6 Ways to Find Hidden Capacity

As shippers puzzle their way through a record truckload capacity shortage, they have to change how they do business to find the right truck at the right time for the right price.

Beyond Table Stakes: Freight Payment Clients Hold All the Cards

Advances in technology, increasing globalization, and the growth of e-commerce are upending the traditional freight bill audit and payment industry.

Good Question: To address the truck driver shortage, should we lower the minimum driver age to 18?

I agree with lowering the age restriction for getting an interstate CDL to 18. Currently, commercial drivers between 18 and 21 can operate with a CDL as long as they don’t cross state borders. Think about that—a 19 year old can legally operate a commercial rig between Miami and Pensacola, Florida (670 miles apart), but […]

Good News From the Government! (Yes, You Read That Right)

In its second estimate of Q2 2018 Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the U.S. Census Bureau quoted growth at 4.2 percent, the best quarterly figure since Q3 2014. That comparison is important because 2014 was also the last time the truck market was tight. When GDP rises above four percent, freight grows and the truck market […]

Shipping and Delivery: How to Get it Right

Thanks to the rise of e-commerce and heightening customer expectations, shipping and delivery have become key drivers of overall customer satisfaction. An e-commerce company’s ability to meet customer expectations can be a source of competitive differentiation. Executing against the wrong strategy—or not having a strategy at all—is a recipe for higher costs and lower customer […]

Conserving a National Resource

Everyone has an opinion about how to combat the truck driver shortage—from boosting pay and benefits to lowering the age for getting a CDL (see Good Question, page 10) to self-driving trucks. But one valuable weapon you don’t hear much about is driver wellness programs. Carriers can implement these programs quickly, and net near immediate […]

Driver Wellness Programs: The Right Thing to Do

Wellness programs keep drivers healthy, and carriers wealthy and wise.

Tuning Into Supply Chain Orchestration

In both the B2B and B2C markets, customers demand speedier shipments, greater flexibility, and more transparency in the order lifecycle. Only by innovating to establish real-time visibility with the power to make changes can companies achieve the agility required to meet customer needs and stand out from the competition. Let’s dig into five trends you […]

Helping Shippers Meet Production Deadlines With Custom Solutions – Celadon Logistics

When the ELD mandate turned next-day deliveries into two-day runs, Celadon Logistics came up with situation-specific supply chain solutions to help shippers in time-sensitive industries.

TMS Brings the Power

Electronics company Celestica plugs into a TMS solution to cut costs, increase visibility, and power continuous improvements.

Implementing a Network to Optimize a Client’s Supply Chain – Crane Solutions

Crane Solutions developed a customized solution for a leading audio/visual equipment rental company that lacked visibility to its time-sensitive shipments.

Using IoT to Move From Push to Pull

Customers want more and they want it now. If you are unable to meet expectations, they will go elsewhere. The supply chain model often used in retail distribution is outdated and broken. Using Internet of Things (IoT) and vertically integrated order processes can achieve a leaner supply chain and help you say goodbye to out […]

Securing Capacity While Pivoting for Peak Season – Hub Group

A home goods retailer turned to Hub Group to secure capacity in the face of a hectic peak season.

2018 Top 100 Truckers

Inbound Logistics’ annual Top 100 Truckers directory provides an in-depth index of carriers that match shippers’ diverse and demanding needs. MORE TO THE STORY: Use the Trucking Decision Support Tool IL editors selected this year’s list from a pool of 300-plus trucking companies, evaluating surveys, conducting online research, and talking with shippers and truckers alike. […]

2018 Trucking Perspectives

Insights collected through Inbound Logistics’ exclusive annual survey of shippers and truckers find the industry’s most significant trends and challenges.

