Supply Chain Therapy Strikes a Balance
There’s nothing like a spur-of-the-moment urge, then splurge, to improve temperament. Retailers today are all too willing to facilitate “retail therapy” and oblige customers by making it easier than ever to satisfy their random impulses. Advertising—subliminal or overt—is quick to connect happiness with material possession, regardless of what kind. Then the supply chain takes over. […]
Read MoreEnsuring Routing Guide Compliance
When vendors fail to comply with shippers’ routing guide instructions, all parties involved experience frustration. To improve compliance, shippers must provide clear and concise instructions about how they want their freight to move. Here is advice on ensuring routing guide compliance from Harold B. Friedman, senior vice president of global corporate development at freight payment […]
Read MoreSherry Askew: Beauty Calls
Sherry Askew is transportation manager at Revlon Consumer Products in Oxford, N.C. She has held this position since 2010. Responsibilities: Managing pricing and contracts, analyzing data, and serving as a liaison with the freight payment provider for Revlon’s U.S. and Canadian transportation, both inbound and outbound. Experience: Retail associate, data entry clerk, buyer’s secretary, Rose’s […]
Read MoreMinimizing Wasted Movement
Ideally, material should flow smoothly from Point A to Point B in a process, and be touched only once. That is rarely the case, however. More likely, material is touched and moved many times before its ultimate use. In Lean terms, this excess transportation or movement is waste that occurs when temporarily locating, filing, stocking, […]
Read MoreTrends—August 2012
Ocean Freight Industry Seeks Delivery Time Reliability Awash with capacity and beset by rate fluctuations, the ocean container shipping industry reflects the global economy. Shippers are trying to find a measure of consistency as they navigate the peaks and troughs. While cost is often the common denominator linking shippers, carriers, intermediaries, and consignees, recent collaboration […]
Read MoreGlobal Logistics—August 2012
U.S., Canada Confront Port Insecurities The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) is taking Canadian ports to task over concerns they are siphoning U.S.-bound container volumes while threatening homeland security. The agency’s primary target is Prince Rupert, North America’s deepest natural harbor port. While Montreal, Halifax, and Vancouver participate in U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) […]
Read MoreDiscovering the Value of Analytics
Many companies are building analytics strategies, which use data to facilitate better decisions. To develop improved analytics strategies, consider the three different types of analytics: descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive. Each type uses data in a different way to provide a different type of value. Descriptive analytics: Using data to improve how you describe or report […]
Read MoreReusable Shipping Dunnage Protects Sustainability Efforts
Containers and packaging account for 30 percent of all U.S. municipal solid waste, according to a 2009 EPA study. Small wonder, considering the contribution of millions of tons of disposable corrugated and wood filler used to protect products in transit across America every day. By road and rail, goods move about in the temporary company […]
Read MoreFMCSA Abandons Carrier Oversight
For 75 years, the U.S. Department of Transportation stood as the arbiter of interstate motor carrier safety. That significantly changed on May 16, 2012, when the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued three notices on its Web site signaling a retreat from its statutory and historical oversight of carrier safety, in favor of placing […]
Read MoreYou Are Everywhere: Mapping the New Retail Supply Chain
Gone are the days of single-channel apparel retailing—and supply chains servicing that model. Today, apparel retailers must optimize their supply chains to deliver products from any point where consumers want to buy them.
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