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ARC’s 30th Annual Forum: Redefining Industrial Operations & Supply Chain – What’s Real, What Scales, What Fails

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Arc’s 30th Annual Forum: Redefining Industrial Operations & Supply Chain – What’s Real, What Scales, What Fails

Industrial AI is beginning to alter how factories, logistics networks, and capital assets are managed. Schedulers are using AI generated production plans, maintenance teams are acting on AI derived failure forecasts, and supply chain leaders are using AI to rebalance service, cost, and risk in near real time. At the same time, many organizations are discovering that pilots do not translate to scale without changes in governance, data architecture, and operating discipline.

This tension between visible potential and uneven execution sets the context for the ARC Industry Leadership Forum 2026, to be held in Orlando from February 9 to 12.

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ARC has convened this forum for nearly 30 years, across every major technology transition in industrial operations. That continuity matters because the conversation is not theoretical but grounded in what has and has not led to durable change over multiple technology cycles.

The 2026 Forum will open with a keynote and executive panel focused on implementation reality:
• Where AI is producing measurable gains in cost, reliability, and cycle time
• Where efforts have stalled because of data quality, change resistance, or architecture debt
• What leaders would do differently if starting again today

Topics with direct implications for supply chain and operations leaders

AI in supply chain execution: inventory, fulfillment, routing, and resilience
Smart manufacturing and MES integration: AI embedded into core systems
Robotics and autonomous operations: warehouse, yard, and production use cases
Industrial data fabrics and digital twins: prerequisites for reliable AI at scale
Data centers, AI, and energy: the compute and power constraints shaping strategy
Asset performance and lifecycle economics: impacts on uptime and capital planning
AI, sustainability, and compliance: measurement, reporting, and optimization
Cybersecurity and AI: new exposure surfaces as autonomy increases

Why leaders are attending

Organizations are making long horizon decisions about build versus buy versus partner, about governing versus accelerating, and about piloting versus scaling, without full visibility into what peers have learned. The Forum provides a venue to calibrate those decisions before they harden.

Executives attend to:

Benchmark direction against evidence from comparable operators
Validate investment sequencing before the next planning cycle
Understand risks that surface only at scale, not in pilots
Leave with patterns that can be applied immediately in 2026 planning

Save the Date and Register Now!

Save the Date: https://lnkd.in/ewSYdKKn

Register Now: https://www.arcweb.com/events/arc-industry-leadership-forum-orlando

The 30th Annual ARC Industry Leadership Forum
How AI Is Driving the Future of Industrial Operations and Supply Chain
February 9 to 12, 2026 in Orlando, Florida
Looking forward to seeing you all in Orlando!

The post ARC’s 30th Annual Forum: Redefining Industrial Operations & Supply Chain – What’s Real, What Scales, What Fails appeared first on Logistics Viewpoints.

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Join us for Tomorrow’s Webinar: Building a Sustainable Supply Chain: Turning Commitments into Competitive Advantage

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Join Us For Tomorrow’s Webinar: Building A Sustainable Supply Chain: Turning Commitments Into Competitive Advantage

Sustainability has moved beyond corporate responsibility. Today, it’s a core element of supply chain performance and brand value. Organizations across every sector are rethinking how materials are sourced, products are moved, and data is managed to reduce emissions, improve efficiency, and strengthen resilience.

Join us for an in-depth Logistics Viewpoints webinar on Sustainability in the Supply Chain, where industry leaders will share how they are embedding environmental and social responsibility into the fabric of their operations. This session will explore practical steps for achieving measurable progress — not just pledges — in areas such as supplier engagement, energy management, and circular logistics.

Key topics include:

Proven frameworks for integrating sustainability into procurement and manufacturing
Tools and metrics for tracking emissions and improving data visibility
How transparency and collaboration can reduce risk and enhance competitiveness
Lessons learned from companies leading the charge toward carbon-smart logistics

Our expert panel will focus on real-world case studies and actionable takeaways, giving attendees insights they can immediately apply to strengthen their sustainability programs.

Whether your organization is just beginning its journey or refining an established strategy, this webinar offers a roadmap to align sustainability goals with measurable business outcomes.

Register now to join us live and learn how forward-thinking companies are transforming sustainability from a compliance obligation into a competitive advantage.

The post Join us for Tomorrow’s Webinar: Building a Sustainable Supply Chain: Turning Commitments into Competitive Advantage appeared first on Logistics Viewpoints.

