Finding the Right 3PL Partner Delivers Key Benefits

Q: How important is it to find a good 3PL in today’s transportation marketplace? A: Today, finding a good 3PL company to partner with is more important than ever. Supply chains have been dramatically impacted by the pandemic and businesses need a partner who is both nimble enough to make the proper adjustments on the […]

Getting Crafty with Supply Chain Solutions

Verst Logistics helped an arts and crafts supplies company address peak season challenges and growing sales by expanding its supply chain capabilities.

2020 Top 10 3PL Readers’ Choice Excellence Awards

These third-party logistics (3PL) providers signal superlative service.

3PL Perspectives 2020

In our 15th annual 3PL market research report, Inbound Logistics uses 2020 vision to see how the world appears today to shippers and their logistics service providers.

Improve 3PL Warehouse Order Growth by 300% with the Right WMS

Learn how Woodland Group was able to be a partner for growth to their customers by being “invisible” while growing their business.

Building a Supply Chain in One Week

When their client pivoted to make a low-cost, readily available bed to quickly serve those on the front lines, SEKO Logistics rapidly set up distribution operations to meet urgent demand.

Sustaining Operational Excellence

TA Services’ transportation management solutions helped MRC Global, a distributor of pipe, infrastructure products, and valves and fittings, improve visibility and enhance service levels.

Drone Technology Improves Warehouse Performance

An innovative drone-based technology solution enables Romark Logistics to automate pallet counts and offer inventory analytics and insights to its customers.

Thriving Amidst a Competitive Supply Chain Labor Market

Faced with a labor shortage exacerbated by the pandemic, MD Logistics developed a recruitment strategy to attract talent for present-day conditions as well as allow for continued growth.

How Will the Future Unfold?

As the coronavirus continues to disrupt global supply chains, Gartner developed three scenarios to help chief supply chain officers (CSCOs) prepare for recovery and make preemptive decisions to set up their organizations for success. Gartner polled 833 IT and IT/business professionals and found that 84% of organizations are facing varying forms of disruption—from slight disruptions […]

USMCA: A Bright Light for Shippers

Many businesses around the country are suffering due to the economic impacts of COVID-19. Small and mid-sized businesses especially are being hit hard, with thousands in survival mode. Furthermore, declines in exports and global commerce are affecting the logistics and transportation sectors. However, there may be some light at the end of the tunnel.

How Returns Impact the Warehouse and What You Can Do About It

Returns have always been a challenge, but distributors today are experiencing a surge in returned items and orders. The cost of return deliveries in the United States will increase to $550 billion in 2020, according to Statista. That’s up from $314 billion just four years ago.

Logistics Gets Schooled

The writing is on the wall. Logistics and supply chain companies that invest in ongoing education, innovation, and research can attract new talent and better serve customers.

Vertical Focus: Renewable Energy

Lighting Up Renewable Hydrogen A coalition of major European electricity groups has urged the European Commission to prioritize renewable hydrogen in its COVID-19 pandemic recovery plan. Hydrogen powered by 100% renewable electricity has zero greenhouse gas emissions and should be Europe’s top priority when supporting a clean hydrogen supply chain, the coalition says. Wind and […]

Manufacturers Remain Optimistic

Despite continued impacts across industries (see chart), approximately 91% of manufacturers believe that North American manufacturing can recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a survey by Thomas Insights. The report also highlights the following key findings: A significant jump in COVID-19-related impacts occurred—89% of manufacturers surveyed say they felt impacts from COVID-19 in April […]

COVID-19 Resets: Logistics Draws the Line

Adept pivots. Generous acts. Creative solutions. Logistics and supply chain companies put one foot in front of the other and face down a global pandemic.

Make a New Plan, Stan

More than half of surveyed industry professionals say their supply chain planning process is only “somewhat effective,” regardless of the technology used, finds new research by AIMMS. A combined 28% state that their planning process is “very effective” or “extremely effective,” while 15% say their process is “not so effective,” and 2% say it is […]

What COVID-19 supply chain pivot impressed you the most? Why?

One Million Masks, founded by Shafqat Islam, which has built a digital supply chain. Powered by UPS, they have secured hundreds of thousands of PPE units for hospitals. Furthermore, it demonstrates a supply chain that was built in months that otherwise would have taken years. Over the coming months, we will continue to see this type of rapid innovation from savvy organizations.

15 Down & Dirty Ways to Get Green Now

Ready to reduce your company’s carbon footprint and cut waste in the supply chain? These steps will help you plant the seeds.

Reset, Rewind

What’s Lurking in Your Supply Chain?

You may think your company is well protected when it comes to cybersecurity, but an often overlooked source of vulnerability is your supply chain. If you can’t honestly say you are fully apprised of the security postures of your vendors, partners, and contractors, then you are already at major risk of a cyberattack.

Formulating Solutions for Chemical Shippers

With exacting specifications and transportation challenges heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic, shippers are turning to these partners to move chemicals safely and optimize supply chains.

