A Speaking Truth to Power
In a monumental case of bait and switch, the current White House administration is set upon a course that will handicap every U.S. worker and business, and give global economic advantage to all who are not lucky enough to live here. Energy policy—specifically, the carbon offset cap and trade plan—will transfer wealth to the government […]
Coming (Back) to America
A decade ago, garment manufacturing in the United States was practically dead as apparel companies flocked to low-cost countries. But then came the economic downturn, and the realization that the time merchandise spends traveling in a container is time not spent on store shelves. Suddenly, America is the new global hot spot.
Lock, Stock, and Barrel: How Secure is Your Cargo?
When it comes to protecting shipments from theft, businesses have an arsenal of tools at their disposal. From high-tech tracking and monitoring to basic intrusion prevention, these devices and technologies, combined with common-sense security practices, can help thwart cargo thieves.
Daniel Most: Making the Pieces Fit
Daniel Most loves a good brainteaser. Give him a tough sudoku or a flood of orders from the stores he serves, with no obvious way to fit the goods on available trucks, and he’s a happy man. So when Most got a chance to test his logistics smarts in a global arena, he grabbed it. […]
Help Wanted: Seeking Qualified Logistics Professionals
Q: As a logistics provider, I find that hiring qualified staff has grown increasingly complicated with the rise of demands such as regulatory compliance, security initiatives, and constantly changing industry standards. Why is this? What can the supply chain and logistics sector do to attract a younger generation of professionals to this field? A: One […]
Buy American, Transport American?
For the past decade or more, conducting business globally—outsourcing manufacturing abroad, shipping through foreign flags, and sourcing parts worldwide—has been the rule, and for many practical reasons may stay the rule. While national borders stay in place for politicians, they have essentially disappeared for the business community. But the cry to keep business in America […]
Global Logistics-March 2009
Distant are the days when Thomas Jefferson’s fledgling U.S. government launched a series of covert operations to chase North African pirates back to their Barbary Coast hideaways in an effort to protect maritime trade. Today, piracy is the common term for downloading music or videos without paying copyright fees. But a brash new breed of […]
Selecting the Lift Truck That Meets Your Need
When it comes to selecting the right lift truck, doing your homework and following a few simple rules can deliver higher productivity and lower operating costs. Martin Boyd, national product planning and marketing manager of Toyota Material Handling U.S.A., offers these tips for deciding which lift truck you need. 1. Factor in total lifecycle costs. […]
Cutting the Fat from Equipment Redundancy
During a recent tour of a major logistics company, I was amazed at the emphasis placed on honoring commitments to the shipper. At every step of the process, the company had contingency plans in place to ensure that objectives were accomplished and shippers were satisfied. Then our guide indicated some idle equipment and explained it […]
A New World of Logistics Enlightenment
Our annual education issue honors the importance and value of logistics education. Acing logistics basics helps practitioners master supply chain complexity. It’s practical to the core and strategic when it needs to be. But it isn’t static. The challenges of globalization continue to present new ways and means to engage learning. In this sense, history […]
Passport To Knowledge: Gaining a Global Perspective
The sun never sets on the global supply chain. Advanced education programs at a variety of universities offer logistics professionals a world tour unlike any other.
Why Comply?
