Summer Reading Guide 2015

Summer Reading Guide 2015

To stay current on the latest supply chain trends and topics, add these books to your vacation reading list.

Supply Chain and Logistics Management Made Easy: Methods and Applications for Planning, Operations, Integration, Control and Improvement, and Network Design

By Paul A. Myerson

This guide introduces modern supply chain and logistics management, explains why it is essential to business success, shows how all its pieces fit together, and presents best practices. Author Paul A. Myerson, a professor of practice in supply chain management at Lehigh University, explains key supply chain concepts, tools, and applications, and provides real-world examples that both students and industry professionals can relate to.

KEY TAKEAWAYS: Supply chain management can be difficult to understand. Even the basics sometimes cause confusion. When readers put this book down, however, they’ll find themselves not only with a basic understanding of the current logistics management field, but also what to expect in the future.


Global Supply Chain Ecosystems: Strategies for Competitive Advantage in a Complex, Connected World

By Mark Millar

Modern supply chains form a vast, inter-connected global network. Logistics and supply chain managers must be able to develop strategies that enable their companies to compete on an international scale. This book features real-world case studies, explores recent trends, and examines the critical elements necessary to maintain an effective supply chain ecosystem.

KEY TAKEAWAYS: The supply chain isn’t so much a chain anymore, but a huge interconnected web of suppliers, distributors, manufacturers, providers, and other businesses. To maintain a competitive advantage, supply chain managers must be able to visualize the supply chain both at home and abroad, from developing to developed countries, and from a global scale down to a regional level.

Green Logistics: Improving the Environmental Sustainability of Logistics

By Alan McKinnon, et al

By its nature, cargo transport almost universally has a negative impact on the environment, and contributes to problems including climate change, air and noise pollution, and traffic accidents. This book provides insight into these types of environmental impacts, and what steps companies can take to negate, lessen, or avoid them.

KEY TAKEAWAYS: From the truck, to the warehouse, to the ocean, moving freight has inevitable negative consequences on the environment that companies should not ignore. There are always ways to improve any company’s operation and make it greener—whether that means using greener transport modes, performing carbon audits, or installing energy-efficient technologies in facilities—and every organization should explore all areas of their operation to find ways to be as socially responsible as possible.

Managing Supply Chain Risk: Integrating with Risk Management

By Sime Curkovic, et al

Using data from firms and supply chain managers, this book identifies important factors—such as corporate strategy, information and technology, performance metrics, and process management—that play a key role in developing a system for managing supply chain risks. In addition, the authors discuss relationships and technologies that can be beneficial for companies trying to implement a supply chain risk management program.

KEY TAKEAWAYS: Risk management is no longer optional in today’s supply chain and logistics sector. To keep products and materials flowing, organizations must implement risk management strategies into their supply chain planning, or face potentially harmful disruptions and delays that can affect the bottom line.

Food Supply Chain Management and Logistics:
From Farm to Fork

By Samir Dani

The food and drink supply chain comes with its own unique logistics and regulatory challenges. This book analyzes the design and governance of the global food supply chain, and examines the support mechanisms that exist to overcome challenges and make sure food safely reaches the consumer’s plate.

KEY TAKEAWAYS: Complexities exist in the food supply chain that managers in other areas of logistics might not consider. There is no room for failure when it comes to getting products to market, especially in developing nations. Food supply chain managers must identify the risks involved and know how to deal with them, stay abreast of the latest best practices, and keep up to date on current technologies if they want to succeed and send a safe product to market.

Lean Retail & Wholesale: Use Lean to Survive (and Thrive!) in the New Global Economy with Its Higher Operating Expenses, Increased Competition, and Diminished Consumer Loyalty

By Paul A. Myerson

This book examines Lean opportunities from the viewpoint of retail strategy, merchandise management, and store and distribution operations. It also provides a holistic, systematic approach for identifying and eliminating non-value-added activities. The Lean techniques presented can be applied to traditional brick-and-mortar retailers and wholesalers, as well as e-business.

KEY TAKEAWAYS: Some people may think that Lean concepts are just a manufacturing practice. But Lean isn’t just for manufacturing anymore. Every type of business along the supply chain, including retailers and wholesalers on the customer-facing end, can take a look at their operation and find ways to trim the fat and improve the bottom line.

A Mentor at Your Fingertips

By Suzanne Scheideker Cook

The right choices and direction aren’t always clear when climbing the corporate ladder. Authored by a veteran transportation consultant and executive, this book guides corporate professionals through setting career goals, succeeding at interviews, and getting positioned for a promotion in a corporate setting, such as logistics or transportation. While much of the advice applies to a general audience, the author also focuses on helping women succeed in male-dominated professions.

KEY TAKEAWAYS: Every logistics career is a work in progress, so there is always room for improvement. Knowing what to do and what to avoid, and when, can make or break a career. Learn how to dress for an interview, behave in the office, leave a job or change jobs with class when necessary, and get into a position where you stand out and are noticed, and you will be on the path to a successful career.

Maritime Logistics: A Guide to Contemporary Shipping and Port Management, 2nd Edition

By Dong-Wook Song and Photis M. Panayides

This text covers everything that students and industry professionals need to know about maritime logistics. This second edition has been revised with new chapters covering topics such as port-centric logistics, hinterland logistics, global supply chains, maritime transport, and future trends and developments.

KEY TAKEAWAYS: The balance of retail may be shifting between physical and online stores, but the majority of goods customers order still have to move by sea at some point in the supply chain. A solid understanding of maritime and port logistics is key for any logistics or supply chain professional.

