Procurement Bulletin

US Plans to Launch AI in Manufacturing Institute The U.S. government is launching a competition to create a new institute focused on using artificial intelligence (AI) to strengthen American manufacturing. This institute, overseen by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), will receive $70 million from the government over five years, with additional funding […]

Factories testing out flex-time Traditionally, factories wanting to be efficient and producing seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day found that workers need to start and end at the same time in order to maximize their efforts. Land O’Lakes, a cheese manufacturer based in Minnesota, is testing out flex-time schedules. Eliminating the traditional factory

Food Logistics Tests Autonomous Trucking Autonomous trucking startup, Kodiak Robotics, are testing a new delivery route to deliver refrigerated freight with their autonomous trucks for logistics company Martin Bower. Martin Bower’s big clients include McDonald’s, Chick-fil-A, Ikea and Maersk. China’s BYD Could Disrupt the EV Market As the world builds up the demand for EV’s,

Relief Coming to Shipping Disruptions As the Houthi attacks in the Middle-East has caused massive disruptions for shipping from Asia and the surrounding region as well as skyrocketing shipping costs, relief is in sight. New shipping containers that were ordered 2-3 years ago are ready to come online and help relieve the disruptions caused by

What’s happening to Cocoa? Cocoa, the key ingredient in chocolate, has seen prices surge to an all-time high not seen since 1977. Why? Weather & climate events such as massive rains, droughts and pests & disease have affected cocoa crops from West African nations, where 70% of the world’s cocoa beans come from. (BTW, if

GM Eyes More EV Investment in Quebec We’ve been covering extensively how Canada has been actively attracting investment in the surging EV production industry. GM is the latest automaker to invest $600M to build a battery factory in the province of Quebec and says it’s only the “tip of the iceberg”. Lessons from the Pandemic

If you’re a chipmaker, we want you The competition for chipmaker investment is heating up. As AI is on everyone’s radar, the race to capture as much semiconductor chips is heating up. We’ve written about how Canada has offered subsidies for chipmakers to setup shop in Canada, now, the US doesn’t want to lag behind,

Shipping via an Arctic Route Near You As shipping costs start to rise again due to climate effects at the Panama Canal and Houthi Rebel attacks in the Middle-East, interest in shipping routes via the Arctic is gaining renewed interest. Shipping via Arctic routes could save up to 40% in distance travelled compared to shipping

Canada’s Largest Sugar Refinery Coming Soon Currently, Canada’s sugar fix is supplied by a duopoly: Redpath and Rogers who have three main production facilities out of Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. However, a “new” player is coming onto the scene, Flordia-based sugar producer, Sucro is looking to invest $135 million to build a new refinery in

Houthi Attacks Affecting Global Trade The Iranian-backed Houthi Rebels continue to attack cargo ships passing through the Red Sea, causing shippers to re-route their transport routes resulting in increased costs. This critical shipping route accounts for 40% of Asia-Europe trade. Is Nuclear Energy the Best Energy Source? A Deep Dive As the world transitions to

Canada Continues Attracting Battery Producers Canada continues to attract investment in the battery supply chain. The latest is a Japanese company considering in investing $1.6 billion in building battery facility in Manitoba. Manufacturing in Canada Slows Down Manufacturing accounts for 10% of Canada’s GDP, but it saw a slowdown in manufacturing last month due to

Attacks on Middle-East Cargo Routes Causing Supply Problems Using the conflict between Israel and Hamas, Houthi rebels, an Iranian-backed insurgent group, have ramped up attacks on Israeli cargo ships travelling through the Red Sea. However, the rebels have started indiscriminately targeting ships from countries such as Hong Kong, Norway and Liberia. US Coal Towns Get

Raw Materials Trade Tifts Hit EV Production Again As the world slowly migrates to electrifying vehicles, the fight for the raw materials for producing EV vehicles continues: China, the leading graphite producer, implemented new restrictions on the export of graphite. China’s graphite exports account for a third of the U.S. graphite supply and no doubt

AI Used in EV Battery Tech Research Last week, we wrote about Swedish battery startup, Northvolt, that has reportedly developed an EV battery made of sodium-ion that doesn’t involve in-demand and expensive materials that current batteries require (e.g. lithium-ion batteries). Further to this, the startup is using AI to help in their research and development

Swedish Breakthrough in EV Battery Production Swedish battery startup, Northvolt, has reportedly developed an EV battery made of sodium-ion that doesn’t involve in-demand and expensive materials that current batteries require (e.g. lithium-ion batteries). This breakthrough could solve the constraints posed by current battery production requirements and cut the costs of production as well. Is Stellantis

This manufacturer tested a 4-day work week, this is what happened… Advanced RV, is a custom-build luxury motorhome manufacturer and one of the 200 global companies trialling a 4-day work week while keeping pay at the same level. The result? After initially seeing some drop-off in production, the company saw stabilized production and was able

Toyota Increases Wages for US Factory Workers After the recent UAW labor deal has probably led to Toyota increasing wages for its American non-union workers. TikTok Moving Into Logistics As TikTok looks to increase it’s social e-commerce usage, the social media platform is offering outsourced logistics to bolster it’s e-commerce functionality.

