Alaska: Logistics at the Global Crossroads
Shipments moving to, from, and through Alaska connect the state’s businesses and residents to the rest of the world.
Going Green to Save Green
Can reducing environmental impact generate significant financial rewards? For Caterpillar, the proof is in the profits.
Are Your Processes Adding Value or Waste?
Packaging helps protect and preserve products, but these days companies tend to over-package and over-protect. Excess packaging illustrates the waste known in Lean methodology as overprocessing. Added processing that doesn’t bring value to goods or services in the customer’s eyes creates unnecessary waste. When trying to eliminate overprocessing waste, start by focusing on standardized work. […]
6 Secrets to Finding the Right 3PL
To help mitigate a potential capacity shortage, many shippers are turning to third-party logistics (3PL) providers to help cover lanes that otherwise would be difficult to fill. If you are looking to partner with a 3PL, these guidelines can help you secure a beneficial service provider relationship. 1. Choose carefully. Until recently, Internet access and […]
Is Slow Steaming Good for the Supply Chain?
When shipping lines began promoting slow steaming—operating ships at lower speeds to reduce fuel costs and carbon emissions—they highlighted its environmental benefits. Slow speeds reduce fuel consumption and, therefore, the output of harmful emissions, helping shippers reduce their carbon footprint and reinforce their green image. Sailing ships at slower speeds does significantly reduce fuel consumption. […]
The Top 100 Logistics IT Providers & Market Research Survey
Inbound Logistics reveals the latest logistics technology trends influencing the supply chain sector—and 100 companies that are breaking new ground and leading the market.
Building an Effective Import Compliance Program
Q: How do shippers create an importing program? A: Meeting import control obligations need not be a painful experience. Proactive import compliance planning and governance will minimize the risks and negative consequences of non-compliance. First, understand current import laws and regulations. Familiarize yourself with government policies and procedures prior to actually importing your goods. You […]
Navigating New IT Pathways
Logistics information technology is many things, but static isn’t one of them. In the supply chain, cloud computing opened new ways for logistics managers to deploy best-of-breed solutions, capture and disperse information, and execute change. Mobile communication enables practitioners to seed the cloud from anywhere, then feed off that shared data. Social media offers a […]
Minimizing Supply Chain Risk
Lean concepts such as just-in-time, virtual inventory, supplier rationalization, and fewer distribution facilities reduce total supply chain costs. They also increase supply chain risk. Chris Cameron, solution architect at Exton, Pa.-based supply chain solutions provider Elemica, offers these tips for preventing supply chain disruptions. 1. Identify and assess current risk. Quantify and prioritize risk, then […]
Jason Mathers: Carbon Slasher
Jason Mathers is senior manager, corporate partnerships at the Boston office of the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), an environmental advocacy group. He has held this position since 2006. Responsibilities: Leading partnerships with Fortune 1000 companies to reduce carbon emissions in freight transportation while also reducing freight costs. Experience: U.S. Navy, USS Normandy, operations specialist, petty […]
Global Logistics—April 2013
Russia Rushes to Develop Trans-Siberian Rail Line Things are heating up in the Orient—and Russia, for once, is lighting a spark. The country is in a favorable position as domestic consumption continues to grow, Europe struggles, and Asia’s economies grow apace. Spanning two continents, Russia has long sought to develop and expand infrastructure across Siberia […]
CNG as a Transportation Fuel: A Fuel Manager’s Perspective
Since 2009, natural gas prices have followed a decidedly different path than gasoline and diesel prices. Natural gas prices have dropped 43 percent, while gasoline and diesel prices increased by more than 200 percent. These divergent price trends have created an opportunity to use compressed natural gas (CNG) as a transportation fuel. Based on the […]
Sharing the Load
Transloading strategies reduce touches and costs, and give shippers greater flexibility to respond to changing demand.
