[#285] Supply Chain in Numbers - May 12, 2025
KCC's new 1.2M sqft DC, Processing 230 thighs per minute, International has a new Class 8 EV truck, Amazon's $4B for rural network, UPS cuts 20k jobs
Welcome to “Supply Chain in Numbers.” This newsletter tracks significant numbers from the supply chain world. Five prominent numbers are published every Monday. If you have any feedback, please send it to me.
$800 million for 1.2 million sqft DC
Kimberly-Clark announced plans to invest more than $2 billion over the next five years in its North America segment, expanding its U.S. manufacturing capacity and modernizing its supply chain. The investment includes approximately $800 million to establish an advanced manufacturing facility in Warren, Ohio, and $200 million to add an automated distribution center at its factory in Beech Island, South Carolina. The remaining funds will be put towards innovation and automation upgrades at Kimberly-Clark’s facilities in North America. The Warren facility will span approximately 1.2 million square feet, serving as a hub for the Northeast and Midwest regions. [Manufacturing Dive]
230 thighs per minute
Word got out about chicken thighs being a more flavorful and cheaper part of the bird, and now thighs and breasts are often comparable in grocery stores. After decades of optimizing this animal to produce large muscles of white meat, it’s thigh time. While sales of chicken breast by volume are up 3.9 percent in the past three years, sales of thighs are up 15.9 percent over the same period. Beyond taste, the new accessibility of boneless, skinless chicken thighs is actually a more recent innovation; it was only in the 2000s that the industry made automated ways of processing thighs, with the Baader 632 Thigh Filleting System able to process 230 thighs per minute. [NumLock]
$4 billion for rural delivery network
Amazon is investing $4 billion by 2026 to expand its delivery network and accelerate shipping speeds in rural America. The investment will lead to less populated areas being covered by more than 200 delivery stations, which prepare packages for the final leg of shipping. By the end of 2026, the company will have tripled its rural delivery network’s size, reaching thousands of locations ranging from Milton, Florida, to North Pole, Alaska. Once this expansion is complete, the network will be able to deliver over a billion more packages each year to customers living in over 13,000 zip codes. [Supply Chain Dive]
Class 8 EV truck with 300 miles range
International Motors Co. launched a Class 8 battery-electric regional-haul tractor, the eRH Series. Targeted at regional and drayage fleets, the eRH is available in 4×2 and 6×4 axle configurations, and International said it offers a range of up to 300 miles, depending on configuration, battery capacity and use. The eRH has a lithium nickel manganese cobalt battery. Configuration options range from 300 kilowatt hours to 500 kWh of battery capacity. The eRH joins the eMV medium-duty truck as part of International’s battery-electric truck lineup. [TT News]
20,000 job cuts
UPS is cutting 20,000 operational positions this year, moving to slash expenses after breaking ways with Amazon.com, its biggest customer. UPS, which has nearly 490,000 employees, has been looking to shrink its operations after deciding in January to reduce the amount of packages it delivers for Amazon. The e-commerce giant accounted for about 12% of UPS’s revenue. UPS also expects to close 73 leased and owned buildings this year. Last year, it closed 11 buildings and cut 12,000 jobs, mainly managerial roles. About 330,000 of its workers are represented by the Teamsters. [WSJ]