Shipping Decline Leads to Massive Job Cuts Danish shipping giant, Maersk, announced it will cut 10,000 jobs in the wake of a massive decline in shipping business (a 92% drop in profits!!!). The shipping giant moves cargo all around the world, so this slowdown in business for them is stark warning for the world economies.

Amazon Leading the Way in Robot Integration Amazon is leading the way with how they integrate robots into their logistics. The behemoth e-commerce company has implemented new AI-powered robots in their warehouses that reduce fulfillment time by up to 25 percent. Procurement Software Darling Secures New Funding Procurement software startup darling, Procurify, has secured CAD$68

Canada Builds New Container Terminal Transport Canada plans to invest $150M to build a new container terminal in Contrecoeur, Quebec. The new terminal will help increase container capacity for the Port of Montreal to meet growing demand. You Could Be Flying in an Airplane with Fake Parts… In the latest, “make you scratch your head”

This Robot Could Come to a Warehouse Near You Check out this German-made robot which is ideal in a warehouse environment. South Korean Robot-Maker Debuts with a Splash Speaking of robots, South Korean robot-maker, Doosan Robotics, debuted on the market jumping up 127%. Doosan’s collaborative-robots are designed to work alongside humans. The robots can perform

Truck Stops Going Electric As many trucking companies begin migrating to electric fleets, truck stops are starting to upgrade their infrastructure for the increasing demand for charging electric trucks. US Steelmaker Going Nuclear Green (aka clean) energy has been the focus for many companies and countries, now Nucor, the largest steel company in the US,

How Home Depot is Meeting Green Goals ESG has gained a lot of attention over recent years and Home Depot is showing other companies how they made use of purchase orders to help meet their green goals by working with manufacturers to move to battery-operated machines. Apple’s Failure to Build Key Part of New iPhones

Amazon Launches Supply Chain Solution In its continued race to dominate e-commerce, Amazon announced a new automated supply chain service for sellers aptly named, Supply Chain by Amazon. The solution offers an end-to-end automated solution to help sellers bring product from manufacturing directly to their customers. (Is it me or did this sound like an

The World’s Largest Green Hydrogen Plant Planned There’s a new race going on, the AI race. South Korea’s SK’s renewable energy division is planning to build a US$15 billion green hydrogen plant in Canada’s Newfoundland and Labrador. The plant will use wind energy to produce clean energy. Upon completion, the plant would be the world’s

Chip Makers Face New Restrictions There’s a new race going on, the AI race. With restrictions imposed on chip makers such as Nvidia and AMD from selling to China and Russia, the Biden-administration has imposed new restrictions laid out for “certain” parts of the Middle-East. Qualcomm Wants More Automaker AI Share As most of the

Chipmaker, Arm files for IPO Arm, the British chipmaker owned by Japan’s Softbank, saw Nvidia hit $13.5 billion in revenue in the most recent quarterly earnings report and though, “Hey, I want some of that too!”. As the British chipmaker pivots to an AI-led strategy, they have filed for an IPO in New York instead

Container Rates from China Start Rising Again As shipping rates started coming down and the chaos for supply chains started improving, it looks like container rates from China to the U.S. are starting to creep up again. Sugar Distributor Expands Products Vancouver-based sugar distributor, Rogers Sugar, is looking to expand its Montreal production facility to

UPS Drivers Earn How Much??? In this week’s “make you say WOW” moment, UPS’ CEO shared that their drivers will average $170K in salary and benefits with the new deal structure. Where does one apply to become a UPS driver? Asking for a friend… Panama Canal Backed Up As if a global pandemic over the

UPS Avoids Strike UPS workers avoided a strike by agreeing to a five year deal that includes more pay. Shippers are feeling somewhat relieved to avoid another kick in the gut to supply chains. Europe Wants the Chips Now that AI is dominating everything we hear about these days, everyone is in a race to

BC Port workers on and off strike The BC port workers strike which had dragged on for over a week, was initially halted, then it was on again, but now it seems it’s supposed to be off again…the Labour Minister of Canada had to step in and declare their on again strike illegal due to

Renewable Energy Will Generate a Third of World’s Electricity by 2030 As the OG companies of O&G (oil & gas) clamber to get into renewable energy, a new report by non-profit Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) finds that one third of the world’s electricity will be powered by wind and solar by 2030 (that’s very soon

Port Workers Strike Costing $3.7b Already in its fifth day of workers strikes, 7,000 port workers at 30 ports within the province of British Columbia (B.C.) continue to strike for higher wages. The work action is potentially costing $3.7b and disrupting an already fragile supply chain that’s seen a fair share of disruptions over recent

