3PLs Drive Logistics IT Solutions

Massive shifts in consumer expectations and e-commerce acceleration signal a new direction and new challenges. Shippers are turning to 3PLs’ technology expertise to meet service expectations in an ever-changing marketplace.

Great Logistics Sites Shaping the Future

From access to ports and infrastructure, readily available workers, and proximity to millions of consumers, logistics sites deliver and build on advantages. Here’s how organizations support their continued success.

Reframing Reverse Logistics: Better Business, Better World

Q: How can reverse logistics help provide a balance between profit maximization and sustainability? A: The moment a product reaches its buyer, the job of the forward supply chain is done. Everything after that point,including aftersales service, warranty management, defective repairs, spare parts management, returns bring-back—as well as the associated transportation, liquidation/disposition including recycling, and […]

Train or Truck? Ocean or Air? Choosing the Right Mode

Here’s some practical advice for deciding how to ship your load, in normal and new normal times.

DAT iQ Optimizes the RFP Process

Analytics from DAT iQ take the uncertainty out of every step of the RFP process.

Network Analysis Reveals Supply Chain Optimization Opportunities

A network optimization study with Odyssey Logistics & Technology gave a global manufacturer, which spent more than $1 billion annually on shipping, the insight to optimize its global supply chain network.

Vertical Focus | Beer, Wine & Spirits

Some States in Low Spirits Liquor shortages in several U.S. states will likely continue into 2022, local news outlets report. Bars and restaurants struggle to stock their shelves now that some COVID-19 mandates are lifted and consumers venture back out, and the high demand is straining supply. Three reasons why: 1. State limitations: North Carolina […]

IL Exclusive Report: 5 Significant Service Trends

Which services are shippers buying, and what does that say about the current supply chain landscape? Take a look at five significant trends based on data from shippers responding to Inbound Logistics’ audience survey from July 2016 to July 2021: 1. Drop in site selection: The number of respondents making site, port, and facility selection […]

3 Ways AI Can Reap Benefits

Set to generate more than $550 billion in revenue by 2024, arguably no sector in the technology world is growing more rapidly than artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). And while AI may be experiencing well-known impacts on industries such as healthcare and retail, it’s also quietly affecting logistics and shipping, particularly freight procurement.

Eastman Alert: What’s Your Emergency?

October 4, 2017 was a scary day at Eastman Chemical Company’s Kingsport, Tennessee, headquarters.

Efficiency Lives Where Technology and Human Intelligence Intersect

Technology can make a difference in every aspect of the supply chain when used correctly. The combination of quality talent, technology, and the human touch quickly brings about improved efficiency, increased transparency, and limited freight damage.

Preparing for the Next Big Disruption

Supply chains are rarely at the forefront of everyday discourse—until a problem arises. Empty shelves that normally hold ample supplies of toilet paper, cleaning products, or even meat and poultry, provide just a glimpse of the massive impact the pandemic had on international supply chains.

Retailers, Suppliers, and the Ties that Bind

From leading new data technology efforts to recruiting and cultivating top talent, Kevin Williamson’s days are filled. When he does find spare time, he spends it focusing on innovations that will improve his company even more.

Retail Gets Back to Work

As workplaces re-open on varying schedules, e-commerce retailers flex to accommodate new trends in consumer and business spending.

For the Love of Dog

9 WMS Must-Haves

When shopping for a warehouse management system (WMS), one size doesn’t fit all. To narrow your search, look for solutions with these must-have features to meet your current and future business demands.

Trucking Strategies to Keep Your Freight Moving

With capacity tight and trucker employment stretched thin, carriers can be selective about who they work with, so it’s important for shippers to have a game plan. Here are practical ways to ensure your freight gets where it needs to go.

Dollar Tree—Winning Through Logistics

What can a great logistics operation do for a company in this economy? Lots more than move boxes around, as it turns out. Take the logistics team at Dollar Tree as an example. Over the years, the discount variety store has invested in the kind of logistics operations associates who keep the company financially sound […]

WMS Guide 2021

Warehouse management systems are coveted now more than ever as consumer behaviors continue to shift. This short list of leading solutions can help your business stay agile to meet surging fulfillment demands.