Understanding the latest CBP programs and requirements involves homework and headaches. So…
Joe Steffney: One for the Books
Examine Joe Steffney’s early career and a theme starts to emerge. He paid his way through college loading trailers for UPS. His first post-graduation job saw him supervising warehouse staff for Kmart. Then the story takes him to a series of distribution centers—Macmillan Publishing, Koen Books, Harcourt Brace, Houghton Mifflin, and Ingram Book Group. The […]
Brokering Change
W hen I started in this industry in 1978, transportation companies were known as truck brokers. They primarily moved shipments of agricultural products under rates that were exempt from Interstate Commerce Commission regulation—that is, negotiable according to supply and demand. In 1980, truck transportation was deregulated. The term “property broker” was defined, and the industry […]
Global Logistics-February 2009
The threatening economic cloud hovering over the United States is spreading eastward and casting a pall over European trade as it continues its global path. The continent is bracing for a gloomy forecast as pressures build, consumerism wanes, and mandates to reduce transportation costs flood corporate boardrooms. The current global downswing will stress transport rates […]
Trends-February 2009
Boeing is making supply chain management a critical pivot as it tries to steer its way out of an economic vortex. As demand for new aircraft ebbs, and a machinist’s strike and failed component installation hamper the launch of the 787 Dreamliner program, the company is reconsidering its global supplier network. The Chicago-headquartered aircraft manufacturer […]
Improving Sustainability in Your Supply Chain
Sustainability and efficiency are clearly linked in the global supply chain. Companies that want to improve sustainability must become hyper-efficient to reduce fuel consumption and emissions. Mike Kelly, chief sustainability officer at YRC Worldwide, offers advice on improving sustainability within your supply chain. 1. Become a sustainability champion. Look at the current economic conditions not […]
Public-Private Partnerships Fund Progress
With credit harder than ever to get and Congress casting a sometimes critical eye toward public-private partnerships (PPPs), some say combining public and private resources for the public good has become outdated, if not obsolete. In truth, the use of PPPs and private sector resources to address our nation’s public infrastructure needs continues to be […]
The Benefits of Reducing Your Carrier Base
You’ve heard the adage, “Focus on the journey, not the destination.” In the transportation business, you must be relentlessly focused on both. This is where carrier relationships come into play. Allocating individual shipments haphazardly across a large number of carriers limits both operational efficacy and economies of scale. Too many touch points in the supply […]
Unloading Trouble at the Loading Dock
Most or all of a shipper’s inventory eventually passes through the loading dock, so it’s essential that the area be configured correctly. Two common loading area problems are inadequately sized dock openings and rough terrain around the dock area. Where either of these conditions exist, load damage and costly delays are likely to occur. Understanding […]
Materials Handling Equipment
Robots do the heavy lifting at Staples’ Denver distribution center, and they never call out sick.
Measure for Measure
You don’t have to dissect Shakespeare to understand that what you put into something you redeem in equal measures—and often more. But in these Dickensian times, businesses are tasked with squeezing out costs and cinching their purse strings. Putting together this year’s Logistics Planner issue, we took William’s advice ≠- investing more time, more resources, […]
Success’ Measure?
Success has many fathers, failure is an orphan, as the saying goes. Economic news in many quarters is grim. The economy is in tatters, failure abounds. Who is at fault? Everyone else it seems. Those still standing look over their shoulders to see if the economic Grim Reaper lurks behind them. How then do we […]
Asset Tracking: The View From The Top
At an Atlanta reverse logistics facility, a real-time location system tracks assets from above—and zeroes in on doubled productivity.
Rediscovering The Classics, Volume I: Prologue
Logistics fundamentals are oft cited but more often overlooked or misread. Mastering these basics builds a foundation for supply chain sophistication. So grab your slippers, pull up a chair, and stoke the fire—get comfortable. Join us as we retire to Inbound Logistics’ library of logistics best practices and dust off some classics.
Rediscovering The Classics, Volume II: Committing to Core Carriers
Romancing lowboys and spread-axle hotshots might not sound appealing, but developing Unconditional relationships with core carriers REAPS long-term advantages. Core carrier programs capitalize on matching a ratio of trucking partners to shipment volumes, based on pre-determined service and pricing coefficients. When the trucking market is squeezed, businesses use these partnerships to find capacity; when demand […]
Rediscovering The Classics, Volume III: Truckload Consolidation
In this classic tale of economy by scale, businesses tackle truckload shipments head-on to capture returns in countless ways. The moral? Don’t count your shipments until they’re matched.
