The Friday Five: Government shutdown, trucker shortages, and tech take center stage

FedEx, UPS, USPS all above 97% on-time deliveries in peak season [Supply Chain Dive]

The 2018 holiday season was especially strong for parcel carriers and reverse logistics teams. To the delight of consumers everywhere, USPS, UPS, and FedEx all improved their on-time delivery rates this year. USPS finished with an impressive on-time parcel delivery rate of 98.8 percent, followed closely by UPS (98.3%) and FedEx (97.6%). In this Supply Chain Dive article, Emma Cosgrove discusses how these carriers boosted their capacity and efficiency ahead of the busy peak season.
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Federal Government shutdown has the potential to chip away at supply chain visibility [Logistics Management]

The supply chain is feeling the effects of the Federal Government shutdown. Effective supply chain planning and forecasting rely on visibility, collaboration, and data. Unfortunately, the shutdown is starting to cause information-sharing delays for key data – including advance inventories, agriculture prices, advance goods deficit, construction spending, factory orders and more. Logistics Management shares what this means for the industry should the shutdown continue long-term.
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Indicators: Driver turnover rates slipped in third quarter [Commercial Carrier Journal]

The trucking industry is facing problems with talent shortages. Today, the market is short about 63,000 drivers and faces a turnover rate of more than 80 percent. To close the gap, issues around pay, working conditions, and workforce diversity need to be addressed, along with the trucking sectors approach to managing loads and fleets for deliveries. Commercial Carrier Journal explains further.
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Artificial intelligence advances supply chain [CIO Applications]

Organizations are increasingly introducing AI in their supply chain operations to enable predictive maintenance, shipping, warehouse management, and delivery. The “smarter” supply chains are, the more they can do for the business, and the integration of AI and other advanced technologies form the foundation for this level of intelligence. Check out this CIO Applications article to learn more.
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Supply chain cybersecurity set to evolve in 2019 [Logistics Management]

The value chain holds an immense amount of proprietary business data – information that no organization wants exped. As supply chains digitize and become more interconnected, cybersecurity needs to be prioritized. Learn how to prepare for potential data breaches that could compromise sensitive supply chain information this year. Logistics Management shares more.

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Want more Friday Five blogs from Slync? We’ll share new insights every Friday, stay tuned!