Clarence “CJ” Wallace Jr.

Brought to you in partnership with the Journal of Business Logistics   Companies are investing heavily in safety technology. Trucking fleets now rely on cameras, collision warnings, lane alerts, adaptive cruise control, and automated braking to reduce crashes and protect drivers. That investment assumes a straightforward outcome. More technology should lead to safer behavior. It does not always work that way. Research in the Journal of Business Logistics shows that the same technologies designed to improve safety can also undermine it. The difference comes down to how drivers experience the tools and how managers use them. The problem is not the system. It is the interaction around it.   How safety technology fails in practice The study points to two common patterns that show up across fleets. The first is avoidance. Some drivers ignore or disable alerts. They cover inward-facing cameras or override automated features. This behavior shows up when the system feels intrusive or disconnected from real driving conditions. Frequent warnings and false alarms create frustration. Experienced drivers, in particular, may feel the technology challenges their judgment rather than supports it. When that happens, drivers do not adapt to the system. They route around it. The second pattern is…

The late Steve Jobs demonstrated how to create a podcast using Apple’s audio editing software during a developers conference in 2006. Today, Apple hosts nearly 2.7 million podcasts devoted to everything from AI to zoology. There’s obviously a lot of noise in every industry, including supply chain, and not all supply chain podcasts are the same. Your time is valuable. You should get your supply chain industry insights from proven leaders, not self-proclaimed freight and logistics experts pontificating from their basements. The Power of Supply Chain Podcasts: Standing Out in a Crowded Industry Broadcast journalist Walter Cronkite was known as the most trusted man in America. You’ve got to wonder what he would have thought about the proliferation of social media influencers disseminating “news” on TikTok videos filmed with cellphones and flattering glow lights. Like other smart people with limited time, Cronkite probably would have skipped the fluff and gone for the substance — truly informative programming presented by industry thought leaders. The American people trusted that what newsman Cronkite said was accurate. Listeners of supply chain podcasts deserve the same — accurate, straightforward information delivered by a person who really knows what he or she is talking about. Why…