Amazon is hoping that artificial intelligence can solve a nagging problem at its fulfillment centers. The e-commerce giant is rolling out AI-based technology at some of its largest warehouses to weed out damaged items before orders are shipped to customers. The WSJ Logistics Report’s Liz Young writes the tech should help speed up picking and packing, and eventually play a critical role in the company’s efforts to automate more of its fulfillment operations. The use of AI is aimed at a crucial fault line in fulfillment, with workers slowing down to check for signs of wear or breakage. Delivery of damaged goods can also undermine customer experience for online sales. Amazon’s rollout is part of a broader push across the logistics sector to bring more AI technology into operations as companies try to manage complicated supply chains while keeping goods moving rapidly and reliably.

• Logistics visibility tech company project44 is laying off 130 workers, or about 10% of its workforce. (Crain’s Chicago Business)
• Supermarket chain H-E-B is opening an e-commerce fulfillment center attached to a store in Plano, Texas. (Dallas Morning News)

Fears of military conflict and increasing security worries over China are unnerving some U.S. manufacturers and leading them to re-evaluate their reliance on the country. The latest concerns go beyond the calls for supply-chain diversification that arose during the Covid-19 pandemic as a way of spreading out risks. The WSJ’s John Keilman reports that unease grew after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine prompted companies to sever ties with Russia. Executives are plotting alternate supply chains or devising products that can be made elsewhere should China’s factories become inaccessible. Paint and coatings supplier PPG, which has 15 factories in China, is being extra cautious with its intellectual property and data in the country. It has strategized about how to take appropriate action there if needed. One expert says some businesses are plotting to leave but are finding no easy equivalent to China’s plentiful space and broad networks of suppliers.

• JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon says U.S.-China tensions have made navigating the international situation more complex for businesses than it was during the Cold War. (Financial Times)

IKEA is making a big step into technology in a bid to make its e-commerce business move faster and with more precision. The furniture giant is buying U.S. supply-chain software provider Made4net, a sign of the growing role that online sales play as IKEA expands. The WSJ’s Trefor Moss reports the deal for an undisclosed fee is only the third 100% acquisition by the Ingka Group, the biggest owner and operator of IKEA stores. Ingka made a quarter of its sales online last year, up from 7% before the pandemic. The Made4net deal is aimed at a bolstering efforts to have staff fulfill online orders both from IKEA stores and from separate warehouses. That sort of multichannel fulfillment plan can complicate logistics operations and inventory management, but it’s crucial to ambitious expansion efforts in the U.S. that include adding 17 stores in the next three years.

U.S. job openings climbed in April and layoffs fell in signs that employers’ demand for workers remains strong. (WSJ)

A measure of business activity in the Chicago region pulled back in May to a six-month low. (MarketWatch)

U.S. auto-safety regulators want to mandate automatic emergency braking on nearly all future cars. (WSJ) 

Toyota is expanding its investment in a new electric-vehicle battery plant in North Carolina by $2.1 billion. (Reuters)

Torrential rains in China’s top wheat-producing province are threatening the country’s domestic supplies. (Bloomberg)

FedEx reached a tentative contract agreement with unionized Express pilots. (Dow Jones Newswires)

United Parcel Service and the Teamsters union agreed to terms for deliveries using the U.S. Postal Service. (Supply Chain Dive)

CMA CGM’s first-quarter net profit fell 72% to about $2 billion as group revenue dropped 30.2%. (Port Technology)

Bimco says the crude tanker market is on the cusp of its biggest upswing in 15 years. (ShippingWatch)

Russian diesel once bound for Europe is now shipping to more far-flung destinations, boosting product tanker earnings. (Lloyd’s List)

Allianz says the number of larger ships lost at sea last year fell by more than a third but that vessel fires are rising. (Seatrade Maritime)

Car maker Renault named Denis Le Vot to the new post of chief supply chain officer. (Automotive Logistics)

Paul Page is editor of WSJ Logistics Report. Reach him at paul.page@wsj.com.

Follow the WSJ Logistics Report team: @PaulPage, @bylizyoung and @pdberger. Follow the WSJ Logistics Report on Twitter at @WSJLogistics.