Logistics

The commercial van market in the US is expected to heat up as US manufacturers like Ford and GM are introducing models to compete with the popular Sprinter from Mercedes. The new models from Ford and GM have adopted many of the features of the Sprinter that were once ridiculed. The new Ford Transit is a larger version of the Transit Connect, and is replacing the traditional E-series. The new Ford has higher roof heights, as well as more aerodynamic styling, and improved fuel consumption.

GM is also introducing the Ducato, which is from Fiat, and it will also start selling a rebadged version of Nissan's small commercial van, the NV200. Mercedes will try to offset any of these new competitors with a new version of the Sprinter which is based on a four cylinder engine, rather than a six. This will improve fuel consumption by an estimated 18 percent.

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The way in which consumers can identify whether the food that they are purchasing is healthy or not, will be changing soon in the UK. Food manufacturers will be introducing a traffic light system that will clearly indicate to the consumer how much salt, fat, and sugar is contained in the item. Food campaigners and medical experts in the UK have been arguing that this type of labeling should have been introduced years ago.

The specific fat, sugar, and salt content has been clearly indicated on food items for many years, and it is unclear if the "traffic light" scheme will indeed change consumers habits. Currently not all manufacturers or retailers have signed up for the scheme and some, such as the Co-op, did use the scheme but now use a hybrid. The labeling may allow consumers to make more informed choices about what's going in their shopping cart, or they may continue to purchase what is best for their wallet.

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The Center for Business and Economic Research at Ball State University has issued its "2013 Manufacturing and Logistics Report Card" which grades the nation's states as to their standing on a number of aspects of the economy. For New York, the reading was not great. It received a failing grade in both its manufacturing sector and its overall tax climate. It scored a little higher, with a C grade, in Logistics, and slightly worse in Human Capital, with a C minus.

In Manufacturing, only two other continental US states shared the F grade; Nevada and New Mexico. At the other end of the scale, a number of states achieved an A grade in manufacturing including Iowa, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, and Wisconsin. Five states achieved an A grade in Logistics; Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas.

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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has launched a "local emphasis program" in Idaho aimed at reducing the number of forklift trucks injuries. OSHA is conducting random inspections at sawmills, food-processing and distribution facilities, warehouses, and garden centers. Idaho was selected as between 2006 and 2010, the OSHA office in Boise, ID conducted five fatality investigations where employees were crushed by or struck by forklifts. The office cited 142 violations of the Powered Industrial Truck standard during that same time frame; 93 of those violations were considered serious.

There were a number of common violations reported. These included -

• Not providing appropriate operator training.
• Failure to conduct regular inspections prior to operation.
• Defective equipment not taken out of service until repaired.
• Elevating workers in an unsafe manner.
• Failure to provide or ensure use of seat belts.

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Next month a new purchasing organization will be launched. The Sustainable Purchasing Council (SPC) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to support and recognize purchasing leadership that accelerates the transition to a prosperous and sustainable future. The council will help members to leverage their purchasing dollars to drive social, environmental, and economic sustainability.

There is a will be an informational webcast on July 23, which you can sign up for on the SPC's website. At that meeting, the SPC governance structure will be decided as well prioritizing the goals for the next two years. After the launch there will be a founding summit where four goals have been proposed.

• Build consensus around the mission and vision of the SPC
• Finalize the governance of the SPC
• Finalize the 2013-2014 Work Plan
• Formalize the Sustainable Purchasing Council's Principles

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With news of poor working conditions and low-page emanate from countries such as Bangladesh and Cambodia, the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) estimates that approximately 150 million children aged from 5 to 14 are involved in child labor. Most of us think of this occurring in developing nations, but child labor exploitation is found in the US. Recently in Iowa, State labor investigators identified 57 under-age workers who were employed at a kosher meatpacking plant in Postville. The factory employed minors in prohibited occupations, exposing them to hazardous chemicals, and making them work with prohibited tools like knives and saws.

The underage workers at the Iowa plant told investigators that they were forced to work long hours on night shifts, up to 17 hours a day, and were not paid all of their overtime. They said they were put to work on racing production lines using knives to cut meat and poultry with little or no safety training.

According to the International Labor Organization (ILO) there are 46 countries around the world do not prohibit children from before the age of 18, sixteen of these countries have no regulations to protect children aged 15 or younger from doing hazardous work. Even in countries with legislation, there are often exceptions to the law, and this means that there are in fact 83 countries that allow children under 18 to perform hazardous work.

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As the economy begins to improve and the construction industry looks to expand, some companies are looking to technology to improve efficiencies and cost, at the construction site. Two Alabama companies, Atlas RFID Solutions and Intergraph, have come together to get construction companies to use of RFID for tracking and locating materials on site.

As materials arrive at the jobs site they can be tracked either by barcodes, passive RFID, or active RFID. The material can be received, stored, located, picked, and issued on site, and at all times the project managers and crew members can view real-time information. This means that there is a reduction in material availability issues, reduce unnecessary costs, and improve the workflow of materials on site. As well as construction materials the system could also track safety equipment, tools, and machinery.

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In the latest Industry Week survey of manufacturers, larger firms were more optimistic than smaller businesses when looking at increased sales in 2013. Larger firms have sales expectations of 3.2 percent over the next 12 months, while smaller businesses expected sales to increase only 2.5 percent. Overall 72.3 percent of manufacturers said that they were positive about their company's outlook, which is up from 51.8 percent six months ago.

However there are some concerns for manufacturers. Uncertainty about healthcare was the most cited issue for businesses with 82.2 percent responding. Only 43.8 percent of manufacturers said that they were prepared to implement the Affordable Care Act (ACA) when it goes into effect later this year.

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After the Bangladesh factory collapse killing 1,127 workers, many US firms are refusing to sign a Fire and Safety Accord which will commit them to keeping workers safe from fires, building collapses or other accidents which could be prevented by reasonable health and safety measures. An independent labor rights monitoring organization, Worker Rights Consortium, have reported that a number of global retailers such as H&M, who are the single largest producer of apparel in Bangladesh, British retailers Tesco, Marks and Spencer, Dutch company C&A, Benetton, Primark, and PVH, which includes brands like Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein, have embraced the accord, but many high profile retailers have not.

Leading the list of firms not willing to sign the accord are Walmart, who say that they have their own program, as well as other well known high street retailers like Gap, Macy's, Sears, JCPenney, Target, Kohl's, Nordstrom, Carter's, Foot Locker, American Eagle, and the Children's Place. It is not only US retailers who are refusing to sign, but in many developed nations the same situation can be found. In Australia, Woolworths, had declined to sign the accord, while in Britain, major retails such as Next and Acardia, which includes the brands TopShop and BHS, had still not signed.

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With the recent Bangladesh factory collapse still making headlines, another country's textile manufacturing sector is under scrutiny. Cambodia has invested significantly in its textile industry to attract the big US retail companies and its foreign income. But as with Bangladesh, the growth of the sector has created hundreds of thousands of low paid workers and the appalling working conditions they must endure.

In May, around three thousand workers at a factory making clothes for Nike protested for $14 a month increase to their current $74 minimum wage. The majority of the workers were women, but that did not stop riot police from breaking up the protests with stun batons, causing the death of 23 workers. Nike commented on the incident saying "we continue to closely monitor the situation".

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