This year’s dynamic list of the people, places, and innovations that are shaping global supply chains is more environmentally-driven than ever. A testimony to the long-term value and commitment to green and lean business practices, despite the current economic conditions.

Maersk Alabama Captain Richard Phillips

By now, you know the story. Somali pirates boarded the Maersk Alabama, which carried food and relief supplies to Mogadishu. After five hours the Maersk crew regained control of the ship, capturing one pirate. One of their own was taken hostage. Captain Richard Phillips exchanged places with that man, risking his life to protect his crewmembers to the best of his ability. The pirates reneged on a prisoner exchange, holding Captain Phillips for ransom. The Vermont native was rescued after enduring five days in 120-degree heat, from an enclosed fiberglass boat that lacked sanitation facilities, when Navy Seals fired the three shots that killed the three pirates.

Maersk has “recognized Captain Phillips and the entire crew of Maersk Alabama for their bravery, dedication and professionalism.” World Trade joins in saluting Captain Richard Phillips for his integrity, bravery and personal commitment that, despite great risk to himself, allowed him to place the welfare of those in his command above his own.

Nestle Waters

Nestlé Waters North America converted its entire IC-powered fleet of sit-down counterbalanced lift trucks at its bottling facility in Dallas to electric lift trucks powered by GenDrive fuel cell power units. The company evaluated hydrogen fuel cells and lead-acid batteries as potential replacements for their current fuel source, liquid petroleum gas. “Nestlé Waters assessed all their IC engine replacement options and found that the GenDrive fuel cell solution was less expensive than investing in lead-acid batteries and costly battery equipment,” says Tony Troutt, director of sales at Plug Power. “Most importantly, converting their fleet to hydrogen fuel cells allows Nestlé Waters to eliminate exhaust emission issues, ultimately creating an improved working environment for their employees as well as a reduced carbon footprint.”

The Highway Bill

Congress passes the Surface Transportation authorization bill every five years, the law that dictates how all surface transportation projects in the country will be planned, funded and completed. The current law, frequently called the Highway Bill, expires on Sept. 30. This is a great opportunity to take a giant leap forward in developing a national transportation infrastructure plan. Currently, as the President/CEO of one of the giants in the trucking business confided to World Trade, “the Feds are ducking the issue and leaving it for the states.”

A special feature in this Authorization will be President Obama’s intention to establish a national infrastructure bank, which would be included in the bill. That’s likely to result in some political give-and-take, which could slow down the passage of what is likely to be a $500-plus package (the Highway Bill appropriation expiring this year is $286 billion). 

There’s added pressure on Congress do it its work efficiently this year in order to keep economic stimulus moving forward. “If we go past the Sept. 30 deadline there will be a serious shortfall in revenues, resulting in a 50 percent cut in what we can send out to the states,” according to a spokesman for the House of Representatives Transportation Committee. “That’s the hammer hanging over our heads.”

Wireless Robotic Fulfillment

Kiva Systems (Woburn, MA) has developed a sci-fi approach to DC management with ottoman-shaped robots that slide beneath four-foot shelving units to move inventory where it’s needed on the warehouse floor. While automation and sortation technologies such as conveyors, tilt tray sorters, carousels and the like simply tinker with Henry Ford’s serial assembly line concept, these squat orange musclemen (capable of moving loads as heavy as 3,000 pounds) enable operators to stand still while the product comes to them. Pallets, cases, and orders are stored on inventory pods that are picked up and moved, as a result, any product can go to any operator at any time to fill any order.

The newness of Kiva (four patents, with another 14 pending) is the integration of three technologies: WiFi, digital cameras, and low-cost servers capable of parallel processing. The servers work in real-time, receiving orders, immediately dispatching robots to bring the required pods to the worker fulfilling the order, and then returning the pods to their storage locations.

Still a young company with annual sales in the $50 million range, Aberdeen Group analysts have concluded that, “Kiva represents the first really ‘new’ technology in order fulfillment in years.” 

IBM

Beijing is more famous for the Forbidden City than for its innovation, but that may change now that IBM has opened a Supply Chain Innovation Center there. Its goal is to provide new solutions and showcase best practices for companies around the world, helping them effectively integrate their operations into a global supply chain. The new Innovation Center focuses on supply chain research, business consulting, software capabilities and an integrated supply chain experience. The goal is to help multinational companies effectively leverage China’s supply chain capabilities and to help Chinese companies integrate themselves into the global supply chain.

“Helping companies transform and extend their supply chains in a globally integrated economy requires new thinking, new methods and new tools,” explains Sanjeev Nagrath, Global Leader, Supply Chain Management, IBM Global Business Services. Special features of the Supply Chain Innovation Center include a Service Oriented Architecture based virtual command center, which   increases visibility and therefore facilitates effective decision-making; supply chain optimization tools and a modeler to help organizations design and operate agile, flexible supply chain processes and networks; and a carbon tradeoff modeler to help firms incorporate carbon output considerations into decision making to critically analyze the advantages and disadvantages of various supply chain options.

Congressman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.)