Global Logistics Management

Edited by Bahar Y. Kara, et al

The field of logistics management has evolved considerably over the past few decades, and this book focuses on recent key developments and problems that need to be addressed from a global perspective. The book details a wide range of application-oriented studies, from metropolitan bus routing problems to relief logistics, and introduces the state of the art on some classic logistics applications.

KEY TAKEAWAYS: An abundance of issues and trends are in play in modern global logistics operations, and industry professionals may struggle to keep up. This book covers a variety of industries and applications, but with so many crossovers in today’s supply chain, professionals can find value in seeing what their counterparts are doing in other areas.

Strategic Sourcing and Category Management:
Lessons Learned in IKEA

By Magnus Carlsson

Are you ready to learn the purchasing secrets of IKEA? Author Magnus Carlsson shares wisdom gained from 20 years of devising and executing IKEA’s purchasing strategies. This text is supported by insightful interviews, case studies, and practical examples, all compared and contrasted with examples from other companies. Connecting theory with practice, the book draws upon existing practices and new tools to explain category-based sourcing, and how to effectively implement it.

KEY TAKEAWAYS: IKEA’s strategic sourcing methods might not work for every company, but they certainly have a broad reach that goes far beyond the furniture retail niche. This book can help you discover if a category management program is a profitable choice for your organization. And if it is, you’ll gain valuable advice and examples of setup and implementation from a real-world practitioner.

The Lean Supply Chain: Managing the Challenge at Tesco

By Barry Evans and Robert Mason

When global retailer Tesco decided to focus its business on customers rather than competitors, it deployed its strategy by building retail and supply chain operations that are both effective in delivering what customers want, and efficient in performance and cost metrics. This book explores how the retailer used Lean thinking, loyalty, and simplicity, and grew under a determined supply chain strategy to achieve a global position.

KEY TAKEAWAYS: When considering a major undertaking such as building a Lean supply chain, it doesn’t hurt to have a little guidance from a major global player. This book debunks many myths, and provides solid practical examples and advice for supply chain professionals looking to cut waste from their enterprises.

Lean Supply Chain & Logistics Management

By Paul A. Myerson

This practical guide reveals how to identify and eliminate waste in your organization’s supply chain and logistics function, and explains both basic and advanced Lean tools. The text also describes a Lean implementation methodology with critical success factors. Real-world examples and case studies demonstrate how to effectively use this powerful strategy to realize significant, long-term improvements, and bottom-line savings.

KEY TAKEAWAYS: Your organization has to have a supply chain, so why not have a Lean one? All the theories in the world won’t do your organization any good without some idea of how to practically apply them; this book’s case studies and examples hold value for readers who want to tackle the construction of a Lean enterprise, but don’t know where to start.

Inventory Management: Advanced Methods for Managing Inventory Within Business Systems

By Geoff Relph and Catherine Milner

This book aims to achieve a balance between the philosophical and the practical, providing a mixture of theory, step-by-step instructions, and practical examples to help managers smooth out their inventory management processes and streamline operations. Case studies from diverse industries—from supermarkets to aerospace—help to illustrate the challenges faced in managing inventory in today’s world.

KEY TAKEAWAYS: Effective inventory management increases revenue, reduces costs, and improves cash flow. While board members set an organization’s inventory budget, it’s up to the inventory manager to know how much to have in stock, and when, where, and why. An effective manager operates within the budget and maximizes available resources to control and balance the flow of inventory using the latest methodologies and best practices.

Sustainable Logistics and Supply Chain Management: Principles and Practices for Sustainable Operations
and Management

By David B. Grant, et al

Based on expert research, this text covers the whole scope of sustainable logistics. Examining the subject in an integrated, holistic manner, this book analyzes all the key areas in sustainable logistics and supply chain management, including sustainable product design and packaging, sustainable purchasing and procurement, cleaner production, the environmental impact of freight transportation, sustainable warehousing and storage, reverse logistics and recycling, supply chain management strategy, and more.

KEY TAKEAWAYS: Sustainability isn’t just a one-off initiative. To implement a sustainable supply chain means targeting all areas of your company’s operation, from production to the consumer, and back again. A sustainable company is always tightening its belt where and when possible, so it’s important to keep abreast of the latest trends and technologies so you don’t miss any opportunities.

Principles of Supply Chain Management

By Richard E. Crandall, et al

This book not only details the individual components of the supply chain, but also illustrates how the pieces must come together. To show the logic behind why supply chain management is essential, the text examines how supply chains are evolving, looks ahead to new developments, and provides a balanced look at supply chains from both the customer side and the supplier side.

KEY TAKEAWAYS: To understand the supply chain, practitioners must be able to break down each link and understand it individually, then put it back together and understand the whole. Case studies and real-world examples help students and readers grasp how those individual links operate, and how they fit together.

McToad Mows Tiny Island

By Tom Angleberger and John Hendrix (Illustrator)

McToad likes Thursdays. Why? Because on every other day of the week, McToad mows Big Island. But on Thursdays, McToad mows Tiny Island. To do so is no easy task. He puts his mower on the back of a truck, which drives to a train, which tracks to a plane, which flies to a helicopter, which zooms to a boat, which uses a crane to put the lawn mower onto Tiny Island. Once there, McToad mows, oils up the engine, drinks some lemonade, and before you know it, it’s time to turn around and go back home. But first, the mower has to get lifted by a crane, to get put back on the boat, which is lifted by a helicopter…well, you get the idea.

KEY TAKEAWAYS: Grab your straw hat, a glass of lemonade, and your keys. McToad’s adventures by truck, rail, and air will not only please your children, but also help them gain some understanding of what it is that you do every day when you head to the office. Logistics isn’t an easy concept to explain to your children, but McToad and his lawn mower can lend you a hand.

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