Using Advanced Data to Make Manufacturing More Flexible – and More Sustainable
“We’re a data-driven company. If you go on our website, you will find that our factory is publishing a sustainability report every year. We are one of the few companies who have all the records of how much water we are using, how much carbon dioxide we are emitting, how much energy we are generating from solar, and so forth,” said Sheikh H M Mustafiz, managing director, Cute Dress Industry (Bangladesh).
The company recently joined the U.S. Cotton Trust Protocol, which also uses data to provide the supply chain with sustainable and transparent raw materials.
Unlike most manufacturers who pursue traditional big volume business, Cute Dress has chosen to focus on smaller orders of higher quality.
“I have a dream to make my factory a ‘smart factory’. We will continue to invest in more automation so that we can have better productivity and can reduce costs,” said Mr. Mustafiz.
New Model Drives Flexibility; Using Technology to Achieve Greater Sustainability
Economic uncertainty in key global economies could be a speed bump for consumer spending.
LOGISTICS
Restrictions around Ningbo have mostly been lifted, with logistics operations largely back to normal, though new outbreaks are being addressed in Shenzhen and Tianjin, according to Freightos.
The average monthly end-to-end transit time for China-US ocean shipments hit a record of 80 days in December, 50% longer than in December 2020, and 85% longer than in 2019, according to Freightos data.
Pre-Chinese New Year cargo rush pushes the ceiling for premium rates even higher, as some shippers with urgent cargo are willing to pay sky-high rates for sought-after space, per Flexport.
Air cargo rates remain stable, but very high, with travel bans reducing the available capacity.
K Line (Japan) has confirmed that a stack collapse last week has resulted in 30 containers lost overboard.
- As shippers try to cram more into limited cargo capacity, 2020 and 2021 have seen a rise in stack collapse, according to an Allianz report. The insurer points to increasingly larger vessels and misdeclared cargo weights as key contributors to the problem.
SUSTAINABILITY
Epic Group (Hong Kong) has received Hong Kong’s first sustainability-linked trade financing. Read More
PODCAST
The Life Changing Impact of Supporting Your Caregiver Employees
Businesses have come to respect the needs of employees who have babies or young children, special needs, mental health challenges or even financial issues.
But what about the caregiver employee? That person who has, often unexpectedly, been called upon to care for a loved one in need.
Part of maintaining a stable and robust workforce will come down to how companies address this growing group of employees.
In the podcast Debbie Howard, CEO of CarterJMRN talks about:
- The key challenges that caregivers face.
- Easy ways that companies can support caregiver employees by adapting programs that they might already have.
- The benefits to companies of offering caregiver support programs as part of their HR initiatives and compensation packages.
ENERGY
Indonesia, the world’s biggest thermal coal exporter, has banned coal exports due to acute shortages in its domestic market.
- A number of local utilities are said to be holding barely four days of coal stocks after heavy rain in parts of the nation’s key producing region curbed output.
The decision will block shipments to key consumers such as China, with analysts suggesting that there could be another round of price volatility.
MATERIALS
Cotton prices remain strong heading into 2022. Global demand is still strong while logistics issues are making it difficult (and expensive) to procure materials. However, analysts are increasingly warning that consumer demand is likely to weaken this year, which could send prices in the opposite direction.
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