Store Delivery Keeps Retailers in the Game

Multi-channel retail and fulfillment is typically based on the assumption that customers choose a main way to connect, whether physical stores or a website. Many retailers manage each channel separately with different teams, budgets, processes, tools, reporting structures, and revenue goals. In multi-channel retail and fulfillment, stores have their own stock and sell directly to […]

How to Choose a Specialized Carrier – Landstar

Q: What qualities should a shipper look for in a specialized carrier? A: A shipper’s evaluation should include people, processes, and performance. Specialized freight is often unique, high-value, and critical to the shipper or consignee operation, unlike many other commodities. Carriers with a history and reputation of safe, on-time and claim-free deliveries are the carriers […]

Nina Luu: Banking on Data

Nina Luu is CEO and co-founder of Shippabo, a cloud-based supply chain management solution headquartered in Los Angeles. Responsibilities: Leading shippers, logistics experts, and technologists in creating cloud-based supply chain solutions. Experience: Co-founder, IGH Global Corporation; marketing director, Evergreen Herbs Education: B.S., business administration, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, 2005. One year after college, I […]

Moving Forward and Upward

Profile of David Goldberg, CEO of DHL Global Forwarding U.S.

A Real-Time, Cost-Saving Opportunity – PLS Logistics

A client looked to PLS Logistics for a way to drive real-time visibility, performance, and cost savings to allow each of its 200+ office locations to operate effectively.

Inventory System Makes Mama and Data Proud

After Carter’s implements a cloud-based platform, inventory management and supply chain visibility become child’s play.

Send It Back! How to Manage E-Commerce Returns

Up to 30 percent of e-commerce orders shipped to customers wind up coming back. Here’s how smart retailers box up their reverse logistics strategies.

TradeLens Caps Blockchain Initiative

In an effort to apply blockchain to the world’s global supply chain, Maersk Line and IBM have collaborated to develop TradeLens, a blockchain-enabled shipping solution to promote more efficient and secure global trade, bring together supply chain partners to support information sharing and transparency, and encourage industry-wide innovation. To date, 94 companies are actively involved […]

Supply Chain Visibility: Can You See Me Now?

Using technology to gain a clear view into your supply chain can both wipe out costs and pour revenue to your bottom line.

Back-to-School Supply Chain

Tax, Energy, Land Incentives Drive Economic Development

Economic development partners collaborate to create incentive packages tailored to each company’s needs.

Returning Experience

The war between the retail/e-commerce customer experience and increasing costs is heating up, thanks to the impact that rising transportation prices are having on the retail process. That trend plagues e-commerce players and retailers, both large and small. For example, in July 2018, spot market trucking costs were up 30 percent year-over-year, according to DAT. […]

Home Depot Builds New Supply Chain

Home Depot will spend $1.2 billion to overhaul its supply chain to offer faster delivery for consumers and businesses. Walker Sands’ 2018 Future of Retail report offers the home improvement retailer some advice: To compete with Amazon, Home Depot should focus not only on delivery speed, but transparency as well. Only 30 percent of consumers […]

Leveraging Technology: Put Strategy First

With all the hype about technology’s potential, it’s easy to lose track of the basic truth that technology enables strategy. Technology applied to an inappropriate strategy will accelerate a firm’s demise. Tech trends enable strategies that are reshaping global supply chains. These new technologies complement each other; used in combination they create synergies far beyond […]

Is Asia The New Bermuda Triangle?

Large shipping losses declined by 38 percent globally over the past decade, but losses in Asia rose year-on-year, with incidents in the South China, Indochina, Indonesia, and Philippine maritime regions rising 25 percent. That makes Asia the top area worldwide for major shipping incidents in the past decade, leading it to be dubbed the "new […]

5 Tactics for Managing the Unexpected

No supply chain is immune from risk, and the farther a company’s supply chain traverses the globe, the more opportunity for things to go awry. Companies can take proactive steps to ensure they won’t be blindsided by sudden changes to their supply chain. Taking out a credit insurance policy from a credit insurer is just […]

Big Apple Polishes Freight Transportation System

New York City plans to overhaul its aging freight distribution systems through strategic investments to modernize maritime and rail assets and create new distribution facilities. Freight NYC is a $100-million plan with the ultimate goals of creating nearly 5,000 good-paying jobs for New Yorkers and a more sustainable and resilient supply chain network. New York […]

