IAMC News Briefs—Week of March 20, 2023
By John Salustri
TRANSPORT DIVE—Werner Enterprises won’t hit an economic speedbump. Despite an uncertain US fiscal picture, the firm “carefully designed and prepared our business to outperform in a slowing economy,” says CEO, chair and president Derek Leathers. In this case, that means embracing more retail and consumer products, a market that has grown from 49% of its top 50 customers more than five years ago to its 2022 rate of 60%. With consumers placing more emphasis on value-conscious spending, Werner will transport more consumer nondurable products, which have proven to be more stable in a down market.
https://www.transportdive.com/news/werner-top-50-customers-retail-consumer-products/645007/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Issue:%202023-03-17%20Transport%20Dive%20%5Bissue:48874%5D&utm_term=Transport%20Dive
SUPPLY CHAIN DIVE—A profit of $150 million. That’s what dynamic pricing produced for FedEx during the peak season of home deliveries. Amidst changing shipper peaking factors, FedEx’s Dataworks unit helped better align billing and need, by tracking how many more packages a customer shipped. “We’re releasing a capability to have a far more granular peak surcharge to be able to manage customers really in an automated way if they are not hitting the requirements that they are giving us,” said chief customer officer Brie Carere.
https://www.supplychaindive.com/news/fedex-dynamic-pricing-peak-season-surcharges-earnings/645306/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Issue:%202023-03-17%20Supply%20Chain%20Dive%20%5Bissue:48873%5D&utm_term=Supply%20Chain%20Dive
COMMERCIAL PROPERTY EXECUTIVE—A $300-million plant for the recycling of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles is about to break ground in Columbia, SC. Cirba Solutions has planning a 400,000-square-foot plant in Pineview Industrial Park, and intends to break ground later this year. Downstream, Cirba will continue to invest in plant expansion, to the tune of $1 billion, an obvious nod to the expected growth of the EV market. It is the firm’s fourth plant in the so-called Battery Belt, which stretches from Michigan to Georgia and has seen more than 15 new gigafactories
https://www.commercialsearch.com/news/ev-battery-recycler-to-build-1b-south-carolina-facility/
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MANUFCTURERS--Sens. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and Todd Young (R-IN) have introduced a Senate bill that would provide for full deductibility of research and development expenses in the year they’re made. The American Innovation and Jobs Act would change current provisions for amortizing R&D over a period of years. NAM calls the US “a global outlier, joining Belgium as the only other developed country requiring the amortization of R&D expenses.” Meanwhile, China has a 200% “super deduction” for R&D, “20 times the amount allowed in the US tax code.”
https://www.nam.org/senators-reintroduce-crucial-rd-bill-21404/?stream=series-news
JLL—A recent study launched jointly by JLL and Reuters indicates that Ukraine War and energy costs are the prime drivers of angst for European logistics firms. More than two-thirds of survey respondents pointed to those two issues while 54.5% cited inflation. Not surprisingly, other concerns include higher operational costs, inventory planning, warehousing needs and sustainability.
https://www.us.jll.com/en/trends-and-insights/investor/costs-and-disruption-top-of-mind-for-supply-chain-managers?utm_medium=email&utm_source=Eloqua&utm_campaign=Admin%20-%20The%20Source%20%28US%29%20-%20March%202023%20-%20Newsletter%20-%20Dynamic%20Content&utm_term=1772458&elqTrackId=396192df5af04965bbe8f3657724b1fb&elq=b4eab8fcca794646a29bd93dc003fb5b&elqaid=149688&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=271828&elqcst=272&elqcsid=2281