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Stellantis: $13 Billion, 5,000 Jobs, and a New U.S. Manufacturing Strategy, Reshaping the North American Supply Chain

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Stellantis: $13 Billion, 5,000 Jobs, And A New U.s. Manufacturing Strategy, Reshaping The North American Supply Chain

AUBURN HILLS, MI. Stellantis announced plans to invest $13 billion over the next four years to expand its U.S. manufacturing footprint. The initiative will add more than 5,000 jobs across Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana and increase U.S. vehicle production by about 50 percent.

The investment will fund five new vehicle programs, 19 product refreshes, and a new four-cylinder engine program. It is the company’s largest single U.S. investment and signals a long-term commitment to both internal combustion and electrified vehicle platforms.

“This investment in the U.S. will drive our growth, strengthen our manufacturing footprint, and bring more American jobs to the states we call home,” said Antonio Filosa, Stellantis CEO and North America COO. “As we begin our next 100 years, we are putting the customer at the center of our strategy, expanding our vehicle offerings, and giving them the freedom to choose the products they want and love.”

“Accelerating growth in the U.S. has been a top priority since my first day,” Filosa added. “Success in America is not just good for Stellantis in the U.S. It makes us stronger everywhere.”

State-by-State Overview

Illinois: Belvidere Plant Reopening
Stellantis will invest $600 million to reopen the Belvidere Assembly Plant for production of two Jeep models, the Cherokee and Compass, beginning in 2027. The project is expected to create 3,300 jobs.

Ohio: New Midsize Truck Production
About $400 million will fund production of an all-new midsize truck at the Toledo Assembly Complex, joining the Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator lines. The move will add about 900 positions when production begins in 2028. Additional upgrades are planned across Toledo operations to support ongoing Jeep production.

Michigan: Large SUV and Dodge Durango Successor
At the Warren Truck Assembly Plant, Stellantis will invest $100 million to produce a new large SUV available in both range-extended EV and combustion formats. The launch, expected in 2028, will add 900 jobs. Another $130 million will prepare the Detroit Assembly Complex, Jefferson, for the next-generation Dodge Durango, slated for production in 2029.

Indiana: New Engine Program
In Kokomo, Stellantis will invest more than $100 million to build the new GMET4 EVO four-cylinder engine. Production is set to begin in 2026 and will add about 100 jobs.

Supply Chain and Logistics Considerations

The Stellantis plan reflects a larger trend toward regionalized manufacturing and shorter supply chains. By expanding production in the Midwest, Stellantis is reducing exposure to overseas logistics risks and shipping delays that have challenged the industry in recent years.

Reopening Belvidere and expanding operations in Toledo and Kokomo will strengthen domestic supplier ecosystems for components such as engines, drivetrains, and electronics. Adding dual powertrain lines, both EV and ICE, will require parallel material streams and more sophisticated synchronization between inbound logistics, supplier planning, and workforce scheduling.

At the same time, expansion across multiple states increases the complexity of coordination and sourcing. Tier-1 suppliers will need to adjust production capacity, labor allocation, and transportation networks to align with Stellantis’ new programs. Global lead times for critical components such as semiconductors, battery modules, and sensors remain unpredictable, requiring early-stage visibility and contingency planning.

For the broader supply chain, the challenge lies in maintaining steady component availability while scaling new vehicle lines and managing cost pressures tied to both traditional and electrified platforms.

Outlook

Stellantis operates 34 U.S. facilities across 14 states and employs more than 48,000 people. This new investment deepens that footprint and aligns with an operational goal of building greater resilience and control within the domestic production network.

For supply chain leaders, Stellantis’ move highlights the continued shift toward regional production, flexible sourcing strategies, and closer collaboration between OEMs and their supplier networks. The focus now is not just on capacity but on stability, adaptability, and execution across interconnected plants and partner

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OpenAI and AWS Forge $38B Alliance, Microsoft Exclusivity Ends, New Multi-Cloud AI Compute Era Begins

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Openai And Aws Forge $38b Alliance, Microsoft Exclusivity Ends, New Multi Cloud Ai Compute Era Begins

OpenAI has entered into a multi-year, $38 billion agreement with Amazon Web Services, formally ending its exclusive reliance on Microsoft Azure for cloud infrastructure. The deal, announced today, represents a fundamental realignment in the cloud compute ecosystem supporting advanced AI workloads.

