Archive: Jul 2016

Readers’ Choice: Top 10 3PL Excellence Awards 2016

Readers’ Choice: Top 10 3PL Excellence Awards 2016

The global supply chain is ever changing. International trade deals, wars, embargoes, company failures, start-ups, and increasing regulations don’t even begin to complete the list of things shippers have to stay on top of. Many companies just don’t have the specialized knowledge in house to successfully manage complex logistics operations. MORE TO THE STORY: 3PLs […]

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Aaron Baker

Physics of a Customer-Centric Supply Chain

The supply chain strategy shift from business cost efficiency to customer purchase location flexibility is similar to the Copernican Revolution. Many companies are becoming customer-centric and putting the customer’s experience at the center of business objectives. Nicolaus Copernicus’ Revolution was the creation of a heliocentric model where the sun—instead of the earth—is the center of […]

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Keith Biondo

Still Pushing Your Customers Around?

Inbound Logistics published its first healthcare logistics article back in 1994. That article revealed several important reasons for companies to move to demand-driven logistics, even those not in the healthcare value chain. Hillarycare was introduced the year before that article ran. My opinion then was, “Fine, look at Hillarycare, but first cut costs and boost […]

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Felecia Stratton

6 Cool Things I Learned Editing This Issue

This summer is a scorcher here in New York. Luckily, this issue is chock full of cool things. Here are a few of my favorites: We asked logistics and supply chain professionals to explain what they do in terms a five-year-old would appreciate. You’ll find their way-cool answers here. Like baseball, logistics is a game […]

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GOOD QUESTION | How would you describe your job to a five-year-old?

GOOD QUESTION | How would you describe your job to a five-year-old?

MORE TO THE STORY: Comments from LinkedIn Your toys and clothes are made far away. They’re put in big metal boxes that go on ships across the ocean. I work with my team to make sure there’s space for our customers’ boxes on those ships.   Inna Kuznetsova President and COO, INTTRA   I help […]

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Using Social Media to Empower Your Supply Chain

Social media benefits supply chain management in many ways. Through their social channels, companies enhance communication with customers, generate demand, reduce operating costs, mitigate risk, increase productivity, and gain marketplace intelligence. Companies that aren’t active on social media are at a disadvantage because most of their customers, suppliers, and competitors are. Ready to leverage social […]

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Build a Great Team and Get Out of Their Way

Build a Great Team and Get Out of Their Way

Mike Gardner put himself through college working as a chef in a four-star Italian-American restaurant. But he hadn’t decided on a long-term career when he entered Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Then he took a class in physical distribution management with professor Thomas Speh, and lightning struck. MORE TO THE STORY: Logistics to the Rescue […]

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Diandra Hayban: Keeping New York City Prepared

Diandra Hayban: Keeping New York City Prepared

Diandra Hayban is the logistics shelter support program manager for NYC Emergency Management, a coordinating agency for the City of New York that plans and prepares for emergencies and coordinates emergency response and recovery, among other functions. She has been with the agency since 2013. Responsibilities: Managing logistics for NYC emergency shelters, including the agency’s […]

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Trends—July 2016

Trends—July 2016

2016: Logistics in Transition It’s transition time for the supply chain and logistics sector. New technologies are on the horizon, but aren’t here yet. Old ways of doing things are being slowly phased out as new ways phase in. Decades-old trade barriers are breaking down, opening new markets to the world. The way consumers shop […]

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Global Logistics—July 2016

Global Logistics—July 2016

UK Voters: See EU Later The British exit, or Brexit, referendum by the population of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union (EU) has already had some impact on the supply chain, and will likely have much more in the coming months. The dust is still settling after the narrow 51-percent victory, but as […]

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Ryan Kelly

Balancing Inventory for a Better Customer Experience

Q: How is e-commerce impacting inventory management for retailers? A: Inventory is a costly investment for retailers. With the growth of e-commerce, retailers have identified a potential opportunity to reduce working capital by thinning inventory at brick-and-mortar stores—opting instead to maintain major portions of inventory at distribution centers upstream. By adopting this strategy, retailers are […]

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Jamie Overley

How to Stand Out From the Crowd

The changing needs of today’s manufacturers, coupled with the intense challenges third-party logistics (3PL) providers face—from greater reliance on just-in-time inventory and the increasing role of technology, to port congestion and the truck driver shortage—have led to a landscape ripe with competition. Arguably more diversified and sophisticated than ever, the 3PL sector is seeing an […]

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Jerry Levy (pictured) and Gary Barker

How to Be Fashionably Green

The retail industry’s tectonic shift toward sustainability is real, with a renewed focus on clothing made from raw, organic materials, and nontoxic dyes or bleaches, with low water usage, and produced under socially responsible conditions. Yet this shift is only part of the story of how the retail and fashion industry is becoming greener. Other […]

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