Drones Weren't Fast Enough, Are Delivery Vehicles Moving Underground?

Adam Seeton

Many big companies were looking to drones when it comes to delivering the packages to their customers. Although this sounds like a near impossible process, it was a good idea. The only probably was that the drones would take a long time to deliver your package to your front door. Researchers at the MIT Institute for Data, Systems and Society along with other logistics groups released a prototype for a three-wheeled automobile that will deliver goods underground. With drones, a lot of things could go wrong. Pedestrians or weather would be able to take down these drones. Using a radar system, GPS and 3-D lazar scanners would make this automobile work without distraction and obstacles. Even though this too sounds like a long shot, research is being done and test are being run to see if this type of idea would be possible. It is definitely an idea everyone should be aware of. Instead of delivering your goods to your door, they would go to a local post office, package lockers or a place where you could pick up. If this idea takes full swing, this would eliminate the cars and trucks on the road, reducing delivery traffic. We may be seeing this idea come into play in the future.

Loten, Angus. "Are Self-Driving Delivery Vehicles Headed Underground?" The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, 23 Mar. 2016. Web. 16 Apr. 2017.

Michigan State: King of Supply Chain Talent

Adam Seeton

Michigan State is back on top of the rankings when it comes to Supply Chain. With the new rankings coming out, Michigan State sits alone at the top and followed up by a Big Ten rival, Penn State. Michigan State has been specializing in the Supply Chain Major for a long time. Employers are consistently coming back to recruit Michigan State graduates. Students that go through the MSU Supply Chain program are almost always work-ready students. Employers were given a survey to pick their top three universities in supply chain to recruit from. The university got three points for every #1 school, two points for every #2 school and one point for every #3 school. After 2,000 professionals around the world took the survey, Michigan State finished on the top with 1,149 points. The next closest university had 736 points, Penn State, who had almost nearly half the points. MSU has been dominate in this business field, and it is showing from the many employers who continue to come back.

O'Marah, Kevin. "Michigan State is King of Supply Chain Talent." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 16 Feb. 2016. Web. 12 Apr. 2017.

Prompt #7: Contemplating Controversy

Jordan Thimm

A big controversial topic in the field of supply chain  management is the ethical behavioral actions and the social responsibilities of people and companies in the field. Members of this job field often are stuck between doing what's right, and doing what will benefit them the most. Ironically, this is something people contemplate on a regular basis with everyday things. People are stuck between choosing to do things to benefit others and maybe a company as a whole, or choosing to help themselves. It may seem like an obvious answer, "well of course I would help my company and fellow workers", but it is often not that simple. Especially if the decision to help others is not the most financially beneficial decision. In the supply chain industry, the number one reason for most unethical behavior is cutting cost. This reasoning holds value in many scenarios of our world today, and that is why the quote "money is the root of all evil", in most cases, is pretty accurate.

The combination of wanting to keep costs low, as well as the huge amount of competition faced by companies and the easy availability of counterfeit or false products are all factor that contribute to the unethical behaviors used in business practices. So when it comes down to it, the management of the company is what decides how the company will act in regards to unethical practice and behavior. So how does a good business successfully stay away from these and instead run their business both ethically and profitably?

A good management will be proactive and plan ahead to ensure they are profiting as well as following in ethical business practice. Some ways that successful management might do this is by product innovation, cheaper but suitable replacements for materials, and effective supplier shortlisting. These are just a few ways good management can run their business to ensure they are acting in ethical ways. Not only is working ethically morally good, it is just good business. More companies will want to do business with a morally sound business rather than one which does not always act ethically. There are always reasons behind people's actions, but their reasoning is not always right. Now that you kind of know both sides of ethical and unethical business practice, it's up to you to choose a side. It may seem like an easy answer, but you can't really know until you're in the situation where you have to decide whether to act morally and perhaps give something up, or act immorally and gain from it. Think about it.


http://www.mypurchasingcenter.com/purchasing/industry-articles/ethics-issues-prevail-supply-chain-management/

Supply Chain Bringing U.S. Companies Back

Justin Braford


U.S. companies are looking to move their operations closer to the markets they serve. There has been a large amount of companies moving production out of the U.S. With supply chain becoming more critical to businesses, it makes sense to bring their operations closer to the people who are buying from them.
Flooding in Thailand has caused a huge problem for supply chain workers for certain companies. This made it extremely hard for them to transport their goods outside of Thailand, resulting in loss of money. This was a big wake up call for businesses "off-shoring" their work. There are specific hazards that come with the location of manufacturing. Ford, Caterpillar, and General Electric Co. are just a few examples of companies bringing back their manufacturing to the United States. Quality and costs of supply chain are the two biggest factors for bringing companies back to the U.S., according to Michael LoGuidoce, a managing director for CBIZ Valuation Group LLC., In Chicago. Geoff Taylor, a former risk management director for Nike, also believed these were the two single biggest factors.
Bringing production closer to home simplifies the entire supply chain process. There is no doubt this is helping bring jobs back to America. It is important to note that the supply chain industry is still fairly new and is still a work in process, so to speak. There will be many ways to become more cost-effective, and more consistent in the near future.


Zolkos, Rodd. "Quality control of supply chain drives firms to bring production closer." Business Insurance, 4 Aug. 2014, p. 0016. General OneFile, ezproxy.msu.edu/login?url=http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=ITOF&sw=w&u=msu_main&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA377652107&it=r&asid=f258287e2533e51f3d6aeeee5ef62f11. Accessed 3 Apr. 2017.

Prompt #6: Evaluating Sources

Adam Seeton
Evaluating Sources Prompt #6

In an article written by Lauren Xiaoyuan Lu and Jayashankar M. Swaminathan from the business college at the University of North Carolina, they make an argument about why behavioral actions are so important in a supply chain. They continuously bring up the issue of trust with in a supply chain. They say one of the keys to a successful supply chain is having a trustful relationship with your suppliers and distributors. With all of the competition between supply chains, it is important to have good communication between the suppliers and distributors so that you can build trust with them. I agree that the most important part of a business is communication and building that trust between your co-workers. As we know today, a lot of businesses are selfish and do what is best for themselves. It is just a part of being involved in the business world. Lauren and Jayashankar explain that researchers are now looking into these behavioral issues that may now appear in supply chain management.

Lu, Lauren X. and Swaminathan, Jayashankar M., Supply Chain Management (2015). International Encyclopedia of Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2nd edition, edited by James Wright. Elsevier, March 2015.