Rediscovering The Classics, Volume IV: Inbound Routing Guides
All the supply chain’s a stage so why not command top billing? When businesses actively enforce inbound routing guides and dictate shipment instructions, efficiencies fall into place and economies run wild. Ensuring vendors comply with your transportation requirements is as simple as putting instructions in writing. That’s why a routing guide is an essential tool […]
Rediscovering The Classics, Volume V: Transloading
In today’s lengthening supply chain, a mode alone is a road less traveled. Businesses shift gearS and mix transportation options to account for fluctuations in capacity and freight costs. When shipments switch track, transloads take center stage. The growing importance of intermodalism in the United States raises the stakes for efficiently managing transportation at key […]
Rediscovering The Classics, Volume VI: Crossdocking
Waste not. Want not. Store not. The shortest and fastest distance between supply and demand is in one door and out another. Enterprises rocking high-velocity crossdocks wield greater power flowing visibility and freight through the supply chain. In a perfect world, inventory would never remain static. Product would flow from manufacture to consumption in a […]
Rediscovering The Classics, Volume VII: Labor Management
Managing labor in dynamic supply chain environments forces businesses to “sense” demand shifts to better match resources to need. It also requires “sensibility” in properly training and incenting employees to be productive, and engaging third-party expertise when internal objectivity is lacking. When companies are in periods of flux—experiencing growth or reduction in business, scaling resources […]
Rediscovering The Classics, Volume VIII: Forklift Utilization
Time is money and in a warehouse the forklift is a time saver and a money guzzler. Companies that pay attention to how they use and maintain their fleets can lift economy and efficiency to new heights. In warehouse and distribution facilities, it doesn’t get more basic than using forklifts to move product around. All […]
Ask The Big Wheels
Inbound Logistics asked seven leading trucking executives to tackle some tough questions about the challenging year ahead. Their advice, words of caution, and strategic vision can help you face the challenges of using motor freight in the short term and beyond.
Channel Surfing
Click…Click…Click…. Consumers’ short attention spans demand greater shopping flexibility. For some retailers, that means it’s time to flip the supply chain processes behind their sales channels.
How’d That Get On My Plate
With a nod to the Food Network, and a toast to the Chef, join us as we cut from the table and go straight to the source.
A Day in the Life of a Transportation Manager
Spend some time with the professionals who get business in gear.
Business Guide to Tax Evasion — relax…it’s perfectly legal!
Companies can avoid import duties and other fees by shipping through and manufacturing in a Foreign Trade Zone.
Growing Together
It only takes a brief look at how quickly global economic dominoes fell in unison recently to understand that national economies are more inter-related than ever before. The trading bloc in our hemisphere—NAFTA—is as good an example as any, and one worth probing deeper. It has been more than 15 years since the United States, […]
Captains Of Industry
When Don Dickey retired from the U.S. Navy after a 25-year stint with its Supply Corps, he knew he wanted to do something different. That was, after all, what his Navy experience prepared him for: doing something different at the drop of a hat, every day. Since leaving the Navy in the mid-1990s, Dickey has […]
Supply Chain Visibility: Now You See It
The more transparent the supply chain, the more easily you can spot ways to squeeze value from your operational data.
Snapshot: Entertainment Logistics
Kelly Clarkson’s first album sold four million copies. Her second exploded with 12 million. The third moved an anemic two million. Then four songs for her fourth album were stolen pre-release, and circulated by a hacker who penetrated her co-writer’s Web site. For a musician that may be show business, but for a supply chain […]
A Slice of Time for Logistics
As the global economy shrinks and slows down, manufacturers, suppliers, retailers, and merchandisers have to squeeze every ounce of efficiency from their operations. In the rush to cut costs, however, they sometimes overlook the impact that time has on the ability to sell more products or to be more efficient. Time is a precious commodity […]
Jennifer Hughey: Cleaning Up
Jennifer Hughey wasn’t looking for a career in logistics. But somehow, it sucked her in. In 2003, Hughey was senior finance manager at Whirlpool Corp. when her former boss, Dan Clifford, recruited her to join him at The Eureka Company. Clifford, president of Eureka, now called Electrolux Home Care Products North America, wanted Hughey to […]
Facing the Challenges Ahead
During the past year, global events created new concerns for logistics operators. For some, finding insurance coverage has become increasingly difficult, as insurance companies need to balance the likelihood of a significant loss against the prospect of recovering their payout—a trying task in times of financial uncertainty. Purchasing insurance may well become costlier in the […]
Who Will Strike the New Golden Spike?