Congressman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, earns kudos for his efforts to keep Congress focused on air cargo security and the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) interpretation of the air cargo screening provisions of the 9/11 bill. That bill mandates TSA to set up a system by 2010 to screen 100 percent of cargo on passenger planes that is commensurate with the level of screening for passenger checked baggage. TSA is doing this through a system that uses equipment, technology, canines, inspections and other means to ensure that the level of security provided for air cargo is equivalent to the level of security provided for checked passenger baggage.

But, Chairman Thompson calls the final overall bill weak as it falls short of providing for 100 percent screening of international cargo. And, this unfunded mandate hits the airlines hard when they and their freight forwarder partners are being required to invest millions in screening technology at a time when the airlines are struggling.

Latin America Finance Deal of the Year

The Export-Import Bank of the United States continues to discharge its mandate of making easier for foreign customers to purchase American manufactured goods by offering favorable financial terms. One such transaction was honored in 2008 as the Latin American Deal of the Year by Airfinance Journal and exemplifies the contribution Ex-Im Bank is making in tough times. Brazil’s TAM Airline was the winner, honored for structuring the financing of four Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. It was the first delivery of large Boeing aircraft in Brazil, the first B777-300ER to be operated by a Latin American airline and the first financing agreement achieved with an Ex-Im Bank guarantee for this type of structured operation. Touted as the world’s most technologically advanced airplane the 777-300ER features updated avionic, electrical, flight and environmental control systems and is powered by GE Aircraft engines the world’s most powerful commercial jet engines.

Global Lifestyles

As globalization spreads worldwide, national cultures become an ever-bigger factor in influencing whether an extended supply chain succeeds or fails. And what is more revealing about a society’s work ethic (or the absence thereof) than time spent away from the job sleeping and eating? The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) surveyed its to document leisure habits within the world’s most prosperous countries (OECD, “Society at a Glance 2009”). What did they find out? The French lead the way in eating and sleeping every day (two hours and nine hours respectively); the Koreans and Japanese, on the other hand, sleep the least. When it comes to “Life Satisfaction,” northern European countries are at the front:  Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, and Norway in that order. Americans rank 11th in average life satisfaction (after Sweden and ahead of Spain) but what may be more revealing is that from 2000-2006 the U.S. has seen an absolute decline in its score.

The Coefficient of Variation

Everybody knows all too well how the cost of fuel can wreck havoc on the best-laid logistics plans—particularly trucking. To say nothing of the unanticipated cost impact on offshore supply chains. What’s worse than high prices are uncertain ones—how’s a supply chain executive to know what to do? Well, researchers at the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics have identified some broad strategies that companies can deploy to smooth out these effects.

They’ve developed a measure of fuel instability, the coefficient of variation, a dividing the standard deviation of the price of a gallon of fuel by the average price. From 1994 to 2004, the coefficient of variation was 0.14; from 2004 onwards it almost doubled to 0.27. And, predictions are that the instability measure will only go higher.

Armed with such data, MIT proposes some broad strategies for a more fuel efficient supply chain: from sustainability to portfolios of supply chain options to scenario planning, which project wide variations of fuel costs and availability.

Merchant Marine Academy

The importance of the Merchant Marine Academy and the top training it affords merchant marines could not have been more validated than by the recent example set by Captain Richard Phillips and his crew on board the Maersk Alabama. Held captive for five days by these pirates, Capt. Phillips demonstrated bravery, courage and sound judgment—traits that serve as a reminder of how the most important element in a productive merchant fleet and a strong transportation industry is people. A major goal of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy is to train people so that they possess the skills needed to become shipboard officers trained to meet the challenges presented by all types of U.S. owned vessels and seaboard trade. Vital to national security as a “fourth arm of defense,” merchant ships bear the brunt of delivering military supplies overseas to U.S. forces and allies. The stark lessons of 20th century conflict prove that a strong merchant marine is an essential part of American sea power.

China Council for the Promotion of International Trade

The U.S.-China relationship plays an important role in the stability of international trade and bilateral business ties. Helping to maintain that relationship is the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), an organization established to promote China’s international economic and commercial interests. Since China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in November 2001, the U.S.-China Business Council (USCBC) and CCPIT have joined forces to develop a number of creative programs to help the Chinese business community understand, learn, and use WTO rules. By providing relevant business networking opportunities and encouraging dialogue between members, CCPIT seeks to create a community of peers where actively participating individuals are inspired and supported by the larger community. Essentially, CCPIT serves three main functions: to create a forum for social and professional networking for CCPIT members; to act as a channel between members and the Chinese authorities on particular topics of special interest to the members; and to participate in the debate regarding trade and policy issues.

The New Panama City-Bay County International Airport (PFN)

There’s a new airport in the works that—along with other infrastructure developments in the region—could someday help alter the scene for distribution and warehousing in the U.S. Southeast. That airport is the new Panama City-Bay County International Airport (PFN), which today, is the largest private greenfield infrastructure project in the United States. The new PFN is expected to be fully operational by May 2010. Located in Northwest Bay County, FL the new PFN will replace the currently operating, outdated airport in Panama City. That airport, built in 1948, is deemed landlocked and too small to offer flights of any consequences. The new airport is being constructed on approximately 1,300 acres of a 4,000-acre site. This large site offers ample room for airport expansion. The site sits within approximately 75,000 acres of undeveloped land that will also offer opportunities for warehousing, commercial and business development. Its 10,000-foot runway, which can be expanded to 12,000-feet, will be sufficient to handle the biggest cargo aircraft.

