Weekly edition | Dec. 21, 2021  By Edwin Lopez In this week's newsletter: A quick recap of the year; how Big Lots and FedEx plan to speed up furniture shipments; and supply chains face the Great Resignation. (Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here.) | | It's been a wild year for supply chain managers, and throughout, we've been documenting the ways companies reacted to inventory disruptions. The lessons learned could be a case study. For many, it was back to the basics: as inventory levels ran low, executives focused on safety stocks and velocity. Others focused on new tech or altogether new strategies. In today's newsletter, we'll highlight lessons from the past week. Read the full year's recap here. | | Stat of the Week I got a couch stuck in an elevator last weekend, so take it from me: Furniture is hard to move. Now, imagine having to move around dozens of couches at your distribution center. Big Lots is trying to get around that problem with plans for two more "forward distribution centers'' dedicated to big and bulky items next year. The move is part of an ongoing strategy by Big Lots to specialize its facilities (mapped below) to speed throughput. Dive deeper.  Credit: Max Garland / Supply Chain Dive / data from Big Lots | | Big packages are haunting more than Big Lots. In an interview with Supply Chain Dive, Ted Dengel, a FedEx Ground executive, said the company had recently made a string of technology investments that could help it handle packages with odd dimensions. The reason? "Robotic arms do the same thing over and over and over really well," Dengel said. "But in our world, every transaction is almost a different challenge for the robot." Read more. | | Workers — or the lack thereof — are influencing decisions at major companies. Big Lots said its new DCs helped take some of the pressure off facilities experiencing labor shortages. And FedEx last week said the lack of employees had cost the company $470 million in Q3. All year we've heard of worker shortages, and the big inefficiencies associated with them. But in his most recent column for Supply Chain Dive, Rich Weissman explores some of the reasons behind the lack of workers. Spoiler: Some call it the 'Great Resignation.' Read the column. | Opinion Poll | As the holidays approach, consider sharing with us the gift of your feedback.
 Extremely likely Very likely Somewhat likely Unlikely Extremely unlikely If you have ideas on how we could make this newsletter more relevant to your job, send us an email at supply.chain.dive.editors@industrydive.com. We'd love to hear from you. Last week's results are in! We asked: How would you assess the state of data in your supply chain? 
24% of respondents said they have plenty of some type of data, but a dearth of other types of data; 23% said they have too much data; 22% said they don't have enough data; 16% said they have just the right amount of data; and 14% said "other." (Note: Responses do not add up to 100% due to rounding.) | Quick Hits  Supply Chain Dive
 HR Dive
 Grocery Dive
 Food Dive
 Supply Chain Dive Parting thought As we close out the year, I want to say thank you for reading Supply Chain Dive.
We'll be taking a publishing break next week due to the holidays, but our Operations Weekly will be back in your inbox on January 4, 2021. Happy holidays!
Edwin Lopez
Senior Editor, Supply Chain Dive
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