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Supply Chain by the Numbers

June 19, 2025

Supply Chain by the Numbers for June 19, 2025

Amazon Rolling Out AI, will Let Workers Go. The Fed Downgrades GDP Forecast. FedEx Cuts CO2. Blue Yonder Acquires Returns Manager


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1000+
That is the number of generative AI services and applications currently n progress or built, but that figure is a “small fraction” of what it plans to build. The number is in the news this week as CEO Andy Jassy acknowledged that layoffs are coming to the company soon as AI takes over a growing share of the work. That news came from Jassy in a message to employees shared Tuesday. Jassy called generative AI a “once-in-a-lifetime” technology that will change the way the company operates, and said Amazon is already using it in “virtually every corner of the company,” calling out the supply chain areas of inventory and demand planning as examples.

49%

That was the ownership share of product returns specialist Inmar Post-Purchase Solutions (IPPS), a joint venture between Doddle—a part of Blue Yonder—and Inmar, Inc. That until this week, when Doodle announced it has acquired the remaining 51%. Doddle had said in 2024 that it would work with FedEx to expand its network of return drop-off points and enable a “frictionless” product returns process for US consumers by linking nearly 2,000 drop-off points at FedEx Office locations across the country with IPPS’ network. With the deal, the company will be renamed Blue Yonder Reverse Retail Operations. According to Blue Yonder, the new arrangement allows consumers to return their items without needing to print labels or have packaging.



1.4%
That was the downgraded forecast for US economic growth in 2025 as released Wednesday by the Federal Reserve Bank. That was down from a projection of 1.8% growth the Fed made in March. That’s in line with a recent World Bank forecast, which also predicted US growth for this year at 1.4%. GDP grew last year at a decent 2.8%. The Fed says inflation is still an issue. With a forecast that prices, as measured by the personal consumption expenditures (PCE) index are expected to rise to an annual increase of 3.0%, compared to 2.7% prediction made in March.



6.1%
That was the decline in Scope 1 CO2 emissions by FedEx in its fiscal year 2024 versus 2023. That according to the company’s 2025 Corporate Responsibility Report, released this week. That overall drop includes a 4.9% cut in jet fuel emissions from its aircraft, thanks to fleet modernization and better efficiency. FedEx says that since 2005, aviation emissions intensity (the amount of emissions per unit of activity) has dropped 31% and the company is aiming for a 40% reduction by 2034. Overall Scope 1 and 2 emissions intensity now stands at 179.50 metric tons of CO2 equivalent per million USD in revenue, down 58% from FY09 levels, despite daily package volumes rising by an average of 121%.

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