Best Practices to Manage International Freight Spend
Many companies have switched operations to low cost suppliers—only to find that higher than expected transportation expenses outweighed the benefits. In fact, the logistics costs associated with operating a global supply chain can be 6 to 11 percent of revenue, roughly three to five times more than a domestic supply network. A recent AberdeenGroup report, […]
How Freight Classification Changes Impact Shippers
Q: What are some of the recent and proposed changes to the National Motor Freight Classification (NMFC) used to determine the class for rating less-than-truckload (LTL) shipments? A: The most notable change—effective Dec. 1, 2012—was in classifying computer equipment. Under the new classification, this product type moved to a density-based rating with the lowest possible […]
Are You Paying Too Much for Transportation? Benchmark Carrier Activities to Find Out
If you haven’t reviewed your carrier activity in the past 12 to 18 months, there’s a good chance your transportation costs are more than what you’ve planned, higher than the rates listed in your routing guide, and, quite possibly, higher than competitive market rates. Over the past year, shippers have begun to feel the pinch […]
To Rebuild America’s Economy, Keep Products at Home
Despite anecdotal evidence of a comeback brewing in domestic industry, wide-ranging new data repeatedly point to major—even mounting—manufacturing woes, including flatlining growth and record trade deficits. More importantly, advanced domestic manufacturing keeps failing a crucial competitive test: holding onto markets in its own enormous American backyard. Imports continue to gain at the expense of U.S. […]
Five Tips for Landing a Successful Supply Chain Internship
From the Editor: Our Smart Moves column usually features insights from academic experts, but this month we feature a student’s perspective. MBA candidate Sweta Ashwarya’s sound advice on finding an internship applies to anyone delving into their professional network to pursue career advancement. Albert Einstein once said, "The only thing that interferes with my learning […]
GTM: The World at Your Fingertips
Global trade management software offers greater shipment visibility and control, eases the pain of border-crossing compliance, and streamlines financial transactions—all from your browser.
Emerging Markets Break Through
To tap the potential of emerging markets, shippers and their service providers spring forward with new logistics tactics and strategies.
Sporting Goods Logistics: Keeping the Ball Rolling
Athletic equipment distributors and retailers use supply chain management to avoid stockouts, manage seasonal peaks, and stay in the game.
Georgia: Logistics Front and Center
A prime geographic location positions businesses in Georgia to take the lead.
America’s Hardened Arteries
Over there: They plan to build an island where none exists. And a modern port. And road and rail connections. In five years. Over here: We study for more than two decades whether or not to dredge the Savannah River. Over there: They measure port operation productivity in multiples of what we have here. "Compared […]
Preparing Your Supply Chain For Seasonal Peaks
Failing to secure efficient labor, sufficient warehouse space, and reliable carriers for seasonal peaks can wreak havoc on your supply chain. Kyle Oslos, director of logistics for APL Logistics, offers the following advice to help you prepare for peak season. 1. Verify and clarify your relationships with staffing providers. Whether you use one temporary staffing […]
Brian Morgan: Transportation Superconductor
Brian Morgan is director of logistics at Leviton, a manufacturer of electrical wiring devices, network and data center connectivity solutions, and energy management systems, based in Melville, N.Y. He joined the company in 2012. Responsibilities: Managing the transportation network and introducing technologies to improve transportation operations. Experience: Intern, Corvette workplace development team, General Motors; manufacturing […]
Trends—March 2013
Winner Takes Oil As debate about the Keystone XL pipeline continues to rile industry, politicians, and environmentalists, the railroads are minding their own booming business. The volume of crude oil hauled in U.S. freight trains more than tripled in 2012, as production from shale formations surged. U.S. freight trains hauled nearly 234,000 carloads of crude […]
Global Logistics—March 2013
India’s Auto Industry: Abundant Drive, But Will Progress Follow? India’s economy has been faltering amid questions about protectionist business and trade policies, socio-political imbalances, and transportation weaknesses. But the country shows signs of progress in one industry: automotive. When Tata Motors debuted the world’s cheapest car in 2008, it created a buzz. The Tata Nano […]
e-Commerce: Finding the Sweet Spot
Online retailers seeking new DC and warehouse sites need transportation infrastructure and other resources to support a constant, rapid-fire flow of shipments.