Punta Colonet Megaport

Move over Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. A new megaport in the village of Punta Colonet, Mexico is being planned that could offer steep competition to these Southern California seaports. Located in northern Baja California, Mexican officials hope the new seaport will catapult Mexico into a major player in North American logistics. Plans call for the construction of a massive port in the tiny coastal village of Punta Colonet, about 150 miles south of Tijuana, along with new rail lines to whisk Asian-made goods north to the United States. Mexico’s aim is to snatch some Pacific cargo traffic from Southern California’s ports, where growth is constrained by urban development and environmental concerns. The new port is expected to have an annual capacity of 2 million TEUs when it opens in 2014, and ultimately the ability to handle 10 million TEUs. The megaport will be privately funded, with the first phase estimated to cost approximately $4 billion.

Biometric Authentication Technology

Introduced by Cortegra Group, Biometric Authentication Technology offers a new level of anti-counterfeiting technology for pharmaceuticals that, itself cannot be counterfeited. The technology reads the microstructure of the individual package, the fiber structure in the boxboard. That microstructure is an individual, digital signature that is more unique than individual fingerprints and has no known way of being duplicated. 

Biometric Authentication Technology can be used for non-destructive item level authentication on all types of packaging without changing or adding anything to the product or the package. The signature information can be integrated seamlessly into existing trace and track technologies, including barcodes, date codes, production data, ERP data and e-Pedigree solutions. Importantly, the technology can be applied in real time without affecting production lines, and at a low per-item cost.

Pepsi

While the Purchase, New York-based $77 billion snack and beverage giant made headlines earlier this year trying to take over its two largest bottling companies, its extensive logistics team makes the most of product line diversity—Quaker, Frito-Lay, Gatorade, and Tropicana are Pepsi brands—to test and master new supply chain concepts.

For example, attempting to curb energy use and track carbon emissions ahead of possible government mandates, as well as woo the growing ranks of eco-minded consumers, the firm’s Tropicana branch recently calculated the carbon dioxide emitted to the atmosphere for each half-gallon carton of orange juice. (Each half-gallon contributes approximately 3.75 pounds of CO2.)

How serious are they? Very—at least according to Tropicana North America president Neil Campbell. Calculating exact environment effects may still be an inexact science, he told the New York Times this January, but “you can end up doing nothing if you let that stop you.” PepsiCo colleague Bryan Lembke concurred with the oldest supply chain adage of them all: “If you don’t measure it, you can’t improve it.”

The 10+2 Rule

Effective June 1, importers that bring in goods by ship will be required to provide additional cargo data 24 hours before their cargo is loaded onto an ocean vessel and sets sail for the United States. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials believe the additional information will help improve their ability to identify high-risk shipments, prevent smuggling and to ensure cargo safety and security, and strengthen security precautions aimed at preventing terrorism. The rules are known as “10+2” because they require two electronic filings for imported goods—one consisting of ten data elements, and then two additional ones as the goods move closer to the inbound port.

 These 10 elements are: 1) Manufacturer (or supplier) name and address 2) Seller (or owner) name and address 3) Buyer (or owner) name and address 4) Ship-to name and address 5) Container stuffing location 6) Consolidator (stuffer) name and address 7) Importer of Record number/foreign trade zone applicant identification number 8) Consignee number(s) 9) Country of Origin 10) Commodity Harmonized Tariff Schedule number (HTSUS). The “2” refers to  “2” data files that the ocean carrier will transmit to CBP: 1) Vessel Stow Plan to indicate the location of each container on the ocean vessel 2) Container Status Messages (CSM), which detail information on the movement and status changes of a container as it travels through certain parts of the supply chain. 

IATA and e-Freight

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) e-freight project, launched in 2004, aims to take the paper out of air cargo shipments. An industry-wide initiative involving carriers, freight forwarders, ground handlers, shippers and customs authorities, e-freight replaces paper documents with electronic messages. In today’s environmental conscious world, e-freight is especially significant since each air cargo shipment carries with it as many as 30 paper documents—enough to fill 80 Boeing 747 freighters every year. IATA e-freight replaces 13 of these documents with electronic messages, and amount that will increase to 16 in 2009 and 20 in 2010. A number of carriers are signing onto the initiative. That’s because e-freight lowers costs up to $4.9 billion annually; ensures faster service thanks to its reduced cycle time of an average of 24 hours; provides greater reliability and accuracy as a result of its one-time electronic data entry at point of origin; and offers better visibility. Live in 18 locations last year, in 2009 it focuses on five new locations and 14 new airports.

Levx Levitation Systems

A new, more efficient, less costly version of levitation systems is garnering interest as cargo handlers and people movers. The system offers a cost effective alternative to moving product along busy roadways at worksites or at ports and other cargo handling facilities, as well as for assembly lines.

Levx has developed a proprietary passive levitation system that gets 570-ton miles per gallon of diesel—versus trains’ 415-ton mile average—and is not connected to the local power grid, so it can operate even during regional power outages. The systems provide a low-cost, environmentally responsible way to move freight effectively, dramatically lowering CO2 emissions by removing vehicles from the road.

