Minimize Total Landed Cost: Strategize, Model, Act
Total landed cost is the sum of all costs associated with making and delivering products to the point where they produce revenue—usually your customer’s door. So, if you employ tactics to reduce costs in all discrete functions from manufacturing through delivery, you’ll have a lower total landed cost, right? Theoretically, yes. But in the real […]
Read MoreBuilding a Warehouse Without Going Broke
A warehouse construction project is always a major undertaking. Whether you are retrofitting an existing DC or constructing a new one, it is crucial to pay attention to details so your project is done on time and within budget. Here are some tricks of the trade for controlling costs and ensuring a smooth project. Design […]
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Substituting Trucks for Air Shipments: A Questionable Practice
Recently, a U.S. District Court in Arizona rejected a freight forwarder’s attempt to issue an airbill for a partial truckload shipment because the shipment was moved by truck—neither the shipper nor the forwarder ever intended to move it via air. This decision has broad implications for the trucking and brokerage industries as it is one […]
Read MoreThe Million-Dollar Question: ERP or WMS?
Few supply chain decisions impact your company’s day-to-day business, financial health, and customer relations more than selecting and implementing a warehouse management system (WMS). The million-dollar question is whether to choose your enterprise resource planning (ERP) system’s warehouse module, or a specialized WMS. Today, the lines between traditional ERP and WMS vendors are blurring. ERP […]
Read MoreFuel Surcharges: True Financial Assistance Or Sheer Profit Center?
As the news media continues to report on the rise in world oil, gasoline, and diesel prices, as well as the effects of a devastating hurricane season, you might be forgiven for thinking that fuel surcharge announcements by less-than-truckload (LTL) and small package carriers are justified. Not so forgiving are manufacturers, retailers, and industrial shippers […]
Read MoreOrange Seeks Agent
Freed from its corporate parent, orange beverage maker Sunny Delight forms a 3PL partnership to juice up its supply chain.
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Marking Our First Quarter Century
25 years is a long time to be doing anything. That’s why we recognize anniversaries, sometimes with cards like the one marking Inbound Logistics’ 25th year.You’ll find it in the front of this magazine. Looking at that card, and reading its sentiments, took me on a trip down memory lane, back to our first issue. […]
Read MoreMore Goes In So You Can Get More Out
Most magazines are designed to be read. The Logistics Planner issue is also designed to be used—again and again. The Planner—and its complementary digital and web profiles—help you find and source the solutions you need to be a true supply chain innovator. Many readers tell us they read the Planner profiles from A to Z […]
Read MoreHot Solutions in Cold Storage
To break the ice in its first cold storage 3PL facility, Frozen Assets implements a new WMS and wireless handheld data capture technology.
Read MoreInnovation: A Fresh Eye on the Supply Chain
Innovation is in. Just ask Bill Ford, star of the Ford Motor Company commercials touting the company’s “new mission—innovation.” Innovation is also at the core of IBM, which invests billions of dollars in research and development every year and has been the leading patent-generating company in the United States for more than a decade. “Innovation […]
Read MoreInnovation: From Vision to Execution
Innovation is in. Just ask Bill Ford, star of the Ford Motor Company commercials touting the company’s “new mission—innovation.” Innovation is also at the core of IBM, which invests billions of dollars in research and development every year and has been the leading patent-generating company in the United States for more than a decade. “Innovation […]
Read MoreInnovation: Igniting New Ideas
Transforming a supply chain through innovation and ingenuity starts with understanding what you’re trying to accomplish. “Setting clear, aggressive goals in a collaborative way is the best thing organizations can do to foster innovation,” says Judith Anderson, partner and founder of consulting firm Anderson & Rust, Allendale, N.J. Critical success factors that enable companies to […]
Read MoreInnovation: The 3PL Connection/The Creativity Factor
Third-party logistics providers (3PLs) are often powerful enablers of logistics and supply chain innovation. “Due to their exposure to ample transportation and fulfillment challenges, 3PLs have developed creative ways to get product to the shelf,” says Accenture’s Bill Read. “3PLs have multiple customers with problems and opportunities across industry verticals, and can provide insight into […]
Read MoreInnovation: Insider Insights
In April 2005, at a Princeton, N.J., conference of trucking technology suppliers and users, Alain Kornhauser declared the just-in-time era dead. “Just-in-time logistics is inherently deterministic,” said Kornhauser, a Princeton University professor, and founder and chairman of mobile transportation solutions provider ALK Technologies. He then held up a mobile phone. “This is the new paradigm,” […]
Read MoreBalancing on the Rim
Like gravity, the lure of Asia’s rock-bottom costs and abundant labor force has a powerful pull. But companies need to closely examine potential pitfalls of sourcing halfway around the globe. Taking that first step into the Pacific Rim means walking a tightrope between the benefits and risks.
Read MoreSupply Chain Security: Tapping Into C-TPAT
Many companies embrace C-TPAT in the fight against supply chain security threats, but just as many shun it. What is C-TPAT? How does it work? What benefits—if any—does it bring shippers and carriers? Here’s a closer look.
Read MoreCarrier Partnerships: A Matter of Trust
Building trusting relationships with your transportation partners makes the best sort of business sense.
Read MoreBulk Logistics: Hefty Freight, Hefty Issues
As transportation costs, congestion, and capacity threaten to derail global supply chains, bulk freight shippers are collaborating with their logistics partners to streamline plant operations and rethink how they align stateside distribution networks to better match supply to demand.
Read MoreMatchmaking
MORE TO THE STORY: The Load Matcher’s Little Black Book Scoping Out Potential Shippers, like love-scorned romantics, are willing to try almost anything to find a bigger pool of suitors and more capacity. Carriers, by contrast, are continually looking for ways to get the most out of their freight dates while avoiding costly deadhead rendezvous. […]
Read MoreMexico on the Move: Building New Opportunities
New investments in Mexican transportation and logistics infrastructure create opportunities for U.S. manufacturers and logistics companies.
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