GM is one of several manufacturers rethinking the wisdom of shipping intermediate products through far-flung supply chains. Once thought of as a strategy to lower costs, overreliance on a global parts network is perceive to be a risky bet due to political shifts, protectionist measures and even natural disasters.
Artificial Intelligence Swarms Silicon Valley on Wings and Wheels (NYT)
The new era in Silicon Valley centers on artificial intelligence and robots, a transformation that many believe will have a payoff on the scale of the personal computing industry or the commercial internet, two previous generations that spread computing globally. Computers have begun to speak, listen and see, as well as sprout legs, wings and wheels to move unfettered in the world. The shift was evident in a Lowe’s home improvement store here this month, when a prototype inventory checker developed by Bossa Nova Robotics silently glided through the aisles using computer vision to automatically perform a task that humans have done manually for centuries.
GM Expects To Move 600 Supplier Jobs From Mexico to Texas (WSJ)
The Amazon-Walmart Showdown That Explains the Modern Economy (NYT)
Larger companies that are good at supply chain management and technology can spread those more-or-less fixed costs around more total sales, enabling them to keep prices lower than a niche player and entrench their advantage.
BMW Slows Some Production Due to Parts Shortage From Supplier Bosch
Bosch is not able to provide sufficient number of steering gears used in BMW’s 1-Series, 2-Series, 3-Series and 4-Series compact cars. BMW’s plant in Leipzig in eastern Germany has been shut down since Friday. Plants in China and South Africa have brought forward planned production breaks and extended their duration.
Supply Chain Management: It’s IoT Time
The Internet of Things (IoT) is making its way into every aspect of life. By 2021, 22.5 billion devices will be connected to the IoT, compared with 6.6 billion in 2016, according to a BI Global Intelligence survey. The world will invest $4.8 trillion in IoT technologies and products during that time, the company forecasts.
Your Shoes Will Be Printed Shortly (WSJ)
Because traditional manufacturing requires molds, casts and machining, it has high upfront costs. It’s great if you want to make a million of something, but not so great if you want fewer. What the 3-D printing business has finally figured out is how to speed up the process dramatically while also using cheaper and stronger materials.
As Department Stores Close, Stitch Fix Expands Online (NYT)
So far, Stitch Fix has found success where other online clothing start-ups have struggled. To the company’s founder, Katrina Lake, success comes down to delivering what consumers want: making it easier to shop. Data science plays a role in nearly every aspect of the business.
How Sephora Is Thriving Amid a Retail Crisis (NYT)
Sephora, which is owned by the French luxury conglomerate LVMH and has more than 2,300 locations in 33 countries, offers digitally savvy customers enough technological doodads and computer displays to make a Silicon Valley engineer blush.
Fashion’s move to immediacy has resulted in a shipping race
Not only does fast shipping meet customers’ new expectations, it also helps sales, which considering the rocky retail climate, is a major benefit. Faster delivery is linked to instant gratification, and for many retailers, it has helped lower the return rate.
Why Do Gas Station Prices Constantly Change? Blame the Algorithm (WSJ)
Retailers are using artificial-intelligence software to set optimal prices, testing textbook theories of competition; antitrust officials worry such systems raise prices for consumers
How Germany’s Otto uses artificial intelligence (Economist)
Otto uses a deep-learning algorithm, which was originally designed for particle-physics experiments at the CERN laboratory in Geneva. It analyses around 3bn past transactions and 200 variables (such as past sales, searches on Otto’s site and weather information) to predict what customers will buy a week before they order.
Study: 80% of manufacturing supply chain execs say digital supply chain will be the predominant model within 5 years
The top technologies respondents say can be a source of either disruption or competitive advantage are:
Robotics and automation (61%, up from 39% in 2015)
Predictive analytics (57%, up from 38% in 2015)
IoT (55%, new category in 2017)
Sensors and automatic identification (53%, up from 42% in 2015)
Driverless vehicles and drones (54%, up from 30% in 2015)
Automated Truck Firm Raises $60 Million (WSJ)
Peloton gets second round of funding for its ‘platooning’ technology for commercial fleets. Peloton’s system allows two trucks traveling front-to-back to be controlled by a driver in the front vehicle. Trailing the lead vehicle by as little as 30 feet, the second truck uses about 10% less fuel because of reduced wind resistance from the lead truck.
China Sees a Manufacturing Future—in America (WSJ)
Beset by high taxes, slow shipping, one Dongguan shoe maker looks to the U.S. But the real key is technology: Advanced manufacturing is leveling the playing field.
Zara’s New Focus: Bigger Bricks, More Clicks (WSJ)
The Fashion retailer signaled it will speed up closures of smaller stores to open bigger ones. Analysts say Inditex’s new strategy leaves plenty of space for the online platform to expand without cannibalizing the brick-and-mortar shops. By closing smaller stores and focusing on flagship stores, customers who aren’t close to these stores could be prodded into shopping online.
Blockchain: A Better Way to Track Pork Chops, Bonds, Bad Peanut Butter? (NYT)
The blockchain — the buzzy, bewildering technology behind cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin — is starting to be applied to real-world problems like tracking pork chops, shipping containers and footwear with a speed and security not currently possible. The IBM-Walmart partnership is one of the biggest practical tests to date.
Hasbro to Make Play-Doh in the U.S. (WSJ)
Play-Doh will soon be squeezed out of a factory in the U.S. again, as Hasbro Inc. brings manufacturing back to the U.S. for the first time in years. Although the preschool clay was invented in Cincinnati in the 1950s, it hasn’t been made in the U.S. since 2004. “We’re not replacing volume, we’re adding volume,” Hasbro Chief Executive Brian Goldner said in an interview this week. “While some costs may be higher for Play-Doh made in the U.S. than overseas, the difference will likely be evened out by a lower shipping rate.”