When U.S. railroads first managed to connect from East to West, crews drove a golden spike to commemorate the completion of our first transcontinental railway. It happened at Promontory Summit, Utah, in 1869, soon after the Civil War ended. The iconic photograph of Union Pacific’s No. 119 and Central Pacific’s Jupiter No. 60 meeting face […]
High-Stakes Handling: Bally Hits the WMS Jackpot
Unwilling to gamble on warehouse operations, slot machine manufacturer Bally Technologies invested in a sure thing: a new WMS and data collection hardware.
Why You Don’t Want an Obedient 3PL
What is an obedient third-party logistics provider (3PL)? It is one that doesn’t share responsibility for its customers’ success and simply does what it is told. It keeps quiet when it knows the shipper’s request is misguided, and doesn’t offer new ideas for re-thinking project goals. When a shipper views its 3PL simply as a […]
VR Training Combats Trucking Industry’s Critical Driver Shortage
To many of us, truck driving and virtual reality (VR) using simulation are at the opposite end of the technology spectrum. However, VR using proper simulation is the solution to a major problem that exists in the world of trucking and freight movement. That problem is replacing the professional drivers who are retiring. We will […]
Global Logistics-January 2009
It’s not easy gold-mining new business prospects offshore. For small companies without the capital, resources, and partners to survey the globe, stake a claim, and dig in, making cultural inroads and chasing business contacts presents a challenge. FedEx knows a thing or two about spanning the world and helping small and medium-size businesses (SMBs) expand […]
Green Shipping: Taking it Portside
Ports play an important role in reducing the global carbon footprint of maritime shipping, says a new report by the International Transport Forum (ITF). Greenhouse gas emissions from shipping currently represent around 2.6 percent of total global emissions. Without reduction measures, this share could more than triple by 2050. The International Maritime Organization has set […]
Gen Z Shifts Operations Into Hyperdrive
The transition to an autonomous supply chain is underway as Gen Z enters the workforce. Leaders should look to hire Gen Zers and consider these steps when digitizing, says a Gartner report: Automation: Identify and automate all repetitive, non-value-added tasks, like procure-to-pay and customer claim management. Robotic process automation is the primary technology for this. […]
Choosing Voice-Directed Technology
Voice-based warehousing can result in high productivity and accuracy rates, safe working conditions, and a boost in worker morale. It can also have a positive impact on your organization’s bottom line. Paul Lightfoot, CEO and president of Rockaway, N.J.-based solutions provider AL Systems Inc., offers advice for selecting a voice-directed technology vendor. 1. Analyze your […]
Establishing a Successful Industrial Park
Despite a rocky start, the North Carolina Global TransPark (GTP), a state managed and financed multi-modal transportation park, is thriving today. Conceived 20 years ago as an aviation-centered global assembly and distribution point, the 2,400-acre business park, located in the state’s southeastern quadrant near Kinston, encountered its share of problems before landing its first significant […]
Do Your Logistics Partners Value Customer Service?
The most dreaded phrase in the English language just might be: “Please hold for the next available operator.” Good customer service experiences have become few and far between, with more companies either entrusting their customer outreach to computerized voice-prompted systems, or worse, outsourcing to call centers that have little knowledge about the companies they represent. […]
Macro? No, Micro Economics
“The economy is bad so we’d better make cuts that hurt customer service.” OK, no business would set out with this goal, but often the results are the same. And the consequences of poor service in today’s economic climate are irrevocable. While the macro economic news is bad, customer service is all about managing micro […]
Hospital Logistics Gets a Check-Up
Symptoms such as erratic billing rates, supply closet vertigo, and constricted inventory flow have healthcare facilities diagnosing better supply chain management as the cure for what ails them. To improve their condition, they’ll need help from suppliers and service providers.
Customer Service Gets Personal
MORE TO THE STORY: SERVICE BY EXCEPTION Businesses today face the unenviable task of reducing supply chain costs while increasing front-facing service to end customers. Technology and automation help integrate and expedite service, but they don’t allay the problems and emotions—good, bad, and indifferent—that befall poor execution or unforeseeable exceptions. The business-to-consumer universe is rife […]
Standing out in the Crowd
Whether you’re a rookie warehouse operator, a mid-level transportation manager, or a veteran logistician, industry associations can help you make a name for yourself.
