This issue features several timely topics, including supply chain management and logistics, plastics, and metalworking and fabricating. In the COVID-19 era, the norms of supply chain logistics have been thrown out, and companies are discovering that the processes that once worked well to keep costs down are actually driving up the cost of doing business. In this issue, we feature several editorials that discuss the new challenges to supply chain, and how manufacturers, suppliers, warehouses and ports and depots are handling these new realities.
In 2020, the U.S. imported goods valued at $2.8 trillion from international trading partners and exported $2.1 trillion. These goods flowed through American sea and river ports, road or rail, depots, and airports. Ports are critical to the economic health of the country: they put goods on shelves, sustain employment and help businesses turn profits. more....