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Supply Chain by the Numbers

June 5, 2026

Supply Chain by the Numbers for June 5, 2026

US Manufacturing Stays Strong in May. Strong Sale Projected for Cobots. Big Investment Planned for US Shipbuilding. Starbucks Shaves New AI Inventory System


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5
That is now the number of consecutive months the Purchasing Managers Index from the Institute for Supply Management has been above the key 50 mark that separates US manufacturing expansion from contraction, with the numbers for May released by ISM on Monday. With a score of 54.0 in May, the PMI was up from 52.7 in April. The New Orders Index also expanded for the fifth straight month after four straight readings in contraction, registering 56.8, up 2.7 percentage points compared to April’s figure of 54.1, and again above the key 50 mark, in good news for future US manufacturing activity.

$200 Million

That is the size of a new investment fund from warehouse giant Prologis and the American Bureau of Shipping betting on a US revival in maritime and logistics. Both the Biden and Trump administrations have warned in recent years of China’s growing dominance of the global shipping industry, including shipbuilding, and the urgency of a US maritime revival. The Trump administration and a bipartisan coalition in Congress are pushing tax incentives and new revenue streams to spark US maritime investment. The US Navy this year is pushing for the biggest purchase in decades of noncombat ships to boost US shipbuilding and strengthen America’s ability to prosecute wars overseas. Will it work?



17.3%
That is the strong projected growth in unit sales from 2025 to 2030 of cobots, according to new research released this week by the researchers at Interact Analysis. Cobots are basically robotic picking arms with features that make them safe to deploy around human workers. The report from also finds shipments will almost double over the forecast period to 128,918 units. This follows a positive 2025, with shipments of cobots increasing 14.5% to approximately 57,000 units and market revenue growing by 10.5%, from around $1.1 billion to more than $1.2 billion. I, Robot indeed.

That’s about how many months Starbucks ran a new AI and vision-based store inventory tracking system before recently pulling the plug, according to a report this week by Reuters. When the system was announced last September it was positioned as a method to simplify inventory record-keeping and prevent stockouts. Now Reuters reports that Starbucks’ AI inventory tool occasionally miscounted or mislabeled items, though Starbucks did not comment on that report. Starbucks did share images it said were internal employee comments on the changes to its inventory system.“Very grateful our thoughts about AI count were heard,” one of the comments read.

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