Understanding Warehouseman’s Liens
When a warehouse operator believes it is owed storage and handling charges from a customer, it will often assert that it holds a “warehouseman’s lien” over the customer’s goods stored in the warehouse. By asserting such a lien, the warehouse operator is attempting to prevent the customer from shipping or otherwise making use of any […]
Performance-Based Negotiations: Simulation as Support for Decision-Making
Performance-based logistics (PBL) contracts have the potential to reduce cost to the buyer, while also increasing capability. This is contingent on the right set of metrics and cost targets being developed to ensure the right contractor incentive. Today, less than five percent of work performed in both government and private sectors is under PBL deals. […]
Tracking Tools Protect Food Shipment Freshness
Managing food safety can be difficult in the best of conditions. From the field to the retailer, food comes in contact with soil, water, pallets, vehicles and a variety of other materials – any of which can introduce human pathogens into the food chain. Meat, seafood, poultry, and fresh fruits and vegetables are the highest-risk […]
Leveraging Technology to Accelerate Productivity and Profit
Companies are increasingly turning to logistic services providers to run their manufacturing, warehousing, and transportation operations more efficiently and at less cost than they can run it themselves. Particularly in the past few years, many companies have outsourced logistics to save on operations costs and labor. This puts the crowded third-party logistics (3PL) market at […]
Plan Ahead to Avoid Overproduction
Sometimes too much of even a good thing can be bad. Such is the case with excess inventory. Companies need sufficient inventory to meet customer demand, but too much stored product can result in negative consequences, such as high carrying costs. When companies produce or purchase too much inventory, it is often the result of […]
Trends—February 2013
Green: The United Color of Benetton Sustainability has gained fashion appeal over the past few years. But apparel companies are growing even more sensitive to social responsibility, especially as it relates to materials procurement and use in the supply chain. Benetton Group is the latest apparel brand to join Greenpeace’s Detox Program, launched in 2011 […]
Global Logistics—February 2013
Lifting Supply Chain Barriers at the Border Improving border administration and transport, and telecommunications infrastructure and services, could boost global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by almost five percent, and world trade by 15 percent, according to a new report by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with Bain & Company and the World Bank. Completely […]
Distance Learning: Making the World Your Classroom
Earn a degree without quitting your job? Online supply chain management and logistics programs make it possible, no matter where in the world you are.
Distance Learning Programs
A sample of supply chain, logistics, and transportation degrees and certification programs offered partially or entirely online.
Less Than Containerload, More Than Worth It
Improved service plus new technology and customized solutions equal new incentive to take advantage of LCL’s benefits.
Ag Logistics: Growing Pains
The success of U.S. agriculture depends on a functional transportation and logistics network that combines efficiencies and economies across all modes.
Learning on the Job
Today’s supply chain is vastly different than 10 years ago—and positively futuristic compared to 1981, when this magazine first espoused a novel approach to managing transportation and logistics. The pace of change has been swift and sweeping. Technology innovation and proliferation have broken down functional silos and torn asunder geographic boundaries and constraints. Shrinking computers […]
Crafting Logistics Provider Contracts That Cover All the Bases
Before committing to a logistics service provider partnership, logistics managers must ensure they understand all the contract’s parameters. One way to accomplish this is by outlining the terms of the agreement before signing the contract. George Muha, regional director of third-party logistics service and solutions provider Transportation Insight, offers this advice on key factors to […]
Sander Eth: Putting Green Principles Into Action
Sander Eth is senior vice president, supply chain at Bambeco, a Baltimore-based direct merchant specializing in ecologically friendly products for the home. He joined the company in 2012. Responsibilities: Inventory management, fulfillment center operations, and vendor compliance. Experience: Several in-store management positions, followed by corporate positions in inventory management, merchandising, and logistics and supply chain, […]
You’re Faced With a Recall. Can You Find That Product?
Product recalls cost the U.S. economy $7 billion annually, according to the Washington Post. Yet most U.S. companies still struggle with real-time inventory visibility, and managing inventory across their network of suppliers, distributors, and manufacturers. With the average product recall costing $10 million, the inability to quickly and effectively recall product presents a huge risk […]
Five Core Competencies Every Supply Chain Manager Should Master
The maze of challenges that makes up the global supply chain demands that logistics professionals never stop developing new skills and enhancing existing ones. Here are five core competencies that supply chain professionals need to master—and continually improve. Global business leadership. If your supply chain isn’t global now, it probably will be soon. Supply chain […]
Trends and Predictions for 2013 and Beyond
2012 was another banner year for many in the third-party logistics (3PL) sector. Shipper procurement strategy has continued to evolve, and there are certainly some notable trends that will shape future decision-making with respect to shippers, asset-based providers, and 3PLs alike. Technology, innovation, and transparency seem to be on the minds of many in our […]
Southeast Asia: Region on the Rise
With an average annual economic growth rate of more than five percent, the countries that comprise this dynamic region represent a thriving trade and economic hub, despite infrastructure and regulatory challenges.
Transportation Liability: Busting Seven Common Myths
What you don’t know about transportation liability can cost you big time. Learn fact from fiction before you tender your next load.
Locking Down Supply Chain Security
When it comes to cargo security threats, each mode faces unique challenges. But thanks to technology and industry best practices, shippers can improve their ability to protect valuable cargo.
