Archive: Aug 2014

Keith Biondo

The New Retail: Three Legs to Stand On

Did you ever read a magazine or newspaper article and get the feeling that something was missing? It happened to me when I read several business press articles touting e-commerce as the savior of retailers. That "something’s missing" feeling bothered me as I read various vague descriptions of how e-commerce is the driving force behind […]

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Streamlining Reverse Logistics

Efficiently managing damaged goods, expired products, and inventory returns can be challenging for shippers. Brian Crow, global marketing manager at chemical management services provider Rinchem Company Inc., offers the following recommendations for proactively and efficiently managing reverse logistics material flows, while significantly reducing costs. 1. Use tech tools to track returned inventory. Many warehouse management […]

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Chet Mullen: Material Guy

Chet Mullen: Material Guy

Chet Mullen is director of materials planning and logistics at Raymond Corporation, a manufacturer of materials handling equipment and systems, in Greene, N.Y. Raymond is a division of Toyota Industries. Mullen has held his position there since 2010. Responsibilities: Sales operations planning (materials planning, master scheduling, configuration management and order entry); material control (internal warehousing, […]

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Trends—August 2014

Trends—August 2014

Speed Reading: The Same-Day Book Delivery Race is On Amazon had no sooner expanded same-day delivery for select products in six new cities—Baltimore, Dallas, Indianapolis, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.—than Google and Barnes & Noble teamed up to deliver books with similar speed. Using Google Shopping Express, bibliophiles in the Big Apple, west Los […]

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Global Logistics—August 2014

Global Logistics—August 2014

European Ports Stuffed with Congestion A summer labor shortage and longer processing time for larger ships is creating congestion around European port cities and forcing ocean carriers to levy surcharges on tardy shippers. Europe’s top ports — Rotterdam, Antwerp, and Hamburg — are among several cities dealing with congestion issues. Europe is constrained by space, […]

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John Deris

Managing SKU Proliferation in the Beverage Industry

Q: What is SKU proliferation, and what drives it? A: Competition is driving beverage makers to expand their portfolios to provide a wider array of product, flavor, package, and beverage choices. All these choices generate new stockkeeping units (SKUs). SKU proliferation, in turn, drives the need for smarter use of labor, distribution networks, warehousing space, […]

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Calculating the Benefits of Freight Bill Auditing

In the world of big data, a decimal point can make all the difference. Because freight charges represent up to 10 percent of a company’s total expenses, identifying and correcting freight bill errors through auditing is crucial, and shippers want to glean the same insights for their global transportation moves as they capture from domestic […]

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Paul A. Myerson

Selecting the Right Technology to Support Your Lean Operations

Technology plays a key role in enabling Lean supply chain operations. For example, connecting to suppliers in real time facilitates re-supplying parts and materials for a just-in-time production environment. But choosing the wrong software can create waste in terms of the time, effort, and money spent evaluating, selecting, implementing, and using the system. Surveys commonly […]

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Christopher Springer

Are You Ready to ACE It?

On Feb. 19, 2014, President Obama signed an Executive Order intended to streamline the export/import process. It establishes December 2016 as the completion date for the International Trade Data System (ITDS), which will allow businesses to transmit, through an electronic "single-window," all the data required to import or export goods. The Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) […]

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