Today's Top Supply Chain and Logistics News From WSJ
November 29 2016 - 07:10AM
Dow Jones News
By Brian Baskin
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Amazon.com Inc. is hoping workers in its warehouses are fast
learners. The online retail giant is constantly hiring at its
rapidly expanding network of distribution centers. That process
kicks into overdrive around the holiday rush, when the retailer
looks to add 120,000 temporary employees. The company says it can
get some new employees up to speed in just two days using
technology such as touch screens and robots, compared with six
weeks at a typical warehouse job, the WSJ's Laura Stevens writes.
That potentially gives Amazon an edge as it competes with Wal-Mart
Stores Inc. and others for the same limited pool of labor. Amazon's
focus on training illustrates the uphill climb retailers face to
limit the cost of fulfilling an ever-growing number of online
orders. Squeezing out further gains will only grow harder as
warehouses become increasingly efficient.
Apple Inc. hasn't said publicly whether its next iPhone will
feature a curved screen, but the company's suppliers are gearing up
to make the displays. The screens, already featured in Samsung
phones, require thinner organic light emitting displays, or OLEDs,
that are more expensive to produce. Assuming Apple moves ahead with
the technology, long-term supply contracts could generate billions
of dollars for display makers that are struggling with stagnating
smartphone sales, the WSJ's Takashi Mochizuki and Eun-Young Jeong
report. Apple may need to rely on rival Samsung for OLEDs at first,
as the Korean company is the only supplier with enough capacity.
Others, including LG Display, Japan Display and Sharp, would need
to spend billions of dollars to perfect their manufacturing process
and scale up to build panels for millions of iPhones.
Gap Inc. is trusting its future to supply-chain managers rather
than fashion designers. The struggling clothing company has placed
operations experts in key roles, often overseeing duties that were
the domain of creative directors, the WSJ's Khadeeja Safdar
reports. Chief Executive Art Peck, who took the helm in February
2015, has decentralized Gap's supply chain, including allowing
outsider suppliers to produce merchandise without approval from the
retailer's in-house designers. Gap had to try something: the
company's sales have slumped as young consumers flock to cheaper
apparel sold by fast-fashion competitors like Uniqlo and Hennes
& Mauritz AB's H&M. Mr. Peck's initiatives aim to
streamline and speed up the journey from garment factory to stores,
and to position a company that operates 3,700 stores for a fashion
world that increasingly conducts business online. Whether his moves
will be enough to reverse years of declining sales remains to be
seen.
ENERGY
The global oil supply chain is preparing for peak fuel demand.
Royal Dutch Shell PLC sees oil consumption flattening sometime in
the next 15 years, after over a century of often rapid growth.
Others say the peak may be 40 years away - but that's not far off
for an industry that plans in terms of decades rather than
quarters, writes the WSJ's Sarah Kent and Brian Spegele. Behemoths
like state-owned Saudi Aramco are investing in petrochemical
production, betting that plastics demand will continue to rise even
as emissions regulations and slower economic growth cap fuel
consumption. Total SA aims for low-emission businesses to make up
20% of its portfolio in the next 20 years. Even gradual adjustments
by companies as big as Aramco or Exxon Mobil Corp. will have
enormous implications for businesses worldwide, potentially
shifting billions of dollars away from fuel refining, pipelines and
shipping and toward renewable energy and petrochemicals. The
rewards for staying ahead of changing energy trends are huge, but
so is the risk of moving too early, or betting on the wrong
technologies.
QUOTABLE
IN OTHER NEWS
Maersk Line is interested in acquiring Hamburg Süd, the world's
seventh-largest container shipping line, people familiar with the
matter say. (WSJ)
Importers and exporters in Texas worry Donald Trump's
administration could throw up barriers to trade in North America.
(WSJ)
The first commercial flight between the U.S. and Cuba landed in
Havana. (WSJ)
Deutsche Lufthansa AG said it would cancel over 1,700 flights as
a pilots strike looked set to enter its second week. (WSJ)
The World Trade Organization ruled that a tax benefit granted to
Boeing Co. violated international trade rules. (WSJ)
Transportation manager Transplace acquired Lakeside Logistics
Inc. (DC Velocity)
The European Commission approved Hapag-Lloyd AG's acquisition of
United Arab Shipping Co. (American Shipper)
Yoox Net-A-Porter Group is partnering with a Dubai-based
investment group to launch an online luxury retail business in the
Middle East. (Reuters)
Amazon-branded trailers will soon hit the road in the U.K.
(Logistics Manager)
Freight forwarders face a growing threat from online
competitors, a new white paper from Drewry says. (Lloyd's Loading
List)
The town of Ontario, Calif. sued local land owners and logistics
companies to remove hundreds of abandoned Hanjin shipping
containers. (Transport Topics)
ABOUT US
Brian Baskin is editor of WSJ Logistics Report. Follow him at
@brianjbaskin, and follow the entire WSJ Logistics Report team:
@PaulPage, @lorettachao and @EEPhillips_WSJ, and follow the WSJ
Logistics Report on Twitter at @WSJLogistics.
Subscribe to this email newsletter by clicking here:
http://on.wsj.com/Logisticsnewsletter .
Write to Brian Baskin at brian.baskin@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 29, 2016 06:55 ET (11:55 GMT)
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