Freight Bill Audit & Payment: Sparking Supply Chain Synapses

Supply chain analysis and insight have become top of mind over the past 18 months. These freight bill audit and payment (FBAP) firms conceive solutions and activate process improvements for shippers’ transportation networks and strategies.

Syfan Logistics ‘Goes to College’ to Solve Labor Challenge

Syfan worked with colleges and universities around its headquarters to develop a program to meet current hiring needs as well as build a foundation for the future.

2021 Trucking Perspectives

Through its exclusive annual survey of motor carriers and shippers, Inbound Logistics offers a picture of the trucking industry in an economy distorted by supply chain disruptions.

2021 Top 100 Truckers

Inbound Logistics‘ annual Top 100 Truckers directory offers a comprehensive guide to help you find carrier partners that best fuel your diverse and demanding needs, especially in today’s challenging and volatile business climate. More than 200 trucking companies, including the best-paying truckers, submitted their credentials to be considered for the list. IL editors evaluated surveys […]

White Glove Services: When It’s Time to Call In a Specialist

Q: When and why would someone need a special commodities carrier? A: Special commodities carriers are experts at performing complex, often delicate, moves that most freight carriers would not typically handle. Customers that utilize special commodities carriers expect an extra level of care, professionalism, and quality of service. Special commodities carriers are selected when the transport […]

September 11, 2001

Originally posted in September 2001, Inbound Logistics looks back on the memories of 9/11 – 20 years later.

What’s the first thing you would do to address the truck driver shortage?

Improve the quality of life on the road. “Shipper of choice” and “broker of choice” wouldn’t be terms because they would be the norm, not the exception. Clean accommodations and safe resting/sleeping areas would be everywhere. Getting trucks loaded in under two hours would be the expectation everywhere in every sector. Higher standards for drivers from all partners = a better job = more drivers.

Vertical Focus | Agriculture

Unearthing the Land of Cotton You can sell unwanted cotton clothes at a garage sale or donate them to avoid landfills, but what about burying them in soil? The Goondiwindi Circular Cotton Project in Australia recently found that old cotton textiles can improve soil quality on farms, potentially unearthing a large-scale circular solution for textile […]

Americans Take the Bait

Precision Starts with Visibility

The new must-have supply chain qualities are speed and accuracy—and the cost for not measuring up is unequivocally high. Manufacturers have been given a seemingly simple choice: maintain optimal levels of accuracy, dependability, and responsiveness, or pay the hefty price. Assuming success will be easy is a costly mistake.

How can brick-and-mortar retail make a comeback?

Retailers are wise to prioritize flexibility rather than putting all their eggs into either in-store or online baskets. The future of retail may be brick-and-mortar for some, however many factors are still at play. It’s not a simple answer. The future is not one-size-fits-all. The ability to be nimble and proactive not only boosts efficiency, […]

Supply Chain Boot Camp

Undercover Boots, based in Panama, has been designing and selling its colorful rain boots and shoes since its founding in 2014. Over the past seven years, it has expanded sales to 72 countries, even though only eight individuals are listed on its employee roster.

Creating a Business-Friendly Environment

At the crux of Michigan’s central expressways, five Class A rail lines, and the Detroit Metropolitan Airport, you’ll find the City of Romulus, which residents refer to as the “Home of Opportunity.” The city’s access to transportation and 3,146 acres of undeveloped land have positioned Romulus as a logistics hub for developers from Michigan and across the nation.

3 Ways to Bolster Your Supply Chain

Organizations across industries have spent decades optimizing supply chains for maximum profit, but the pandemic highlighted almost overnight how little attention these companies have paid to resilience. As production and mobility of goods experienced historic disruptions, demand quickly exceeded supply and forecasts have failed to produce reliable information for months.

10 Ways to Improve Your Supply Contract

Brexit, COVID-19, and the Suez Canal congestion brought Force Majeure clauses in supply chain contracts into sharp focus. Force Majeure clauses seek to limit the liability of a party whose performance is affected by an unforeseen event beyond that party’s control.

It’s Time for All Retailers to Go Hybrid

Marcia Brey is vice president, distribution, with GE Appliances, a Haier company.

What is the secret to a successful shipper/3PL partnership?