Because the platform is riding on air, there is no energy lost to friction. Levx can accelerate more than one ton with less than one horsepower over a fixed guideway, and the system can turn tight corners and even stop and start on grades as steep as 45 degrees. Speeds can reach 124 miles (200 km) per hour.

Right-sized Transportation Networks

During this economic downturn, transportation providers are taking tough actions to right-size their operations by focusing sharply on cutting capacity and costs. In return, they are concentrating on the things that are more within their control: safety, customer service and productivity. For railroads, this means aligning their networks to work efficiently with trucking lines to provide intermodal services. Ocean carriers are considering the size of their steamships and coverage they provide. In some cases, this might mean eliminating some port calls, or rerouting ships to maximize shipping loads. Air carriers have found it necessary to right-size their networks by using fewer wide body aircraft into strategic primary hubs and feeder aircraft to places previously serviced by the larger jets. This is especially the case for integrated carriers. These carriers, in particular, may cancel flights if capacity or revenue have not met internal targets. Consequently, in the airline industry some 2,300 jets, or more than 11 percent of the global aircraft fleet, are now parked. Meanwhile, shippers continue to consider alternative transportation options such as sea-air or more use of intermodal rail.

Cisco

Today, IT is infrastructure, and Cisco leads the field with an internal supply chain command—led by a time to recover from disruption metric—second to none.

“Cisco has created a proprietary simulation engine for strategic supply chain planning tools,” explains Steve Banker, Supply Chain Management Service Director at ARC Advisory Group. “This helps them quantify the impact of catastrophic events on their supply chain.” One example: a statistical technique known as a Pareto analysis. Here decision makers correlate causes and effects to identify major operational efficiencies or inefficiencies. “A Pareto analysis surrounding the revenue impact of key products is central to helping Cisco understand where they need to invest in mitigation strategies,” Banker says.

Just in time. Based in San Jose, California the networking hardware maker manages over 600 suppliers, 50,000 purchased parts, and 200 product families to maintain revenues approaching $9 billion—and executives expect all those numbers to increase again when the recession ends. “This company has the ability to understand and adapt to change,” Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Chambers has said. “Without exception, all of my biggest mistakes occurred because I moved too slowly.”

MEMC

When St. Peters, Missouri-based MEMC Electronic Materials became the first company to produce 300-mm silicon wafers, the Taiwanese semiconductor industry came calling. Its example proves, with good global partners, American manufacturers can not only survive, but thrive in the age of globalization—first, however, they must innovate.

Worldwide, the company holds over 600 silicon products and processes patents, chief among them patents on what it calls the world’s first “100% defect-free” silicon wafers, with more than another 300 patent applications on file. “The wafers manufactured and produced by MEMC are literally the foundation upon which virtually all of the world’s semiconductors and solar cells are built,” it reports (including the $18 billion solar cell/module market—rooftop, solar farms, consumer lighting). Such global reach requires far-flung production sites ranging from California, Texas, Italy; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Hsinchu, Taiwan; and Chonan, South Korea to Utsunomiya, Japan. “MEMC has some of the best R&D capabilities and product and patent portfolios in the business,” says Ahmad Chatila, President and Chief Executive Officer. Next stage in the agenda is to improve cost structure and enhance product portfolio through supply chain management.

Ross Stores

As operator of the Dress for Less and dd’s Discounts chains, Pleasanton, California-based Ross Stores benefits from other clothing companies’ inventory missed forecasts. Last year, while industry leader Gap saw sales fall as much as 27 percent, Ross sales actually increased to $6.5 billion—an awesome feat in a dreadful year. Nor are its goods distressed:

With such savvy supply chain purchasing agents, it’s little wonder the so-called “retailer of last resort” is now first in the mind of a price-conscious public. So far this year, sales in the company’s some 950 stores have increased three to eight percent from last year’s record numbers. “We are very pleased with our solid sales gains…, which were well ahead of our projections,” said Michael Balmuth, Vice Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. “We believe our business continues to benefit from our ability to deliver compelling bargains to today’s increasingly value-focused consumers.”

Michigan Supply Chain Commission

The Michigan Supply Chain Commission, established with  federal support last year, integrates Michigan’s economic development strategy with its transportation infrastructure policy. The goal was to take Michigan’s expertise and value in logistics into consideration as the state crafted economic and transportation policy to better manage its dealings with neighboring states and Canada, which uses Detroit as a major gateway into the U.S.

Key responsibilities of the Commission include advising the governor on economic stimulus plans; increasing communications with the government of Ontario and the government of Canada regarding broad supply chain issues; learning how other states leverage supply chain management capabilities to attract industry; and determining which Michigan industries would benefit from greater coordination.

Pascal Lamy

Director General of the World Trade Organization

A most accomplished and respected diplomat, Lamy has overseen the implosion of the Doha round of trade talks, followed by the global recession—both of which have raised the specter of protectionism. Lamy is also fighting the incipient trade barriers he sees emerging across the global economy—not only delivering a litany of stump speeches in favor of free trade, but using the WTO to help suffering economies.