Fail Fast, Then Move On

Jim Barnes did not have a mentor at the start of his career. “No one taught me how to become a leader,” recalls Barnes, chief executive officer of enVista, an Indianapolis-based supply chain consultancy and software firm. MORE TO THE STORY: Getting Advice, Paying it Forward Instead, observation and experience helped Barnes develop his leadership […]

In Iceland, There’s No Place Like Drone

Consumers in Reykjavik, Iceland, will soon just have to walk out their back door to receive their packages. Drone technology company Flytrex, in partnership with Aha.is—Iceland’s largest online marketplace—launched 13 new routes for an autonomous on-demand urban drone delivery service to serve nearly half of Reykjavik. The upgraded service also includes an advanced “InAir” wire-drop […]

Good Question: What’s your best time-management tip?

The Eisenhower Box has had the largest impact on my time management. People have a tendency to put everything in the “urgent/important” bucket, which dilutes their focus. It has helped me more confi dently delegate or eliminate tasks altogether.

Will Airbnb for Warehouses Take Off?

On-demand services are becoming so much a part of our daily lives that millennials can’t imagine a world before Uber or Postmates. Now, on-demand service is becoming a reality in the logistics real estate sector. Technology platforms such as Flexe and Stord connect organizations that need warehousing space to those that have extra space on […]

Erik Snyder Keeps His Spirits Up

Erik Snyder is president of North America supply and procurement with Diageo, a leading premium spirits company and producer of brands including Johnnie Walker, Crown Royal, Smirnoff, and Guinness. Responsibilities: Oversee Diageo’s end-to-end supply chain and procurement operation in North America, including sourcing raw materials, distillation, manufacturing, packaging, planning, and customer service. Experience: Senior vice […]

Florida: Gateway to America, Pathway to Global Trade

For logistics and manufacturing companies, the Sunshine State is the place to grow.

Returns in the E-Commerce Retail Supply Chain – MD Logistics

In recent years, a rise in e-commerce sales has led to an increase in the amount of items returned. This increase in returns creates a challenging situation for retailers and an opportunity for their 3PL providers. Q: How does the reverse logistics process work? A: 3PL providers engineer returns solutions that are specific to their […]

Use Big Data to Improve Your Supply Chain – Transplace

The term "big data" has been one of the hottest buzzwords in recent years, which shouldn’t be a surprise. Statistical science and data analytics can help organizations acquire historical measurements and generate actionable information that improves supply chain visibility, drives operational efficiency, and supports growth. But knowing the importance of data is only the first […]

Europe Stays in the Loop

Virgin Hyperloop One will open a $500-million Advanced Technology Development and Testing Center in Spain, the company’s first European development facility. In return for this investment, Virgin Hyperloop One will receive 126 million euros in public aid through loans and grants to help establish the new center, advance its technology development and testing, and stimulate […]

Cross-Brand Collaborations: X Marks the Spot – SEKO Logistics

Cross-brand collaborations seem to be everywhere right now. But why the sudden explosion in collaborations? And why do brands do it? SEKO Logistics teamed up with digital e-commerce agency Red Hot Penny to analyze some likely reasons behind cross-brand collaborations to provide insight and inspiration. Open up new markets A collaboration of two brands in […]

Getting More Strategic about Transportation Sourcing – Dupré Logistics

When faced with the logistical dilemma created by the truck driver shortage, increased traffic, and the increase from retail to e-commerce, challenges can’t be fixed by doing what’s always been done. At Dupré Logistics, we see many organizations continuing to source tactically, based on price or as needed on the brokerage market; changes to that […]

7 Ways to Integrate Demand and Supply

Companies can achieve cohesive demand and supply integration (DSI) by following seven fundamental rules, recommends a recent University of Tennessee Global Supply Chain Institute study. The paper, based on the work of Mark Moon, PhD, a UT professor and global supply expert, focuses on 18 companies in a range of sectors with successful DSI as […]

Overcoming Omni-channel Challenges in Retail – Crane Worldwide Logistics

Supply chains should allocate product across today’s complex omni-channel networks to fulfill customer demand.

Protecting Your Supply Chain

Do you sometimes feel like cushioning your facilities and workers with bubble wrap to keep them safe? Here are five ways to pop that problem.