Three fundamental pillars define a successful partnership: a direct application programming interface (API) integration, a shared target customer, and a partnership mentality focused on solutions. When any one of these pillars falter, the client suffers and that is unacceptable. As a 3PL, it’s our responsibility to help clients mitigate pain points and enable growth.

Handle with White Gloves

As consumers become increasingly comfortable buying over-sized goods online, manufacturers and retailers partner with white-glove, last-mile delivery services to make in-home set-up and assembly a first-class experience.

Acing Your Stress Test

Facing more frequent disruptions—from natural disasters to the pandemic—supply chain professionals are shifting their focus to mitigate risk and assess resilience. Post-pandemic, 93% of executives responding to a McKinsey survey say they expect to increase resilience by rebalancing their supply chains, an increase from 70% before the pandemic. A supply chain resilience stress test is […]

Other Reasons Why Supply Chain Stress Won’t End Soon

Our "new normal" global consumption reality won’t be ending soon. It’s not just e-commerce, virus buying, and the resultant impact on transport lift availability that’s driving shortages. Other factors augment long-term stress on your ability to marshal supplies and source transport to serve customers. Millennials with buying power, and there are lots of them, will […]

Finding a Caffeine Fix

Fresh Strategies for Rebuilding Retail

E-commerce retailers construct new partnerships and processes to enhance operations, brick by brick.

It’s Time for Women in Transportation

When the pandemic first hit the United States, it wiped out millions of jobs, particularly among women who found themselves back home and coordinating everything from elderly parent medical issues to home-school activities for kids.

Combating the Logistics Labor Shortage By Addressing Driving Factors

Understanding the underlying causes behind the logistics labor shortage is key to addressing it. Here are the strategies implemented by Taylored Services to combat the shortage.

Florida: Logistics Coming in Hot

The Sunshine State is a logistics hotspot, offering sizzling transportation connections, blazing industrial real estate opportunities, and blisteringly efficient import/export capabilities.

Avoiding Freight Detention and Seizure

Knowing the most common reasons CBP seizes a shipment can help you avoid the hassle.

Tive Helps Optimize Courier Deliver OTIF Pharma Products by Eliminating Temperature Excursions

Without real-time visibility into your pharma shipment’s location and temperature, you are risking costly failures in your supply chain.

Change Is Here to Stay in the Supply Chain: Here’s How to Manage It

The peaks and valleys we’re experiencing in the transportation market are not for the faint of heart, but there are moves you can make to regain some control.

Logistics Supports a Healthy Pharma Industry

From managing distribution channels to boosting visibility and security, the pharmaceutical and life sciences supply chain mixes complexity with risk. Here are the technologies and strategies that inject efficiency into supply chains.

There’s No Easy Button for AI and ML

It’s easy to get excited about using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to transform supply chain and logistics operations. Take a bunch of data, run it through a model, and uncover the hidden answers that take your business to the next level.

Incentives Brighten Site Selection Decisions

Tax, energy, and land incentives can turn a good location into a great one. Here’s what companies and the logistics providers who serve them need to consider as they explore locating, relocating, or expanding their businesses.

It’s Time to Rethink the Routing Guide

The routing guide is the manifestation of a shipper’s transportation strategy and a rough estimate of its budget for the upcoming year. It connects the annual bid with actual load tendering within a TMS, and strategically allocates and assigns each shipment to the appropriate carrier.

3 Ways Dynamic Pricing Helps Retailers

Dynamic pricing is everywhere. Just about anything purchased through Amazon has been impacted by some element of dynamic pricing. Surge pricing on Uber, toll road prices that rise as traffic builds up, and even concert tickets are using the technology.

EVs Get a Charge Out of Aluminum-Ion Batteries

Aluminum-ion rechargeable batteries charge 10 times faster than lithium-ion batteries, recent test results show in a study by Australia-based Graphene Manufacturing Group. Although their energy density is about 60% of the energy per weight of the best lithium-ion batteries, they provide other benefits: Speedy charge. A smartphone running an aluminum-ion battery could charge fully in […]

How to Import Duty-Free with Section 321

Running an e-commerce business can be a great source of income, but it can also be complicated. Ordering products from the other side of the world, navigating global logistics and even setting up successful sales channels are all a huge problem for retailers to overcome. Then throw into the mix of this a huge trade […]

Light Through the Cloud

Regina Andrew did more than survive the pandemic—it thrived. “If you didn’t do well in the home furnishing industry during the pandemic, then you were doing something wrong,” says Jim Bonomo, the company’s chief operating officer.