Under the agreement, OpenAI will immediately begin running large-scale training and inference operations on AWS, gaining access to hundreds of thousands of NVIDIA GPUs hosted on Amazon EC2 UltraServers, along with the ability to scale across tens of millions of CPUs over the next several years.

“Scaling frontier AI requires massive, reliable compute,” said Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO. “Our partnership with AWS strengthens the broad compute ecosystem that will power this next era.”

A Structural Shift Toward Multi-Cloud AI

This marks the first formal infrastructure partnership between OpenAI and AWS. Since 2019, Microsoft has provided the primary compute backbone for OpenAI, anchored by a $13 billion investment and multi-year Azure commitment. That exclusivity expired earlier this year, opening the door to a multi-provider model.

AWS now becomes OpenAI’s largest secondary partner, joining smaller agreements already in place with Google Cloud and Oracle, and positioning itself as a co-equal pillar in OpenAI’s global compute strategy.

“AWS brings both scale and maturity to AI infrastructure,” noted Matt Garman, AWS CEO. “This agreement demonstrates why AWS is uniquely positioned to support OpenAI’s demanding AI workloads.”

Infrastructure Scope and Deployment

The deployment will include clusters of NVIDIA GB200 and GB300 GPUs linked through UltraServer nodes engineered for low-latency, high-bandwidth interconnects. The architecture supports both model training and large-scale inference, applications such as ChatGPT, Codex, and next-generation multimodal systems.

AWS has already begun allocating capacity, with full deployment expected by late 2026. The framework also includes options for expansion into 2027 and beyond, giving OpenAI flexibility as model complexity and usage continue to grow.

Continued Microsoft Collaboration

Despite the AWS deal, OpenAI maintains its strategic and financial relationship with Microsoft, including a separate $250 billion incremental commitment to Azure. The move reflects a deliberate multi-cloud posture, a strategy increasingly favored by large-scale AI developers seeking to balance cost, access to specialized chips, and platform resiliency.

Implications for Supply Chain and Infrastructure Leaders

This announcement underscores several macro-trends relevant to logistics and industrial technology executives:

AI Infrastructure Is Becoming a Supply Chain of Its Own
Cloud capacity, GPUs, and networking fabric are now constrained global commodities. Long-term compute contracts mirror procurement models traditionally seen in manufacturing or energy, locking in scarce resources ahead of demand.
Multi-Cloud Neutrality Reduces Vendor Lock-In
The shift toward multiple cloud providers parallels how diversified sourcing reduces single-supplier risk. Expect enterprise buyers to apply similar logic when procuring AI infrastructure and software services.
Operational AI at Scale Requires Cross-Vendor Interoperability
As companies like OpenAI distribute workloads across ecosystems, interoperability standards, ranging from APIs to data-plane orchestration, will become critical for continuity, performance, and governance.
CapEx Discipline Returns to the Forefront
With multi-year AI compute deals now exceeding $1.4 trillion in aggregate commitments across the sector, CFOs and CIOs are under pressure to evaluate utilization efficiency and long-term ROI of their AI infrastructure spend.

Broader Market Context

AWS’s win follows similar capacity expansions with Anthropic and Stability AI, but this partnership represents its highest-profile AI infrastructure engagement to date. It also signals that OpenAI intends to maintain independence in its technical roadmap, balancing strategic investors with diversified operational suppliers.

The timing is notable: OpenAI recently restructured its governance model to simplify corporate oversight, a move analysts interpret as preparation for a potential IPO that could value the company near $1 trillion.

AWS stock rose approximately 5 percent following the announcement, reflecting investor confidence in the long-term demand for AI-class compute.

Outlook

For the logistics and manufacturing sectors, the implications extend beyond software. The same GPU-based data centers that train language models are also powering digital twins, simulation models, and optimization engines increasingly embedded in supply chain planning.

As hyperscalers compete for AI workloads, enterprises should expect faster innovation in distributed computing, lower latency connectivity, and new pay-as-you-go models designed for AI-intensive industrial applications.

Summary

The $38 billion OpenAI–AWS partnership marks a decisive end to Microsoft’s exclusivity and a broader normalization of multi-cloud AI ecosystems.
For technology and supply-chain leaders, it serves as a reminder: compute itself has become a strategic resource, one that must now be sourced, diversified, and managed with the same rigor once reserved for physical inventory.

The post OpenAI and AWS Forge $38B Alliance, Microsoft Exclusivity Ends, New Multi-Cloud AI Compute Era Begins appeared first on Logistics Viewpoints.

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