The Minneapolis, Minnesota-based chain said Monday that Jeff Burt will assume the title of senior vice president, grocery, fresh food and beverage on April 10. But her go-to source has become the online subscription service Stitch Fix, which lets her try on clothes at home and decide what to keep. Friday in 5 – interesting news bits from around the supply chain horn, served up in one spot to keep you up to date. MORE

I split this off from global sourcing because we had plenty of buyers but not enough planning and logistics so service and documentation was failing. GMS is a team of nine people based in Rotterdam, Shanghai and Minneapolis. Their mission is to work with our many global buyers, collectively known as Risk Management and Sourcing (RMS), to streamline the buying, planning and logistics. Nine questions about the topics on the supply chain agenda of a supply chain professional. MORE

The nationwide trends of locally sourced fresh produce or alternate sourcing may be part of the explanation for lower reefer volumes. Green Bay to Minneapolis fell 28¢ to $2.25/mile. At first glance, it looks like the van spot market took a step back last week. Rates fell in most of the top 100 van lanes, but the big drops were all in lanes where rates rose in the prior week due to snow that closed mountain passes on those routes. MORE

Target invests in Minneapolis start-up that helps retailers monitor supply chains (Star Tribune). Source: Amazon patent filing. “They have a lofty purpose and ambition about bringing transparency to the supply chain and sourcing world,” said Casey Carl, Target’s chief strategy and innovation officer. My daughter turns 9 this weekend and earlier this week I visited her third grade class to see what she and her classmates have been working on this year. MORE

Starbucks redesigned their cups for the Grande product, and the flimsy cups were a source of constant spills and burns. With a headquarters in Minneapolis, MN, the supply chain supports 600 stores in 50 states. MORE

Lingerie maker Victoria’s Secret looks to uncover supply chain issues (Reuters) and Target invests in Minneapolis start-up that helps retailers monitor supply chains (StarTribune). As reported by Reuters, “Lingerie giant Victoria’s Secret…has pledged to trace the sources of its wood-based fabrics, joining the ranks of fashion companies addressing human rights and deforestation, its parent company said.” MORE

So it's no big surprise that the Minneapolis market area was also the land of a thousand loads (per day) in the first half of November, as fresh turkeys got stuffed into temp-controlled trailers during the run-up to Thanksgiving. There were also hundreds of trucks available, so the load-to-truck ratio out of Minneapolis didn't go above 5-to-1 last week, when the national average for reefers rose from 7.0 When you sit down to Thanksgiving dinner in the Midwestern U.S., MORE

Juli Lassow @SolutionsJhl Juli Lassow is the founder and principal of JHL Solutions in Minneapolis, a business solutions/management firm which advises her retail clients how to increase their productivity, growth and profits. As the number of products, customers, sources and channels has proliferated, the education, methodologies and decision support tools have not kept up. Supply chain management is a multi-faceted process with many stakeholders and even more moving parts. MORE

The Minneapolis, Minnesota-based chain said Monday that Jeff Burt will assume the title of senior vice president, grocery, fresh food and beverage on April 10. But her go-to source has become the online subscription service Stitch Fix, which lets her try on clothes at home and decide what to keep. Friday in 5 – interesting news bits from around the supply chain horn, served up in one spot to keep you up to date. MORE

The Olin Business School staff adds, “Businesses in every industry are unearthing profit-generating insights unknowable just a decade ago, with customer data collected from scanners, cash registers, online product reviews, wearable devices and other sources.” Machine learning quickly evolving to solve business problems ,” Minneapolis/St. Machine learning (ML) is one of the basic technologies found in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). MORE

The Southeast, especially Atlanta , is also the main source of relief supplies — including plywood, ice, and bottled water — headed for Florida in advance of Hurricane Irma. In the other direction, Chicago to Minneapolis jumped up 33¢ to $2.60 Van rates rose all across the country last week, following Hurricane Harvey. The national average van rate jumped up 12¢ to $1.90 MORE

Columbus Day, a day set aside to celebrate the discovery of the New World by Europeans, has become a source of controversy. The site notes, “There are three main sources of controversy involving his interactions with the indigenous people he labeled ‘Indians’: the use of violence and slavery, the forced conversion of native peoples to Christianity, and the introduction of a host of new diseases that would have dramatic long-term effects on native people in the Americas.” MORE

The nationwide trends of locally sourced fresh produce or alternate sourcing may be part of the explanation for lower reefer volumes. Green Bay to Minneapolis fell 28¢ to $2.25/mile. At first glance, it looks like the van spot market took a step back last week. Most lanes in the top 100 van lanes fell, but the big drops were all in the lanes that rose the prior week due to closed mountain passes. The core lanes from top markets remained constant. MORE