Lamy, who was the EU trade commissioner from 1999 to 2004, has a reputation for driving his staffs hard toward seemingly unreachable goals—which, not surprisingly, he usually achieves. In a strong show of support, the 153 WTO member-countries unanimously voted him another four years as WTO director general. European Union Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton told Bloomberg News, “In this difficult economic downturn, Pascal is certainly in my view the person to take us through.” But the question remains: If Lamy can’t stop the global drift toward protectionism, who can?

NetFlix

Who else beat Wal-Mart head to head? The tiny Los Gatos, California-based DVD rental company succeeds because of an obsessive focus on what customers will want tomorrow. Hence a major investment in digital video distribution despite the now-iconic status of its red delivery envelopes, delivered free via first class mail to more than 10 million subscribers.

“Netflix is one of my favorite examples for business innovation and value creation through supply chain reengineering,” writes information technology e-marketing and strategy consultant Kameran Ahari. “During the past twenty years if [you] wanted to rent a movie, you had to drive to the closest video rental store and hope nobody else beat you to the latest movies.” Perhaps the most impressive result: half a dozen centrally located warehouses replaced thousands of stores.

Ahari, for one, believes other industries and businesses—lending, banking, book publishing, and OEM manufacturing; insurance offices, car rental booths, post offices, and real estate agencies—are “ripe for similar disintermediation.” If so, they’ll simply be following the money: so far this year NetFlix profits are up nearly 70 percent from 2008.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration

In a world still reeling from a rash of tainted products from China, the FDA is working with that nation to develop and implement product testing regulations. As one part of that effort, it opened an office in China last October to try to better manage manufacturing risks by helping companies there better understand quality issues from the American perspective.

China, historically, has never had pre-submissions regulations for pharmaceuticals and has lacked the rigorous testing required in other countries. Although the FDA has no regulatory authority on foreign soil, it can provide guidance for manufacturers of products entering the U.S. and increase foreign medical product pre-approval inspections.

General Mills

Cross-disciplinary teamwork is creating innovative packaging that improves logistics at General Mills. The packaging team and product developers are systematically eliminating unnecessary costs while delivering novel products in more efficient packaging.

In the case of Hamburger Helper, they worked together to reduce the number of pouches in each carton and flattened the pasta so it packs more tightly in the box without altering serving size. The changes reduced the depth of the boxes 20 percent, which eliminated 890,000 pounds of fiberboard needed for the boxes. Because more boxes could now fit into shipping cartons, trucks could carry more, which took 500 trucks off the road and trimmed greenhouse gas emissions 11 percent. 

Yoplait yogurt is another example. It used to have several different colored foil lids—one for each type of yogurt. When it began using the same color lid for all of its yogurts, it saved $2 million, eliminated the need to track and store different lids and found that the brand itself wasn’t affected.

Michelin

X One® wide-sized tires were introduced in 2000 to replace two dual tires on tractor-trailers. This year, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) proved what Michelin has been saying: The tires are more fuel efficient than traditional tires. A 12-month real world study of six Class 8 tractors and ten box trailers that ranged from the East Coast to the Mountain Time zone throughout the U.S. found that rigs that used these next generation tires on the tractor and trailer increased fuel economy an average of nine percent compared to dual tires. When analyzed by payload, fuel economy ranged from 10.2 percent with heavy loads to 16.8 percent when running with the tractor only.

Truckers report, anecdotally, that the X One® tires confer increased roll stability, a tighter turning radius and reduced weight, which lets them increase cargo weight. Log truckers say the tires also create fewer ruts.

Lumber Liquidators

While Home Depot and Lowe’s saw sales nosedives with a battered housing market, Toano, Virginia-based Lumber Liquidators found a $400-million-plus niche selling deeply discounted flooring from bamboo to laminate, cork to tropical hardwood. Now the country’s largest specialty retailer of hardwood flooring—of its total 150 varieties of flooring, 25 are domestic and exotic hardwood species—the company and its logistics team put as much attention into choosing retail locations as the merchandise they carry.

“[Our] stores are simple, scaled-down warehouses often located in non-retail, off-the-beaten-track locations,” Tom Sullivan, founder and chairman, recently told the Evansville Courier & Press.

When Sullivan started the company in 1993, he showed his supply chain savvy early: his first outlet was behind a Boston-area trucking company. Not only do retail outlets double as warehouses, in other words, they’re also, at times, distribution centers.

Lumber Liquidator’s big-picture goal is to break the $1 billion sales barrier. “We are uniquely positioned, even in this difficult environment, to gain rapid returns on our investment in new stores, which require only minimal upfront capital expenditures,” explains President and Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey W. Griffiths.

BioStorage Technologies

A new Web-based inventory management has been developed specifically to monitor and track biomaterials in short- or long-term storage, and to manage samples and other aspects of cold chain logistics. The Intelligent Specimen Inventory Storage System (ISISS) meets FDA Title 21 CFR Part 11 regulatory guidelines for chain of custody for the pharmaceutical industry.

