While grocery and other essential stores need to be
stocked, the closing of malls and manufacturers will result in less freight
moving to those locations. The question is how much less and for how long? For
trucking, which operates on such slim margins, keeping drivers employed when
there is no freight might not be possible. And once it returns, there will be a
massive hiring spree. The question is, will there be drivers?
Hammer down, everyone!