Loadboards & Exchanges: Finding the Perfect Match
Shippers seeking capacity and carriers looking for freight find love at first site.
Take Your Pick
Voice-directed or pick-to-light technology? The right choice is often a combination of both.
Project Logistics: Handling the Big Challenges
Experienced and knowledgeable service providers make short work of moving freight with extreme requirements.
Is Your 3PL Financially Healthy?
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Conduct a financial checkup of your potential 3PL partners before you sign the contract.
Inbound Logistics’ Winter Reading Guide 2013
Whether you want to casually brush up on your supply chain management techniques or drastically reorganize your purchasing processes, you’ll find the knowledge you need in the pages of these supply chain resources.
Cloud-Based WMS Fires Up Supermercados Supply Chain
Peruvian supermarket chain Supermercados feeds its need for DC network realignment with a SaaS WMS solution.
Improved Warehouse Operations: Cause to Celebrate
Party goods supplier Oriental Trading Company revamps its warehouse technology to keep pace with online sales.
Inventory Replenishment: A Push in the Right Direction
Close-out retailer Tuesday Morning uses a WMS to allocate and ship a constant stream of new products to stores, keeping customers happy every day of the week.
St. Louis: New Gateway to Asian Markets
Nicknamed the Gateway to the West nearly 200 years ago for its presence as an economic powerhouse, St. Louis, Mo., is making significant progress as a key partner for international trade relations and economic growth. For new businesses or those seeking to grow trade relationships, St. Louis now represents a gateway to Asian markets. St. […]
Wasting Away to Meet Sustainability Goals
An average distribution center generates or handles anywhere from 100 to 1,000 tons of solid waste each year—or approximately 30 pounds per square foot—that could be reduced, reused, or recycled. Typical distribution center waste streams include corrugated cardboard, office and breakroom waste, plastic strapping, pallets, paper, batteries, yard waste, accumulated scrap such as defective or […]
Supply Chain Management: The Great Equalizer
In the supply chain, all things are never equal. Success and failure hinge on your capacity to adapt and respond to change. It’s a matter of creating innovative products, developing a means to deliver them to market, and jockeying for competitive position—in effect, matching supply to demand in the most efficient and economical way possible. […]
Demand-Driven Logistics: Remote Control
Adopting demand-driven logistics can increase visibility, drive supply chain efficiency, and offset any market advantage your competitors might have.
Transportation & Distribution: Geared to Demand
Frequent logistics network optimization, aggressive attempts at collaboration, and partnering with trusted 3PLs act as force equalizers to garner greater supply chain efficiencies.
Technology: The Leading Edge
A new wave of strategic software acts as a force multiplier, giving you greater supply chain power.
Materials Handling Equipment: Flex Appeal
Refining materials handling systems to be more agile, flexible, and dynamic acts as a competitive force equalizer.
Workforce Management: The Human Factor
Training counts. A skilled, motivated, enthusiastic, and optimistic supply chain workforce gives you a strategic and competitive advantage.
Site Selection: You Are Here
Looking past the obvious and digging deep when making site selection decisions will multiply your logistics capabilities.
Trimming Your Transportation Spend
Transportation costs run high, but cutting your spend might be more feasible than you think.
Resilient…Responsive…Determined: Rails Focus on the Future
Despite economic headwinds, rails are investing heavily for future growth. Inbound Logistics gets the full story at the annual RailTrends conference.
A Reader Profile Reunion: Where Are They Now?
Inbound Logistics gets back in touch with former Reader Profile subjects who have since moved on to new challenges. All of them are most likely to succeed.
Logistics Leadership: Secrets to Success
Ready to elevate your logistics career to the next level? Here are the skills and knowledge you need to take you to the top.
Transportation Advocacy: Shippers Stand Up for Their Rights
Dissatisfied with transportation policy coming out of Washington? Waiting for our national logistics strategy? With so much at stake, standing on the sidelines is not an option. Now’s the time to get involved to drive real change.
U.S.—Mexico Trade: Two-Way Traffic
Integrated third-party logistics solutions, expanded and improved intermodal service offerings, and creative collaborations to optimize transport resources are making cross-border shipping easier than ever.
Comfort Zone: A Better, Faster FTZ
The Alternative Site Framework designation is changing the Foreign Trade Zone landscape, allowing shippers a more expedient process for streamlining the supply chain.
