Top 10 Supply Chain Innovations of 2019

Dec. 3, 2019
MH&L’s annual salute to the most innovative advancements in supply chain technology, processes and labor management.

Just in time for the holidays, MH&L offers here the only year-in-review article guaranteed to be 100% impeachment-free. Instead of boiled-over politics, we’ve prepared a feast of supply chain innovations and initiatives with the sole aim of inspiring you, not inciting you.

In the pages that follow, you’ll discover what we believe to be the most innovative supply chain developments of the past year, as reported in our print magazine, on our website, in our e-newsletters, or our various social media channels. These impressive accomplishments point to the best our industry has to offer in terms of improving the lives of the people who make the global supply chain run. So cheers to 2019, and here’s to even more innovations in 2020!

Click the links below to compare this year's innovations to those from previous years:

Top 10 Supply Chain Innovations of 2018: do-it-yourself logistics, truck platoons, autonomous boats, warehouse robotics, and more.

Top 10 Supply Chain Innovations of 2017: exoskeletons, autonomous forklifts, flying warehouses, last-mile delivery, and more.

Top 10 Supply Chain Innovations of 2016: robot pickers, bridge-inspecting drones, autonomous freight shuttles, and more.

Top 10 Supply Chain Innovations of 2015: solar-powered vessel, robot dispatcher, 3-D printed flight parts, and more.

Top 10 Supply Chain Innovations of 2014: hybrid DCs, 3-D prototypes, location-based inventory system, and more.

Supply Chain Innovators of 2013: paperless food chain, VLMs, cold chain fleet management, and more.

About the Author

Dave Blanchard | Senior Director of Content

During his career Dave Blanchard has led the editorial management of many of Endeavor Business Media's best-known brands, including IndustryWeek, EHS Today, Material Handling & Logistics, Logistics Today, Supply Chain Technology News, and Business Finance. He also serves as senior content director of the annual Safety Leadership Conference. With over 30 years of B2B media experience, Dave literally wrote the book on supply chain management, Supply Chain Management Best Practices (John Wiley & Sons, 2021), which has been translated into several languages and is currently in its third edition. He is a frequent speaker and moderator at major trade shows and conferences, and has won numerous awards for writing and editing. He is a voting member of the jury of the Logistics Hall of Fame, and is a graduate of Northern Illinois University.

About the Author

David Sparkman | founding editor

David Sparkman is founding editor of ACWI Advance (www.acwi.org), the newsletter of the American Chain of Warehouses Inc. He also heads David Sparkman Consulting, a Washington D.C. area public relations and communications firm. Prior to these he was director of industry relations for the International Warehouse Logistics Association.  Sparkman has also been a freelance writer, specializing in logistics and freight transportation. He has served as vice president of communications for the American Moving and Storage Association, director of communications for the National Private Truck Council, and for two decades with American Trucking Associations on its weekly newspaper, Transport Topics.