MỹDespite showing signs of recovery, the US supply chain still has many problems such as increased transportation costs, tight spending, lack of raw materials, etc.
The US supply chain is still in the process of recovering from the crisis caused by the pandemic. The previous supply chain disruption caused transportation costs to skyrocket. Consumers also tend to tighten their wallets and spend more carefully.
Freight rates by land, sea and other means of transport showed signs of decreasing after US users switched spending from high-value items such as furniture, BBQ grills, wide-screen TVs. … to tourism and other recreational activities.
The supply of essential items such as toilet paper, food, etc., after more than three years, is still in shortage of raw materials. In some areas, machine parts are still scarce.
Cement suddenly became a "rare commodity" when car manufacturers stepped up operations. The chain of infrastructure projects being urged to complete also affects the supply of construction materials more or less.
Two cargo trucks move on the Fisher Highway, Detroit, Michigan (USA), March 27, 3. Image: Rebecca Cook
Dean Croke, analyst at transport data provider DAT Freight and Analytics, said supply chains in the US are still going through a period of uncertainty. In the near future, to have solutions to the above problems, a series of experts from Walmart, Colgate-Palmolive, Toyota and some other companies, will have a strategic discussion at the conference organized by the company. Reuters held in Chicago (USA), May 24 and 25.
Business leaders before the conference also made many comments. Specifically, Joe Hinrichs - CEO of railway company CSX Corp. said that some US industries are going down, while others are still growing strongly.
“The road and rail supply chains are quite fragile and showing signs of weakening. While the auto retail, coal and construction materials sectors are growing strongly,” said Joe Hinrichs.
Alan Amling, a member of the University of Tennessee's Global Supply Chain Institute, revealed that after pouring capital into solutions to connect the supply chain of essential goods to meet demand during the pandemic, this industry business leaders strategy change. In order to preserve profits, they switched to tightening expenditures, minimizing unnecessary expenses.
Take Target, for example, which aims to cut shipping costs from the store by setting up local consolidation centers. After a successful application, the delivery truck will pick up inventory from local stores, pack it on site, and deliver it to the buyer. This way helps to reduce labor costs, shorten transportation distances and packaging materials.
Despite tightening their wallets, these businesses are still willing to invest in technology platforms. Automated operations, process monitoring, robot activity monitoring or artificial intelligence (AI) are still being used by them to improve efficiency.
Careful Y (Follow Reuters)