It allows complete tracking, providing every detail of a specimen’s storage and handling lifecycle, along with other data associated with each sample. ISISS can be integrated into existing inventory systems, as it reads a variety of bar code types. Consequently, existing labels and bar codes may be retained and accessed through this system. ISISS also has the ability to print complete audit trails. Samples, therefore, can be monitored and tracked at the vial level, ensuring, for example, that temperatures were always within established parameters, as well as other details that affect the efficacy of pharmaceuticals and the viability to biological specimen.

Using this system, companies can view their entire inventory, round the clock, on the Internet and same-day sample retrieval.

Kraft Foods

In a gutsy move, Kraft Foods redesigned its iconic salad dressing bottles in an effort to increases sustainability throughout its supply chain while simultaneously enhancing consumer convenience.

The new, more rounded bottles are made from the same material as their predecessors, but use 19 percent less plastic. That amounts to 3 million pounds of plastic that Kraft no longer buys, and that no longer goes into landfills. That also reduces energy use. The bottle’s redesign increased shipping efficiency by 18 percent by letting more bottles be shipped per truck, and also lets one more package be placed on grocery store shelves. And, consumers overwhelmingly prefer the new bottles, thanks to a flip-top cap and easier-to-hold design.

The move is part of Kraft’s corporate wide sustainability goals which call for  eliminating 150 million pounds of packaging materials from 2005 levels, reducing plant energy use and carbon dioxide emissions by 25 percent each, and reducing water consumption and waste by 15 percent each by 2011.

Rep. Michael H. Michaud (D-ME), Steve Cohen (D-TN), Jean Schmidt (R-OH), and Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA)

These Congressmen actually worked together to co-sponsor H.R.1799, “The Safe and Efficient Transportation Act of 2009.”

This bill allows exemptions from the federal gross maximum weight levels on vehicles operating within their borders, which currently is set at 80,000 pounds for the Interstate Highway System. The bill would allow the exemptions, providing certain conditions are met. Those conditions are that the vehicle has at least six axles, none of the axles weighs more than 20,000 pounds, no tandem axel weights more than 34,000 pounds and the weight of three or more axels does not exceed 51,000 pounds. The gross weight of the vehicle must not exceed 97,000 pounds.

The bill also directs the Secretary of Transportation to establish a safe and effective vehicle bridge infrastructure improvement program and to allocate money from this act to pay for bridge replacements or retrofits.

The University of Alabama (Huntsville) Office of Freight, Logistics and Transportation (OFLT)

A first-of-its-kind tool was unveiled in April that helps highway planners accurately forecast freight and truck traffic, which typically constitutes between 8 and 25 percent all traffic on major highways. The Integrated Freight Planning Framework forecaster helps transportation planners more accurately determine where traffic may grow fastest and identify and locate congestion issues before they emerge, thereby allowing planners to change the traffic volume on specific stretches of road.

This model also includes a way to estimate the volume of pass through truck traffic that originates and terminates outside the area. More than a forecaster, the tool can assess options and prioritize projects. The tool is being used by the Alabama Department of Transportation for the freight component of its five-year plan.

Coldpack's AirLiner

As an alternative to rigid foam insulation, the AirLiner is an inflatable, insulating bag made from layers of reflective barrier film that protect contents from heat that would develop through conduction, convection, radiation. Cold materials, therefore, stay cold longer and temperature sensitive cargo, like pharmaceuticals, seafood, meats, chocolates and even tropical fish can be transported in a temperature stable environment with greater assurance.

The technology can be used throughout shipment, and is also particularly useful for maintaining temperatures for products that were shipped in refrigerated containers but broken into smaller units for customer delivery. The inflatable packaging also provides cushioning, further protecting the contents. The AirLiner is shipped flat so it uses only 4 percent of the space required to stock foam boxes.

Rubee Technology

Developed by VisibleAssets, RuBee is a rugged tracking technology that can fill in the gaps left by RFID tracking. Because RuBee is based on low frequency magnetic energy, rather than the electrical or radio frequency used by RFID, it can be read underwater and can send and receive signals, similar to a Wi-Fi network. Because it is neither blocked nor de-tuned by metals, it can be used, for example, by armory managers to track weapons.

Its reliability in the presence of liquids makes RuBee technology an effective way to track bottles of wine, or even pharmaceuticals with high water content. In contrast, proximity to liquid or metal interferes with RFID signals. It’s also emerging as a way to track high value livestock in breeding operations and zoos. 

The downside: RuBee completes only 6 to 10 reads per second, compared to the 100 to 200 reads made by RFID. Consequently, RuBee is best suited for high-value critical need items, including pharmaceuticals and other items used in hospital emergency departments.

CGI-George Mason University Initiative for Collaborative Government

The Initiative for Collaborative Government focuses upon strategies companies can use to keep jobs ‘on shore’ while still realizing advantages of offshoring. How? By facilitating the shifting of work from metropolitan parts of the United States to more rural areas, which have to potential to successfully attract manufacturing, biotech and IT jobs.

The premise is that many regions of the U.S. offer labor and material costs that are competitive with those of other nations when such issues as language, culture, time zones, labor relations laws, intellectual property laws and transit time are considered.

Close collaboration between government and private companies is critical. Infrastructure, workforce education and training, community college involvement, and proximity to ancillary industries are also important leading indicators of success.