Training Tomorrow’s Logistics and Transportation Executives Today
A volcanic cloud descends on Europe, disrupting flight plans. A tsunami in Thailand ripples across the Pacific and affects port activity in California. Forest fires in Los Angeles close highways for days. Threats of a terrorist attack in Brussels halt all transportation. Today’s logistics and transportation executives must be prepared to handle these scenarios. Their […]
Improving Supplier Compliance
Developing an effective supplier compliance program requires a well-defined plan. To achieve success quickly, it is crucial to initiate the plan with the right suppliers. Peter Wharton, IBM’s team lead for commercial product marketing, offers this advice for ensuring supplier compliance. 1. Define a successful supplier compliance strategy. Clearly define the stakes and risks, and […]
William Gregory: Into Africa
William Gregory has served as global supply chain coordinator at VT iDirect, in Herndon, Va., since 2012. VT iDirect is a global vendor of technology for satellite-based Internet Protocol (IP) communications. Responsibilities: International shipping, customs, and regulatory compliance; liaison with freight forwarders; subject matter expert for Middle East and Africa. Experience: Intern, Samuel Shapiro and […]
Connectivity-Visibility-Optimization: Three Keys To a Successful Supply Chain Trading Partner Network
2013 has been called the Year of the Network by numerous supply chain and transportation industry thought leaders. A well-oiled trading partner network allows one-to-many and many-to-many partners to collaborate and communicate using a single source of truth garnered from real-time information. Harnessing this collective power provides a competitive advantage as well as the flexibility […]
The Lean Supply Chain: A Field of Opportunity
Businesses all around the world are familiar with the value of lean principles. The current conditions of globalization and competitive environments require operating a lean business now more than ever. Lean principles teach to eliminate waste and focus only on those things that result in customer value—ultimately building business cultures that focus on problem solving. […]
Outsourcing for Newbies, and a Refresher for All
While Fortune 500 companies routinely outsource everything from distribution centers and transportation management to packaging, freight audit/payment and other functions, your up-and-coming company may only need to outsource a single function of its operations, perhaps a combination. It’s rarely an easy decision process, but the objective is always clear. Growing companies need access to better […]
Using Strategic Acquisitions to Satisfy Your Customer Base
Global shippers continue to face supply chain challenges that seem to change more often and more dramatically than ever before. They require logistics partners who can react to these changes and help them navigate the complexities of global trade. Shippers want 3PL partners that not only responsively evolve service networks and capabilities to flex with […]
Trends—January 2013
It’s a Smaller World After All The shrinking distance between demand and supply is triggering a trend toward inter-regional supply chains and creating a globalization tipping point, according to research by Philadelphia-based third-party logistics provider BDP International, its Centrix consulting unit, and Temple University’s Fox School of Business. Real-time communication technology has greatly increased global […]
Global Logistics—January 2013
Tesco Tests Longer Reefer Trailers As part of a government-backed trial program testing the efficacy of longer trailers, United Kingdom-based grocery chain Tesco has taken delivery of 25 new 51-foot Gray & Adams refrigerated units. The company will use the new trailers to deliver store inventory from regional distribution centers. Each trailer can carry 51 […]
Surveying the Home Delivery Landscape
Shortly after Claude Ryan and Jim Casey began delivering telegram messages in 1907, they seized on the idea to solve a business problem between department stores and the growing urban population in Seattle: managing home delivery of store-bought products. These new urbanites mostly walked or used streetcars, with only a few owning early automobiles. Safely […]
Five Signs Your Production Logistics Needs Help
Most manufacturers experience and address common inbound logistics challenges, but one area of improvement that many overlook is the discipline of production logistics — ensuring each machine and workstation is fed with the right product in the right quantity and quality at the right time. As the crucial link that connects inbound materials to on-time […]
Yard and Dock Management Tools: An Extra Set of Eyes in Your Facility
Facility managers and warehouse executives face unique challenges as global supply chain complexity grows. While many issues and costs associated with moving materials and products are out of their control, optimizing yard, dock, and warehouse processes can increase operational and logistics efficiency. Designed to eliminate common and costly logistics problems, yard and dock management systems […]
Supply Chain Force Multipliers
For years, I’ve wanted the Logistics Planner issue theme to focus on the concept of using inbound logistics as a force multiplier. When I entered the conference room for the Planner issue strategy meeting this year, I was ready to make my case. But when I presented my idea to the editorial team, I was […]