In Defense of You

You’ve failed at logistics. So says David Segal in his recent article entitled "What Happened to the Great American Logistics Machine?" in The New York Times. Here are the article’s punchlines: The virus is "winning at the logistics game," and "let us acknowledge the obvious: The country is flunking a curriculum that it basically wrote." […]

Empty Trucks Get the Message

Freight technology company Loadsmart partnered with The Home Depot to launch the first-ever automated flatbed platform that pairs capacity and price to a shipment. Called Flatbed Messenger, it combines Loadsmart’s algorithms with The Home Depot’s dedicated capacity to help shippers find capacity at lower rates. Fleets that are dedicated to one customer often experience wasted […]

The Importance of Inventory Accuracy After COVID-19

Once the COVID-19 pandemic subsides and doors reopen, apparel and footwear retailers say their main concern is inventory accuracy—even over improving online order fulfillment and managing returns, according to a survey by SML RFID, an enterprise software solutions provider. Retailers have more inventory than ever throughout their supply chains, and with staff being furloughed and […]

NACD Program Ensures Seamless Partnerships

Warehouses and carriers are critical elements of the supply chain for the U.S. chemical distribution industry, which has a total economic impact of nearly $20 billion and provides more than 80,000 jobs across all 50 states. Chemical products are used in nearly every industry sector in the U.S. economy, and chemical distributors play an important […]

Tailoring Apparel Supply Chains for the Future

Apparel brands and retailers can use the COVID-19 crisis to take stock of existing business models and create more stable and sustainable supply chains for the future, finds GlobalData. Fashion retailers in key consumer markets across Europe and North America fight for survival as stores close, sales slump, and inventories mount. For many, the response […]

It’s Time to Digitize Your Back Office

Upgrading back-office functions may not be the sexiest subject when it comes to artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and business automation but, according to IDC research, it goes the furthest.

Big Wheels Keep on Turnin’

Trucks continue to move—in many cases faster than usual—to respond to the demands placed on the industry by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new data from the American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI). For example, at the intersection of I-85 and I-285 in Atlanta, known locally as Spaghetti Junction, afternoon rush-hour truck speeds are typically slower […]

Extreme Networks Rewires Its Supply Chain

Any company that has gone through a merger and acquisition knows how challenging it can be to integrate manual and disparate supply chain processes across the newly combined organization.

Global Trade Goes Digital

Freight forwarders and shippers can book sea, land, and air cargo shipments to and from anywhere in the world with the rollout of DP World’s online logistics tools and services. The company accelerated the launch to help shippers navigate the COVID-19 crisis and keep trade—particularly essential food and medical supplies—flowing. The new digital trade and […]

Sorting Out E-Commerce Priorities

E-commerce capabilities and technology have been vital to shippers’ success during the pandemic, finds a report from Kenco. Of the supply chain professionals responding to the survey, 90% say visibility technology is a “priority.” Other highlights from the report reveal: 24% of respondents say e-commerce is extremely important and their top priority, and 41% say […]

Goodbye NAFTA, Hello USMCA

It’s all systems go for the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) to take effect now that all three participating countries have taken the final steps necessary to comply with the commitments. According to the agreement, the USMCA is to enter into force on the first day of the third month subsequent to completion of these final […]

Digital Health Tools Can Keep Workers Safe and Preserve Privacy

Digital tools that confirm a person’s health status can create safe work environments while also protecting personal privacy as businesses and supply chains recover from the COVID-19 disruption, according to MIT professor Alex “Sandy” Pentland, who is working on this issue with the United Nations and Club de Madrid, a consortium of former democratic presidents […]

The Next Generation of Warehouse Labor

Working side by side, robots and humans reinvent warehouse work.

COVID-19 Supply Chain Resources & Recovery Strategies

3 Innovations on the Fast Track 1. Delivery drones. Their deployment has been fast tracked to reduce the risk of exposure for drivers and bolster capacity to meet soaring demand for home deliveries. For example, UPS and CVS plan to use drones to deliver prescription medications to a Florida retirement community. Alphabet’s drone delivery company, […]

Smart Warehouses Boost Their IQ

Implementing IoT, AI, drones, and other intelligent digital solutions in your warehouse is a brilliant move.

Pallets Take the Spotlight

Considered a crucial part of a systems approach to the supply chain, pallets are front and center in companies’ sustainability strategies.

Act Fast, Act Smart

More than ever before, maintaining flexibility in logistics is essential.

We Must Learn to Mitigate Supply Chain Disruption from Disasters

While the coronavirus pandemic put supply chain weaknesses on display, it has also shined a light on where we need to strengthen our capabilities to mitigate future disruptions.

Vertical Focus: Pet Industry

“Nearly 85 million U.S. households today have at least one pet, up from 73 million in 2010.”

Creating Differentiation Through Innovative E-Commerce Fulfillment

When shippers work with a 3PL that is consistently investing in technology and new distribution centers, they can increase service consistency and offer their customers unexpectedly fast fulfillment.