Square Milk Jugs

While some consumers are crying over spilled milk from the new square milk jugs, box stores, warehouses and dairies love them.

To outlets like Costco, Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club, the new design boosts efficiency. The new, square milk jugs weigh one ounce more than the traditional milk jugs, but can be stacked without crates, stretchwrapped and moved on pallets, eliminating the need to use crates, return those crates to dairies, and wash them upon return, saving labor, water, mileage, fuel, and wear and tear on vehicles.

Nearly three times as much milk can be stored in the same amount of space, increasing the available space in refrigerated warehouses and dairy cases.

For consumers, the reduced shipping requirements results in fresher milk. The new jugs fit in refrigerator doors better than the traditional rounded jug designs and, with a price that tends to be 10 to 20 cents less per gallon, even consumers are coming around.

The U.S. Department of Justice

International air cargo fares may be declining, thanks to a DOJ operation that busted an international conspiracy among airlines to fix prices for international air shipments bound to and from the United States. Specific charges included collectively discussing the rates to be charged on certain routes, levying the agreed-upon rates and then monitoring and enforcing adherence.

So far, 15 airlines have been prosecuted, and fines are totaling $1.6 billion. This is an ongoing investigation conducted by the Antitrust Division’s National Criminal Enforcement Section, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Postal Service Office of the Inspector General.

Mercury Air Cargo Flower Warehouse

Southern California is a major flower market, so it only makes sense to have refrigerated warehouses available to handle those shipments. Mercury Air Cargo just opened the largest refrigeration unit at any West Coast airport. At 12,700 square feet the new facility at Los Angeles International airport is more than thrice the size of the largest refrigerated facilities currently there and has to potential to make Los Angeles a major destination for flowers airfreighted in from Latin America.

Shipments from Bogota to Carlsbad, California, a major West Coast floral distribution point, can now be transported directly to LAX in 15 hours. In contrast, the usual route to California by way of Miami and then cross-country trucking requires at least 60 hours.

Benefits includes fresher flowers that, from consumers’ perspectives, last longer, as well as lower prices. The cost of a single rose, for example, is expected to drop from $6 to $2.

Plastic Pallets

Feedback on the re-useability and the inherent benefits of plastic pallets are making them more and more popular. They are being used increasingly by companies ranging from Ghirardelli Chocolates to Gatorade. One big reason: plastic pallets have been found to be less prone to chipping or splintering than wooden pallets, and are more cost effective because of their longer lifecycle.

Companies that have switched report fewer delivery rejections based upon load damage and fewer warehouse spills caused by damaged pallets.

Because they have uniform size, shape and weight, they can be stacked safely and easily for storage, where they require less space than wooden crates—particularly important for exports, as many countries have requirement on uniformity and re-cyclability.

Swine Flu

The swine-flu scare made obvious yet another potential disruptor to the supply chain: pandemics. Today’s supply chains reach deep into developing economies, like Mexico and China, which not only the sources for recent near-pandemics but the places most likely to suffer the most, thanks to poor public-health systems. Even worse, the easiest and safest response for developing-world governments is social distancing—closing schools, factories, and offices to keep infection from spreading. But that also means that suppliers won’t just be understaffed—they won’t even be open.

Perhaps most worrisome about recent pandemic scares is how little industry has done to prepare (though Panasonic apparently knew something others didn’t—in February it called home overseas dependents after Japanese government data showed an imminent risk of a flue outbreak in the Americas).

Inventory Optimization Technology

How do you determine optimal levels of inventory across a global supply chain with multiple suppliers at multiple tiers, complex regulatory regimes, and a host of unknowns from monsoons to political disruption? Ironically, as offshore outsourcing grows, so too does inventory along the chain—precisely the thing that outsourcing and just-in-time technologies were supposed to reduce.

It’s a mind-boggingly complex problem, but supply chain experts and software developers are beginning to tackle it with “inventory optimization.” According to Fred Lizza, CEO of Optiant, firms that implemented inventory optimization programs were able to reduce inventory by 20 to 30 percent and cycle times by 15 to 20 percent.

Social Networks

What is the supply chain if not a giant social network? And what is Facebook if not, in part, a giant Rolodex? The difference, of course, is that Facebook does something traditional address books don’t—it dynamically shows connections between contacts, allowing users to exploit relationships that in the past lay hidden. Inovis recently unveiled its Inovis Social Network, a Facebook-like web-based program that links users to a growing network of suppliers, shippers, and vendors around the world.

And there’s an added benefit to social networking—not only does it keep contacts up to date, but researchers say it creates a level of trust and communication among clients and vendors that can never be achieved by a stack of business cards. Wt

Worth Their Weight in GREEN, by Lara L. Sowinski

Nanotechnology

The next generation of manufactured products will be cleaner, stronger, lighter, more precise, and by extension—greener—thanks to nanotechnology. Futuristic truck design, for instance, will focus on aerodynamics to lessen wind resistance and improve fuel efficiency, using lightweight, slippery body panels made of new materials. At the same time, nanotechnology is being used to manufacture ‘smart materials’ for pavement construction, while sensors will be used to monitor temperature, strain, and moisture to ultimately create a more reliable, intelligent, low-cost transportation network. Researchers are also working on self-cleaning and self-healing materials that will keep traffic control devices clean and automatically ‘heal’ cracks in concrete.