Canada and the United States: A Resilient Relationship

The United States and its northern neighbor remain trading partners with staying power.

What Do the New UPS Surcharges Mean?

To help shippers understand UPS’s recent surcharge increases, Spend Management Experts, a supply chain spend management consultancy, outlines the carrier’s new fees and their potential impact. The Increases: Effective June 4, 2018: The fee for over maximum limits and the oversize pallet handling surcharge increased by $150 and a new shipping charge correction audit fee […]

Cold Chain Strategies That Beat the Summer Heat

Ensuring summer foods make it to consumers fresh and intact ain’t no picnic.

News & Trends Impacting the Oil & Gas Supply Chain

Automation Takes Center Stage Once considered to be merely on the horizon of the oil and gas industry, highly sophisticated technology is now front and center. Key advantages include: Monitoring capabilities. With automation, oil and gas companies can keep track of their pipes and networks with unprecedented oversight. Reduced operating costs. Effective use of digital […]

Integrated TMS Platform Provides Supply Chain Benefits – DLS Worldwide

Q: What are the benefits of IT integration for shippers and customers? A: Customers are looking for the fastest, most accurate, economical, and timely way to quote freight for their own customers. They want a system that is simple to use and doesn’t require making calls, visiting other websites, or getting inaccurate information. With an […]

Footwear Chain Steps Up E-Commerce Efficiency

Browns Shoes makes great strides with a distributed order management system that gives inefficiencies the boot.

A Consolidated Fulfillment Solution Enables True Global Visibility – SEKO Logistics

SEKO Logistics helped virtualization technology company Sphere 3D Corp. gain global visibility and reduce warehousing and logistics costs.

Providing a Custom Logistics Solution for a Shipbuilder – Crane Worldwide Logistics

The Challenge Crane Worldwide Logistics’ client is one of the largest shipbuilders in the world. The challenge centered around moving several extremely large parts around the world that were critical to their production process. The product needed to arrive timely, safely, and in OEM approved shipments. It was also a requirement they be delivered at […]

DP World Extends Services to Europe with Unifeeder Acquisition

To expand its presence in Europe, Dubai port operator DP World acquired Danish logistics company Unifeeder from Nordic Capital Fund VIII and certain minority shareholders for $765 million. The aim is for DP World to boost its presence in the global supply chain and broaden its product offering to shipping firms and cargo operators, according […]

A Fresh Look at Intermodal

With driver shortage and capacity issues affecting trucking, once wary shippers are taking a different view of rail intermodal.

How to Reach the Pinnacle of Success

Last year, at age 29, Daniel Kaskinen, manager, strategic sourcing at Premier Inc., became the megawatt winner of the ISM®/Thomas™ 30 Under 30 Rising Supply Stars Recognition Program. He was recognized for his exceptional success at improving efficiencies and saving millions of dollars at his previous company, even at an early point in his career. […]

3PLs Put on the White Gloves

Logistics service providers reveal how they treat their customers like VIPs.

Automated Compliance: Allied’s Stock-in-Trade

Automating global trade compliance helps electronics component distributor Allied Electronics & Automation nail its screen test.

How to Prepare for Proposed China Tariffs

At the stroke of midnight July 6, 2018, tariffs against imports of tens of billions in yearly value of Chinese goods took effect for goods entered into or withdrawn from warehouses for consumption. Here’s what you should know: The 25-percent duties are based on country of origin, not country of export, and apply only to […]

Straighten Up and Fly Right

A logistics maxim holds that "air freight is an ocean shipment gone bad," says Neel Jones Shah, senior vice president and head of global air freight for Flexport Inc., an air and ocean freight forwarder. Many shippers likely can relate: They planned to move their goods using a less expensive but slower transportation mode. Then, […]

Anatomy of Hospital Supply Chain Disruptions

The aftermath of Hurricane Irma, which hit Puerto Rico in September 2017, created a severe shortage of IV bags in the continental United States. The reason: Baxter International, one of the major suppliers, manufactures the products in the U.S. territory and was crippled by the loss of electricity to the island. As a result, many […]