Fortune 500 Retailer Finds Cost Savings, Improves Performance with Data Solution

With RateLinx’s TracLinx module, an electronics retailer boosted the accuracy of its shipment tracking data, gaining real-time visibility for data-driven insights into its logistics performance.

Bolstering Customer Experience in the Supply Chain

3PL MD Logistics becomes an integral part of retailers’ supply chains, focusing on two types of customer experiences: the retailers’ and their customers’ experience.

Staying Productive in Unproductive Times

While driving around my neighborhood, I’ve noticed a lot more people putting items out to the curb. Have you noticed this? I wondered about that for a moment and then realized what was happening. People are using the virus downtime to organize, clean, and take up projects long postponed. The result is an uptick in […]

Providing Solutions Through Unprecedented Times

With the demand for essential supplies skyrocketing across the country, Hub Group’s collaboration with retailers has helped suppliers deliver critical loads quickly and safely.

Intermodal Leans In

In a volatile period for supply chains, intermodal proves attractive to shippers seeking dependability.

2020 TMS Buyer’s Guide

Supply chain disruptions created by the global pandemic, shifting capacity, fluctuating fuel costs, and demanding e-commerce customer requirements are raising shipper and carrier interest in transportation management systems (TMS). A variety of solutions are available to meet every company’s unique needs. From cloud-based, on-demand, web-hosted applications to traditional licensing installations, over the road, on the […]

China’s Road to Restoration

After reporting no new cases of COVID-19 in March 2020, people are going back to work in China—but companies still face a slow return to production. Not only do China’s original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) face many challenges in resuming their production capacity, but global manufacturers also feel the impact of shortages in their supply chains. […]

The Road Map Out of This Mess

For years, I have been a proponent of operating a lean and agile supply chain, but some now say the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the shortcomings of a supply chain that is perhaps too lean. To be “lean,” however, doesn’t mean maintaining extremely low inventory levels with no coordination or backup plan. It also appears […]

Bringing End-2-End Efficiency to Your Logistics Operations

With economic consequences from COVID-19 and other resulting challenges, companies are looking for ways to manage more efficiently with less—while reallocating resources to more productive activities and maximizing freight spend value. Logistics operations are a great place to start, as even the smallest percentage savings could mean triple-digit impact to bottom lines. These operations are […]

Efficiencies and Revenues Skyrocket for Distributor with Digital Order and Logistics Management

MPO’s cloud platform for order and logistics management allowed an agricultural spare parts distributor to streamline fulfillment, obtain full order visibility, and reduce shipping costs for customers.

The High Cost of Invisibility

The research is well documented and it’s not pretty. Supply chain visibility is a key driver to a company’s success, yet remains a top challenge. Nearly 7 in 10 procurement executives say they do not have full visibility of their supply chains, according to the Business Continuity Institute (BCI).

Agility On Demand

An instantaneous experience. It’s what consumers expect and the environment online retailers face. When consumers are captured by a product they must have, online retailers have only a few swipes and a few minutes until their brand’s reputation is on the clock.

Get RIP-Roaring Results with IoT

Companies are increasingly investing in returnable industrial packaging (RIP) to ship products to customers as sustainably as possible.

Molson Coors Brews the Right Transportation Mix

Take a look at the loading area of Molson Coors Beverage Company’s breweries, and the word “complexity” comes to mind. It’s not just the vast quantity of beer and beverage products moving out of its seven North American production facilities that turns up the volume on logistics and supply chain operations. It’s also the frequency of trucks being loaded and the pace of activity all week long—including weekends—that add to the challenge of delivering products to its 700 distributors on time.

Grape Expectations: Wine Quality Control

The global wine industry is complex and interconnected, but lacks the tools to properly optimize its supply chain. To improve transparency for producers, distributors, retailers, and consumers, IBM and eProvenance released VinAssure, a blockchain solution that tracks wines as they move from the vineyard to the end-consumer. By encouraging transparency, accountability, and rapid data exchange, […]

Blockchain, Meet Supply Chain

When distributed ledger technology joins supply chain management, companies can make reverse logistics more efficient, better track product history, generate trustworthy freight invoices, and more.

Making the Move to Warehouse Work

Soaring demand for warehouse space creates a highly competitive labor environment in many markets, especially during the pandemic, says Newmark Research. The following factors are driving employees to leave their jobs and enter the warehousing and transportation sector (see chart), the report says: More space. In the second quarter of 2021, a record 423.7 million […]

2020 Top 100 Logistics IT Providers

KEY CRM/CX: Customer Relationship Management DRP: Distribution Resource Planning ERP: Enterprise Resource Planning GTM: Global Trade Management MRP: Manufacturing Resource Planning PLM: Product Lifecycle Management TMS: Transportation Management System WMS: Warehouse Management System YMS: Yard Management System FIND MORE. SEARCH HERE: Use the Logistics IT Decision Support Tool — SEARCH on any of these data points to match your requirements to the Top 100: bit.ly/IT-DST […]