Cloverleaf Cold Storage, Sioux City, Iowa, said it completed $8 million in energy efficiency improvements at its Sumter, S.C., public refrigerated warehouse. Officials said the renovation project involved new refrigeration controls, insulated panels and roofing. In a separate move, Cloverleaf said it reconfigured Sumter's racking to add 40 percent more storage capacity. Cloverleaf purchased sites in Sumter, Benson, N.C., and Chesapeake, Va. in June 2010.

The company operates more than 60 million cubic feet of refrigerated space at 14 facilities in the central and eastern United States. Global lift truck supplier Atlet AB, Mölnlycke, Sweden, has stopped North American sales and said it plans by the end of the year to eliminate activities at Atlet Inc., Anaheim, Calif. "After almost 25 years of sales and support activity in the North American warehouse truck market, the Atlet group has made a strategic decision to close its operations for this region," said Atlet Inc. President Bengt Kristiansson. "In order to assure continued support and service for our customers, Atlet has arranged with our sister-company, Nissan Forklift Corporation, North America, to provide service, parts and other technical support."

Joel Sutherland, a logistics and supply chain expert with extensive experience in both industry and the academic world, joined the University of San Diego as director of its Supply Chain Management Institute. USD said Sutherland has more than three decades of industry experience working in the automotive, pharmaceutical and consumer goods industries. For the last five years, Sutherland was managing director of Lehigh University’s Center for Value Chain Research in Bethlehem, Penn. He significantly expanded its offerings, added new board members and brought global recognition to the center.

Prior to that, USD said Sutherland was instrumental in creating and starting a company that would become Transplace, a Dallas, Texas-based provider of transportation, logistics and other supply chain services managing more than $3 billion in freight.