The Conveyor Field Notes”

In this series, we go inside how top operators are transforming their supply chain - and what you can apply to improve your own operations. Built on interviews, earnings call commentary, and primary research.

El Niño is back at record strength. How will it affect your freight routes?

The canal is already cutting capacity, and its next dry season overlaps 2027 contract talks.

How Kroger bet $3 billion on robots, then went back to its stores

A grocer reshaped by e-commerce, a failed megamerger, and a $2.5 billion automation reversal, and what it is building instead.

PepsiCo is fusing the chips truck and the soda truck into one

Coca-Cola spent a decade selling off its trucks. PepsiCo is doing the reverse.

LTL carriers are re-measuring your freight. How to get ahead of them

The honor system that priced freight for a century is ending

How One DC Network Eliminated 54,000 Driver Calls a Month

Solving efficiencies between the gate and the dock

How Altitude Sports Rebuilt Packaging For Their Apparel Catalog

How a retailer increased mailer usage by 18%

The Returns Fix That Helped Honeylove Retain $5M+

How a custom returns overhaul changed the math on exchanges

How Walmart Is Evolving Its Supply Chain

Turning a store network into a supply chain platform

How To Claim Your IEEPA Tariff Refunds: Step-by-step

A guide for getting back what CBP owes you - even if you've never dealt with customs before

Beyond China: "Non-Obvious" Sourcing Countries Worth Watching

Where a sourcing expert is expanding right now

How Nike Is Rebuilding Its Supply Chain

What broke, what they learned, and where they're heading

The Duty Drawback Decision Tree

How to Estimate Your Refund

How Target Is Rebuilding Its Supply Chain

1,900 stores, one inventory crisis, and the bets that are reshaping retail fulfillment.

18 Tariff Strategies Working Right Now

Top tariff strategies explained, simply

How to Audit Your Tariff Exposure

Get the foundations right - in 8 weeks

How Vincero Used AI to Rebuild Their Planning Process

The parallel system strategy that let Vincero cut planning time 90%

Logistics

Panama Canal pulls last-minute auction slots

The cut hits smaller Panamax ships without booked slots, not the big container strings

Fulfillment

Shein's fulfillment costs reach 47.7% of revenue

Shein also disclosed an FTC investigation and a shift toward US-held inventory.

Procurement

Lovesac redesigns its top-selling sofa to make it in the US

Reshoring penciled out only after a ground-up redesign built the product for automation, not a factory move

VW aims to cut 100,000 jobs and close four German plants

A cut this deep would shrink the German supplier base North American buyers rely on

J&J commits $1B+ to expand Acuvue manufacturing in Jacksonville

The real driver is tariff exposure and FDA rules, not just the demand J&J cites

Technology

DoorDash wins FAA certification to fly its own delivery drones

Its aircraft still need a separate approval before they can fly beyond an operator's sight.

Startups

Terminal raises $20M to unify fleet telematics data

Penske and an insurer that already uses the platform both joined the round.

Regulations

Amazon collects $600 million in tariff refunds and will pass some to shoppers

Suppliers are the importer of record on most of what Amazon sells

Commerce backs keeping mattress duties on six countries

No exporter filed a response, so the reviews ran on the domestic side alone

Ford expects $3 billion in tariff refunds

The largest IEEPA recovery disclosed so far, with most of the timing still uncertain