U.S. Seaports Need Multimodal Funding

U.S. port authorities identify more than $20 billion in projected multimodal port and rail access needs over the next decade, while one-third cite pressing rail project needs costing at least $50 million for each of their ports, according to a new American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) survey, The State of Freight III. Funding and […]

Driverless Trucks: A Different Idea

I admire and respect the individuals and companies working on perfecting driverless trucks. However, I don’t believe driverless trucks are an innovative concept. In fact, I believe just the opposite: Designing driverless trucks is the wrong solution for transportation. There is so much effort and capital being directed at wanting to make trucks driverless that […]

Disruptive Technologies Shake Up Supply Chains

When efficiency is the primary focus in integrated supply chain management, every little bit that helps to tighten both front- and back-end processes helps. Increasingly, companies in a variety of verticals are achieving such efficiencies by leaning on disruptive technologies. These envelope-pushing solutions could take the form of artificial intelligence used in automation software, robotics, […]

The Automotive Supply Chain: Disruption Down the Road

As electric and autonomous vehicles, and new business models shift into gear, automakers and their suppliers will need more than GPS to navigate the bumpy terrain.

Internal Audits: The Cornerstone of Compliance – A.N. Deringer

Internal audits are the cornerstone of your compliance program. Monitoring your performance, and that of your Customs broker, is the only way to determine if the policies and procedures you’ve put in place are effective. You may be asking yourself: How often do we do this? How do we do this? Who has time for […]

Footwear E-Tailers: Shoe Me The Money

E-commerce footwear sellers woo shoe shoppers with generous shipping and return policies designed to ensure a perfect fit.

What Can Humanitarian Supply Chains Learn from the Private Sector? – SCTL at the University of Washington

For-profit corporations have spent the past 20+ years optimizing their supply chains to provide superior customer service, improve responsiveness and cash flow and, ultimately, to boost profits. And a handful of stand-out enterprises like Amazon have actually altered expectations about the sort of results a best-in-class supply chain can deliver. Consumers, in both their personal […]

Dual Dynamics

If you are using a third-party logistics (3PL) provider for truck brokerage alone, you are leaving money on the table. I wrote that eight years ago, when commenting on the results of our annual 3PL market research. Why did I say that? Because logistics providers have evolved and developed an array of solutions that bring […]

Are You Ready for Omnichannel Retail?

An omnichannel retail strategy provides a consistent shopping experience across different channels and devices, requiring your supply chain to offer a smooth, positive experience for customers—no matter where and how they interact with your brand. Some supply chain challenges to address when dealing with an omnichannel retail strategy include: Supply chain visibility. Consumer expectations are […]

Safely Transporting Cold Chain Pharmaceutical Products – MD Logistics

Pharmaceuticals typically require special attention and handling throughout the supply chain. Consider the following attributes in a potential transportation provider.

What’s Driving Truck Regulation?

The trucking industry presents a rich example of the intersection between the public’s demand for safety and consumers’ demand for low-priced goods delivered when they want them. The essence of the trucking intersection is the presence of very large vehicles mixed among the very small vehicles motorists drive. Even the dumbest motorist knows that when […]

Fleet Operators Get No ELD Satisfaction

Slightly fewer than half of fleet operators responding to a Coretex Electronic Logging Device (ELD) satisfaction survey say the mandate is good for the transportation industry. Coretex surveyed 303 U.S. trucking companies of various sizes. More than two-thirds (69 percent) of responding companies say ELDs do not improve driver satisfaction, and 33 percent indicate it […]

Industrial Development Returns to the Rails

The United States’ inadequate supply of Class A industrial space located close to international shipping facilities adds complexity and cost to distribution networks. With sky-high land acquisition and development costs, and limited land availability around the busiest ports, companies are forced to scatter operations in several smaller facilities or pay premium prices for adequate space. […]

IoT: Where We Are, What Comes Next

The Internet of Things (IoT) is set to disrupt all industries, including the supply chain. While excitement around this disruptive technology is enticing, IoT still has a long way to go. Supply chain executives must be thoughtful and selective when it comes to investing in it. Let’s break down some benefits and drawbacks of IoT […]