Chinese Factories See 3rd Month of Contraction Production at Chinese factories contracted for a third month in a row but at a slower rate. Maybe they need to look at exporting chiles, I hear those are in demand… US Wants ALL the Chips As the US continues to hoard chip production, they’re contemplating more restrictions

Canada Looks at Life Without Oil A big part of the Canadian economy is driven by the Oil & Gas industry. But as the world heads towards reducing dependence on oil, Canada is forecasting what their economy would look like with a huge drop in demand for oil. Nike Looks to Rebuild Wholesale Partnerships After

Intel Invests in Poland As chipmakers diversify their reliance on production in Asia, Intel is building a US$4.6 billion facility in Warsaw, Poland. This facility will become Intel’s third facility in Europe. Western Canadian Ports At Risk of Strikes At two of the busiest ports in Western Canada, Port of Vancouver and Prince Rupert, workers

The Battle for the $2.9 Trillion EV Market Yes, that’s right, the EV market (electric vehicles) is valued at $2.9 trillion with big fat “T”. And that’s why countries, like Canada, are trying to lure EV makers to setup shop in their country. How Sam’s Club is Using AI and Robots in Their Warehouses The

Small to Mid-Sized Chinese Factories Show Growth While there’s been lots of coverage about how manufacturers are trying to diversify their reliance on Chinese manufacturing, the outflow of customers from the larger Chinese factories doesn’t seem to be the same as the small to mid-sized factories who are experiencing growth. Where’s the Beef? If you

Finland Abundant with Clean Energy With the war in Ukraine affecting energy prices in Europe in recent times and many countries in Europe worried about an energy crisis and whether they could pay for heating and cooling, Finland has had a completely different experience: an abundance of clean energy. In fact, Finland had such an

Post-Brexit Woes for UK Car Makers A post-Brexit requirement by the EU requires 40% of electric vehicle parts to be sourced from the UK or EU, specifically for vehicle to be sold within the EU. Otherwise, those sales are hit with a 10% tariff. However, currently auto manufacturers are still importing the majority of batteries

Poor Factory Work Conditions Being Investigated…in the US We’re used to seeing news headlines about poor working conditions in factories in overseas countries, but this time, the investigations into poor factory conditions are for US-based factories. As George Takei would say: “Oh Myyyyyyy.” Canada and India Look to Close a Free Trade Agreement Bilateral trade

Oil Prices Dropped for 3 Consecutive Weeks Despite the tight supply of oil, oil prices still managed to drop for three consecutive weeks. Shopify Sells Logistics Unit Former e-commerce darling, Shopify, is unloading its logistics unit to supply chain company Flexport. As Shopify is also amidst a round of layoffs for the beleaguered e-commerce SaaS.

Why Retailers Need Better Inventory Management Many of the retailers in my city are constantly out of stock on items, which results in me ignoring their “sales” since they never actually have anything in stock. In 2021, 7.4% of retail sales were “lost” due to items not being in stock. That’s why inventory management is

Sriracha Shortage Incoming Last year saw Huy Fong Foods, maker of the beloved spicy sauce Sriracha, issue a warning about supply shortage due to supply shortages of Mexican chiles. It looks like those issues are overflowing into this year as well due to bad weather conditions affecting crop yields. Investments in US Manufacturing Surges As

Intel Foundry Partners with ARM to Make Next-Gen Mobile Chips Intel’s Intel Foundry Services unit, has partnered with British chip maker, ARM Ltd, to manufacture next-generation mobile chips. As chip demand surges around the world, we may see more and more chip rivals collaborating with each other (which is great to see). Canada Wants in

Fedex Streamlines Operations Fedex to combine their Ground and Express divisions in an effort to streamline operations for more efficiency. Robot Orders Trending Up The automotive industry is leading the way with using and ordering more robots, accounting for more than 50% of robot sales in 2022. Oil Prices Increase OPEC decided to cut oil

Alibaba’s Logistics Arm Goes Public Cainiao Network Technology, Alibaba’s logistics arm, is getting ready to go public in Hong Kong. Retail Supply Chains Has AI-Written All Over It Apparently AI can do more than just write articles, take tests and create fake images of religious leaders. Any step you look at in retail supply chains,

The Shift to EV’s Leaving Some Manufacturing Towns Behind While some automakers are looking to convert their vehicle manufacturing to producing electric vehicles, some factories just aren’t setup to make the transition resulting in closures and massive layoffs. The plant closures result in a domino-effect for that town and the vendors who service the plant

A different chip shortage The computer chip shortage for everything from vehicles, computers and smartphones in recent years has been covered extensively, but did you hear about the chip shortage for payment cards? Yep, credit card issuers are also facing a shortage of chips that are integrated into physical credit cards – especially as no

Wind-Powered Cargo Ships Coming to a Supply Chain Near You All the hoopla and attention has been focused on going electric. But the other environmentally-friendly power source, wind, could be something you see in the near future. Namely, wind-powered cargo ships! Rate Hikes Hurting Manufacturing As the US Federal Reserve continues to hike interest rates,