Navigating Unexpected Hiccups

Uncertainties and unexpected hiccups can hit businesses at any time. Without resilience and enough preparedness, a business can struggle to cope with these unforeseen events.

7 Critical Questions You Need to Ask

With a huge number of constantly shifting variables, suppliers, and other factors to consider, it’s easy to feel that managing supply chain risk is an unending battle that you’ll never win.

Tech Support

The need for supply chain resilience, visibility, agility, and control drives technology across multiple sectors.

E-Commerce Innovation: Leaders of the Pack

E-commerce brands looking to protect merchandise and reduce their carbon footprint are exploring surprising new packaging materials, designs, uses, and re-uses.

Fertilizer Company Launches Autonomous, Zero-Emission Vessel

In an effort to reduce its reliance on diesel trucks, Norway-based fertilizer company Yara International has developed the first autonomous, zero-emission cargo ship. The Yara Birkeland is fully autonomous in piloting as well as port operations, allowing the vessel to dock, tether, and begin the cargo transfer process on its own. Yara relies on diesel […]

8 Surefire Ways to Navigate Global Supply Chain Upheaval

Demand volatility coupled with capacity shortages. Lead times stretching out weeks, even months. Congestion at ports worldwide. What can shippers do to keep their supply chains moving? Plenty.

Plastic Pallets Stack Up Sustainability

What’s in store for the pallet industry, and how will it affect retailers’ sustainability goals? Jeff Pepperworth, president and chief executive officer at iGPS Logistics, a national plastic pallet pooling services provider, shares his outlook. Q: What’s the state of the plastic pallet industry at the moment? Right now, the industry is robust. We see […]

Extreme Project Logistics: Take It to the Limit

Demanding logistics projects can bring out the best in teams as they band together to navigate an array of complex challenges.

Big Ideas for Small Companies

Small companies take big steps to navigate supply chain challenges.

2021 Summer Reading Guide

When it’s time to absorb your next audiobook or crack open a book this summer, take a dip into this collection of fresh research, actionable advice, and best practices to refresh your supply chain knowledge.

Catch Me When I Fall

A trust fall is a team-building exercise where the one doing the falling willingly trusts that those standing behind will catch them before they hit bottom. We chose the trust fall as an apt theme for our annual third-party logistics edition. Whether you voluntarily fall or are shoved by business realities—pandemic, labor shortages, remote workforces, […]

3PLs Have Your Back

Shippers trust their third-party logistics partners will be there for them—no matter what the business conditions.

Top 10 3PLs Readers’ Choice Excellence Awards

These third-party logistics providers have earned your trust—and your votes—with their consistency and customer service.

2021 Top 100 3PLs

When your enterprise faces supply chain and logistics challenges, these partners won’t let you fall. In alphabetical order, here are the 100 third-party logistics providers deemed best of the best by Inbound Logistics editors.

Demand Accuracy In Your Supply Chain

During the pandemic, a lot of the focus on supply chain tended to be on the supply side, and rightly so, due to the highly publicized sourcing, production, distribution, and transportation issues. As a result, organizations continue to look to increase productivity, flexibility, and agility through programs such as Lean, increased automation, robotics, artificial intelligence, and others.

Reducing Customer Costs Through Strategic Inventory Movements

The supply chain presents a considerable, albeit unavoidable, cost to companies. Efficient operations with a proactive logistics partner are vital in allowing companies to maintain a balance between this expense and the final cost of product.

Flexing Labor Practices to Respond to Supply Chain Disruptions

Responding to e-commerce surges without compromising service levels, MD Logistics flexed labor across its business by emphasizing four core elements.

From Robots to Running Shoes

With homebound consumers buying new shoes and gear like never before, DHL Supply Chain and Locus Robotics helped Brooks Running race to meet consumer demand and prepare for future growth.