Over the past week and a half, the 2024 Paris Olympics have been underway, showcasing exemplary talent, strength, and dedication from athletes across the globe. The Paris Olympics boasts a spectator capacity of over 300,000, with the city expected to welcome an astounding 15 million visitors, including 2 million international visitors, all drawn to the world’s largest sporting event. For the athletes to beat all odds over 329 events across 32 sports, the organizers had to navigate a significantly challenging global supply chain to successfully host this year’s games. The influx of people and goods into France for the Olympics has placed significant pressure on ports, airports, and roads, leading to delays and disruptions in the movement of goods. This is why the planning process for the Olympics is a multi-year endeavor. Proactive planning and coordination with suppliers, carriers, and other stakeholders are essential for identifying potential bottlenecks and developing contingency plans. Leveraging advanced technologies like AI, machine learning, and real-time tracking can enhance visibility, optimize routes, and improve overall supply chain efficiency. Reducing reliance on single suppliers and diversifying supply sources can mitigate the impact of disruptions in specific regions or industries.
Now let’s get to some Logistics and Supply Chain News:
“The acquisition of MercuryGate will establish a critical pillar of Körber’s ambition to create a unified supply chain execution suite that can offer real-time optimization and collaboration across the supply chain. Customers will benefit from integrated processes across functions, faster and more accurate decision-making, and the ability to mitigate risks and disruptions more effectively. By extending its portfolio of solutions across all supply chain execution operations, Körber Supply Chain Software will become a leader in managing the movement of goods from procurement to receipt and fulfillment to the end consumer, reducing planning silos, accelerating resolution of issues, and improving customer and business outcomes. Korber and KKR announce the strategic acquisition of MercuryGate to strengthen their supply chain software business.”
US Solar manufacturer “Sun Power”, once a solar icon valued at billions, files for bankruptcy
As the United States pours money into domestic renewable energy manufacturing through the Inflation Reduction Act and demand for solar power is higher than ever, SunPower a domestic solar manufacturer has filed for bankruptcy. Sunpower was once one of the larger domestic solar manufacturers and remained resilient during the cleantech bust of the early 2010s has finally met its match. SunPower has lived many lives over the decades. The firm has been a vertically integrated solar module manufacturer with high-performance (and higher-cost) crystalline-silicon solar cell technology, a supplier to a downstream dealer network for residential and commercial rooftops, and a project developer of utility-scale solar power plants. What lies ahead for Sunpower remains cloudy and remains unclear. There is a chance that Rdogers, alongside Doerr, will be able to breathe new life into the firm’s assets via Complete Solaria.
Supply Chain Startup Altana Raises $200m in Series C Investment
The New York-based startup supply chain management platform gives customers deep insights and visibility into managing their global value chains- from sourcing raw materials to production to sale. Altana utilizes AI capabilities to analyze data points through the supply chain to spot irregularities and risks. The company was founded in 2018 and has raised $322 million, in the previous series funding round it raised $100 million.
Blue Yonder Acquires One Network Enterprises to Unlock an Agile, Interconnected Supply Chain Ecosystem
Blue Yonder, a major player in the digital supply chain space has announced the closing of its acquisition of One Network Enterprises (One Network) at the evaluation of approximately $839 million. With the addition of One Network’s commercial technology, Blue Yonder can now offer customers a multi-enterprise, multi-tier network ecosystem; artificial intelligence (AI)-powered supply chain assistants to identify, monitor, analyze, and resolve problems; and a simplified process to onboard and work with trading partners.
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