Supply Chain

STOCKHOLM – October 29, 2026 -- Hygiene and health company Essity raised its EcoVadis sustainability score to 90 out of 100 from 88 in 2025 and retained the Platinum medal, the highest tier awarded by the rating provider.

Essity ranks in the top 1% of companies EcoVadis assessed over 12 months

The score places Essity among the top 1% of companies EcoVadis assessed worldwide over the previous 12 months. EcoVadis has assessed more than 175,000 companies across over 180 countries.

The assessment evaluates the quality of a company's sustainability management system. It reviews policies, actions and results across four themes: Environment, Labor & Human Rights, Ethics, and Sustainable Procurement. Assessments draw on international sustainability standards and are reviewed by sustainability experts.

Bloomfield Hills – October 29, 2026 -- Creek Equity, the private investment company owned by investor Scott Zack, has detailed a healthcare services portfolio that spans supply chain, pharmacy benefit management and medical courier logistics, funded with the firm's own capital.

Creek Equity runs three healthcare operating companies

Avenix Medical Group provides strategic sourcing, supplier visibility, risk monitoring and continuity planning to hospitals, health systems, physician groups and post-acute care providers.

Movanti Group is a pharmacy benefit manager for employers, unions and benefit funds. It operates on a 100 percent pass-through model.

Total Routing Solutions handles specimen pickup and delivery for clinical laboratories and other healthcare companies.

Steyr-Gleink – October 29, 2026 -- PG3 Consulting says it can usually start work on critical SAP warehouse logistics problems within one to two weeks, as ZEISS realigns its SAP S/4HANA transformation.

The Register reported on 10 September 2026, citing a company spokesperson, that ZEISS will first transfer its existing ERP landscape to SAP S/4HANA. The company named faster progress and better coverage of its business units' differing requirements as goals. PG3, an Austrian SAP warehouse logistics specialist, uses the case to argue that stalled SAP projects demand verifiable results rather than additional promises.

BEIJING – October 29, 2026 -- Spanish machine tool producer Danobatgroup obtained a construction permit on September 24 for its Asia-Pacific headquarters in Shanghai Xinzhuang Industry Park, one day after securing the land plot.

The project in Minhang District will integrate high-end CNC machine tool R&D, manufacturing and exhibition functions. The company selected Minhang after more than two years of site selection.

Supply-chain density swayed the site decision after an early-2024 visit

A Danobatgroup team first visited the park in early 2024 and did not commit at the time. The park's investment promotion team then presented its industrial map, on which Danobatgroup's China head identified numerous global supply-chain partners, including some long-standing contacts from Europe.

Shanghai – October 29, 2026 -- Aventurier has entered the U.S. commercial cleaning market with its ARTIST 1 upright floor scrubber, backed by a newly operational warehouse in Ontario, California, after selling more than 5,000 units in Europe.

Aventurier brings a 5,000-unit European track record to the U.S. launch

Aventurier spent more than two years developing and validating its products in Europe before targeting the U.S., a different route from many Chinese companies that treat the U.S. as an early destination. The company serves customers in more than 30 countries and has invested more than $5 million in research and development.

ARTIST 1 applies solution, scrubs and recovers water in a single pass

The compact machine has a 16-inch cleaning path and targets hard floors in healthcare facilities, schools, hotels, retail stores, restaurants, fitness centers and offices, particularly small- to medium-sized spaces.

Avondale, La. – October 29, 2026 -- T. Parker Host (HOST) is committing $50 million to its Avondale Global Gateway industrial campus on the Mississippi River, adding rail, warehouse and dock capacity. The company expects the upgrades to open the door for hundreds of millions of dollars in additional private investment across the campus.

HOST splits $50 million across rail, warehouse, dock and site upgrades

Rail infrastructure and the new warehouse take about $15 million each. Dock improvements, road infrastructure, expanded site and laydown capacity, and equipment get $5 million each.

The 200,000-square-foot warehouse will bring the campus to approximately 1.5 million square feet of indoor storage. It is the first new building constructed at Avondale since the 1970s. HOST will also activate the campus's fifth deepwater dock, raising capacity to up to six vessels simultaneously.

MIAMI – October 29, 2026 -- Boeing projects that air cargo traffic will double over the next 20 years, lifting the global freighter fleet 67% from 2,395 airplanes in 2025 to 4,010 by 2045. The forecast, part of the company's 2026 World Air Cargo Forecast, was released at The International Air Cargo Association's Air Cargo Forum in Miami.

Operators need 2,930 new and converted freighters over 20 years

About 55% of those deliveries will add capacity, while roughly 45% will replace older, less efficient freighters. Two-thirds of deliveries will be converted passenger airplanes, and the remainder will be new-production freighters.

Dedicated freighters are expected to carry more than half of global air cargo traffic in the long term. Historically, main-deck freighters have moved approximately 55% of traffic measured in cargo tonne-kilometers.

SEOUL – October 29, 2026 -- Daesang Corporation's Jongga brand accounted for about 56% of South Korea's total kimchi exports by value in the first three quarters of this year, as the food and bio group marks its 70th anniversary.

Jongga reaches around 90 countries as kimchi anchors the food business

Daesang's global food business centers on four priority categories: kimchi, sauces, gim (Korean seaweed) and convenience foods. Jongga, its flagship kimchi brand, is sold in around 90 countries. The company's second global brand, Ofood, covers sauces and convenience foods, including gochujang and other traditional Korean fermented pastes.

ATLANTA – October 29, 2026 -- One in four supply chain leaders wish they had chosen a different automation path, and 94% say switching providers would be prohibitively expensive, according to a survey of 250 North American decision-makers released by warehouse robotics provider Exotec. Most buyers are therefore locked into their chosen system for 10 to 15 years.

Larger companies report more underperformance, not less

Companies with more than $1 billion in revenue were more likely than smaller firms to say their most significant automation investment underperformed (21% vs. 13%). Exotec traces regret to three pre-implementation decisions: underestimating lifetime ownership cost, leaving accountability for issue resolution unclear, and automating before the operation was ready.

Portage, Indiana – October 29, 2026 -- Ports of Indiana-Burns Harbor has been awarded $11.2 million through the U.S. Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration (MARAD) Port Infrastructure Development Program (PIDP) to modernize cargo handling and prepare for future international container service.

Burns Harbor award is part of a $498 million PIDP round covering 35 projects

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy announced the $498 million round, which funds 35 port projects across 19 states. The Burns Harbor grant is one of those awards.

Ports of Indiana contributes $2.8 million to a $14 million equipment project

The Burns Harbor Container Handling Modernization Project totals $14 million. Ports of Indiana is providing a $2.8 million match, and the federal grant covers the rest.