Patagonia’s “Footprint Chronicles”

Hats off to Patagonia for their online “Footprint Chronicles,” which allows consumers to track the environmental impact of a specific Patagonia product from design to delivery. “Consumers need to find a trusted source, cut through the marketing and the spin, and inquire about the company they’re buying from,” said Todd Copeland, a raw materials environmental specialist with the company in a recent interview. Patagonia intends to offer recycling for 100 percent of its clothing line at its stores by 2010. Currently, customers can bring any of Patagonia’s fleece (or any competitor’s polar fleece) into stores to be recycled and made into new garments.

Hangar 25

Hangar 25 in Burbank, California is the most sustainable airplane hangar in the world. It produces 110 percent of its total energy needs with on-site solar; uses 61 percent less water indoors and 51 percent less landscape water outdoors than a typical building; and sourced nearly half of the construction materials locally. The Hangar is also the world’s first aviation hangar to achieve Platinum certification under the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Rating System—the highest rating from the Washington, D.C.-based organization. Hangar 25 is an extreme makeover story as well. A former industrial lot with a cement slab, the property now houses a state-of-the-art green aviation hangar minimizing the 51,000 square-foot building’s carbon footprint.



e-Waste Legislation

It seems Congress is finally starting to get serious about the growing problem of electronic waste (e-waste) that is exported from North America to countries like China, Ghana, India, and Nigeria, which lack strong environmental regulations and enforcement. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that Americans generate 2.63 million tons of e-waste annually, making e-waste the fastest growing segment of the municipal waste stream. Furthermore, only about 12.5 percent of that amount is collected for recycling.

While several efforts are underway in Congress to address e-waste, one proposed bill, the National Computer Recycling Act, would require the EPA to develop and implement a national ‘cradle-to-cradle’ framework for e-waste recycling and impose a recycling fee to manufacturers and retailers of new computers.



Fred Smith, FedEx, and Fleets

FedEx Corp.’s chairman, president, and CEO is leading the charge in greening the transportation industry. “For a long period of time, the company has concentrated on ways to become more efficient, and to burn less fuel per unit of transport, and that was just good economics as far as the company was concerned,” noted Fred Smith at the recent U.S. Chamber of Commerce Aviation Forum. “Over the last decade it has become a greater issue for FedEx and humankind to have a more environmentally sustainable economy.”

FedEx boasts an industry-leading fleet of hybrid electric vehicles that have already logged 3.5 million miles in the past five years. “That’s a number nobody will reach anytime soon,” says an engineer in FedEx’s global vehicles unit. “That’s where the rubber meets the road.”

 

The Clinton Climate Initiative

In April, the William J. Clinton Foundation’s Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) launched a project using the Empire State Building as a test case for an innovative process to analyze and retrofit existing structures for environmental sustainability. The $500 million upgrade project for the planet’s most famous office building will reduce energy consumption by 38 percent and, most importantly, provide a replicable model for similar projects around the world.

“Commercial and residential buildings account for the majority of the total carbon footprint of cities around the world—over 70 percent in New York City,” according to Anthony E. Malking of the Empire State Building Company, the owner of the landmark. “Most new buildings are built with the environment in mind, but the real key to substantial progress is reducing existing building energy consumption and carbon footprint.”



Green Governments

It’s fair to say that many governments—from the national level down to the small-town level—are finally ‘getting it’ when it comes to green. Some of the standouts include Texas, which despite holding the title as the U.S.’ largest producer and refiner of oil and gas as well as the nation’s biggest energy user, has also moved to the forefront in clean energy, especially wind. The U.S. wind energy industry grew by 45 percent in 2007, and over half of that growth was contributed by Texas. Texas is also the leading wind state in the U.S., accounting for close to one-third of the nation’s total installed wind capacity, which is the equivalent of the electricity needed to power more than one million Texas homes.

From one big state to one tiny country, Wales is also aggressively pursing renewable energy. “Just as we led the world in energy development during the 19th century when our coal powered the industrial revolution, we again have a great opportunity to lead in the battle against climate change,” asserts Wales’ Environment Minister Jane Davidson. Recently, the government released a document that suggested the country could generate a lot more electricity than it consumes with about half coming from marine sources. Another third would come from the growing wind energy sector and most of the remainder would be derived from biomass—turning wood, crops, and waste into energy. The assembly government said the ambitious program would demonstrate to the world what even small countries could do to maximize use of their natural renewable resources.



Whirlpool and the Smart Grid

Whirlpool—the maker of well-known brands like KitchenAid, Maytag, and Amana—announced last month that all of its electronically controlled appliances would be Smart Grid compatible by 2015. In addition, the company will form public-private partnerships to create an open, global standard for home appliances to transmit and receive signals by 2010.

“Whirlpool believes this bridging technology is so important that we are going to invite the appliance industry, the utility industry, policymakers, NGOs, and relevant technology companies to come together at the upcoming Copenhagen climate change conference to discuss how we can accelerate the adoption of these new capabilities,” said Bracken Darrell, the company’s executive vice president, at the recent EE Global Forum and Exhibition in Paris.