The Great Equalizer
Tension and drama always permeate the conference room when the Inbound Logistics team gathers to decide the theme of the Logistics Planner issue. This year was no different. While we did agree to focus on how demand-driven logistics, or supply chain management, drives competitive advantage, we couldn’t agree on how best to present that idea. […]
Maximizing Productivity in E-commerce Warehousing and Distribution Operations
As e-commerce continues its rapid growth into virtually every market sector, retailers are anxious to expand their presence online to capture this market share. Between 2006 and 2010, global online retail sales grew by 16.3 percent annually, according to Global Online Retail 2011, published by Datamonitor. Online retail sales for 2010 alone showed an annual […]
Redefining the Race to Profitability Through Innovation
Every manufacturer, supplier, and U.S. business is feeling the effects of today’s tough economic conditions. It has never been more important to control costs and operate efficiently. The pressure is on for manufacturers to reduce waste, and operate in a truly lean manner. These facts are even more prevalent in the automotive sector, where profitability […]
Connecting Through an Online Network Gives Supply Chain Partners Strength in Numbers
Q: What is the Real Time Value Network, and what differentiates it from traditional technologies? A: The Real Time Value Network is a cloud-based "many-to-many" network platform that enables a virtually unlimited number of trading partners to plan, execute, monitor, optimize, and synchronize in real time all of the business processes and events that take […]
Measuring Customer Service: The Up-and-Coming KPI
Using key performance indicators (KPIs) tied to customer service metrics helps logistics providers benchmark their value to shippers.
Global Logistics—December 2012
Maersk Digs Drilling, Ditches Shipping The name most synonymous with container shipping is taking a break from navigating an increasingly agitated ocean trade. Denmark’s AP Moller-Maersk is shifting the focus of its business activity from shipping, choosing instead to concentrate on its oil, drilling rigs, and port operations, according to a Financial Times report. AP […]
Measuring the Value of Collaboration
Structured, achievable supply chain collaboration that drives savings relies on the relationship between purchasing and inbound logistics departments. Without real collaboration, two distinct decision-making processes exist based on separate performance metrics and personnel incentives. Buyers determine what orders to place. Logistics planners determine how to route the shipments. Buyers strive to avoid stock-outs while keeping […]
Logistics: It’s Where The Jobs Are
Effectively managing human capital is more vital than ever to businesses and organizations, and higher education will continue to play a critical role in training the next generation of transportation and logistics management (TLM) leaders. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects increases in TLM occupation employment growth and replacement needs, which are on the rise […]
Playing the Waiting Game
We all want to do our jobs, and are paid to do so. Often, however, we must wait for information or materials from suppliers, supervisors, other departments, and even customers. While we wait, we can get distracted and end up wasting even more time. In Lean terms, waiting is one of the eight wastes. Identifying […]
3PLs Create a Unified Supply Chain Voice
The International Warehouse Logistics Association (IWLA) created its new Public Policy Center to ensure third-party logistics (3PL) providers are knowledgeable players in the public policy arena. Its goal is policy creation that makes sense and benefits all businesses, employers, and employees throughout the supply chain. The IWLA and its active, policy-aware members have experience leading […]
Ports and Shippers Prepare for the Post-Panamax Age
Q: What are the key issues shaping the future of maritime trade? A: One of the greatest opportunities coming to the maritime sector is the widening of the Panama Canal, which will be completed in 2015. It will impact the face of global commerce, and affect trade patterns to the U.S. East Coast. Shippers bringing […]
What Sandy Showed Me
As the editor of Inbound Logistics, my job is to provide information about keeping product moving from source to selling point. In my nearly 30 years in the industry, I have read, written, and edited many articles about supply chain disruptions. But words are just words. It was quite different to experience disruption with my […]
Cutting LTL Costs
Saving money on less-than-truckload (LTL) procurement is a laudable goal—except when operational problems eclipse savings gains. Shippers who prioritize securing the lowest price from carriers may actually end up paying more because of costs embedded in carrier expenses—resulting in problems such as service degradation and supply chain disruption. Danny Slaton, executive vice president of supply […]
Victor Hougan: Finding a Love for Logistics
Victor Hougan joined Primus International, a Bellevue, Wash.-based Tier II supplier of engineered metallic and composite parts, kits, and assemblies to the global aerospace industry, in the fall of 2012. His role in its logistics operation is still evolving. Experience: Finish carpenter in the construction industry; computer technician; delivery coordinator, ISEC Inc.; warehouse manager, Elegant […]