Charles Graffeo, Sr.: Wake Up and Smell the Coffee
Coffee drinkers in certain regions of the South should raise their cups in salute to Charles Graffeo, Sr. At Community Coffee Company in Baton Rouge, La., Graffeo is responsible for the whole process chain—purchasing, logistics, manufacturing, and distribution—that takes coffee from bean to cup. Graffeo joined Community Coffee in 2006 as general manager of manufacturing. […]
Managing Data One Byte at a Time
Increasing connectivity, largely a result of the Internet and the facility with which we collect data, has changed the pace and relationships of business. To a great extent, local business no longer exists, as all commerce and trade is tied together by information. This is evident as the world’s economy stumbles. Business is, quite simply, […]
Airfreight Costs Touch Down
Customer service scores big points at Irving, Texas-based Easton-Bell Sports, which manufactures a wide array of sports equipment, including Ridell football and hockey helmets; Easton baseball bats and gloves; Bell bicycle parts and equipment; and a variety of racing, fitness, and yoga products. Easton-Bell’s brand names have been well-known in the sports world for more […]
Trends-December 2008
Pacific Coast ports have anchored U.S. trade during the past two decades, but shifting globalization and sourcing tides are altering domestic transportation currents. These changes are gradually recasting the U.S. intermodal footprint with potentially long-lasting implications, suggests a recent report by Drewry Supply Chain Advisors. Intermodal routings linking major West Coast port gateways with the […]
Global Logistics-December 2008
Imagine what it would be like to slice inventory in half, cut out 2,000 suppliers, and whittle almost $500 million in total costs from your supply chain. With the help of IBM’s Integrated Supply Chain organization, Australia’s leading telecommunications player, Telstra, is bringing this demand-driven vision to reality. In September 2006, Telstra entered a strategic […]
Selecting Pallets: Wood vs. Plastic
Wood remains the most common pallet material used in the United States. But for about five percent of shippers, plastic is a better choice for moving goods. How does a shipper choose? Should you change to a new pallet material? Steven Mazza, president of S&B Pallet Co., Plainfield, N.J., and member of the board of […]
Successfully Managing Long-Tail Inventories
The concept of the long-tail retail environment refers to the extended downward slope of a unit sales curve that, when illustrated graphically, depicts a “long tail” as demand wanes toward zero. Introduced by Wired Editor in Chief Chris Anderson in 2004, the term originally described Internet-based companies, such as iTunes or Amazon.com, whose environments are […]
Green Transportation: On the Road to Sustainability
In the past, transportation efficiency concerns primarily focused on areas such as route optimization, capacity planning, and partner collaboration. Today, efforts to improve service and reduce costs include an additional element: environmental impact. As new and aggressive social, environmental, and political pressures evolve, shippers and carriers must adopt and act upon “green” opportunities. Failure to […]
Getting All, Like, Demand-Driven
Did you know that a 16-year-old girl in Spain is the logistics genius behind one of the most sophisticated and effective retail supply chain operations on the planet? Neither does she. The typical Zara demand signal—to buy or not to buy—sets in motion a demand-driven process that has the global apparel chain retailer, based in […]
Inventory Software Goes With the Flow
New software keeps a small start-up company’s head above water.
Going Critical
When an item really, really, really has to get there—and fast—critical shipment service providers spring into action, STAT!
All I Really Need to Know (about Logistics) I Learned From Rudolph: A Holiday Demand Story
It is both a holiday classic and one of the best depictions of a supply chain solution ever broadcast. The factory floor hums as a shipping deadline approaches, but a logistical disaster looms in the guise of an unexpected storm. The solution turns out to be right at the end of the hero’s red nose. Yes, all you really need to know about logistics you could learn from Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer.
NASCO: North America’s SuperCorridor Coalition
NASCO, the multimodal transportation network running through the heart of trade in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, is all about sustainable, secure, and efficient economic development. See why its future looks so bright.
Snapshot: Pharma Logistics: Prognosis Positive
Pharmaceutical manufacturers, drug distributors, and health care providers are taking a double dose of technology and business process improvement to keep consumers safe and competition one step behind. Transformation in the pharmaceutical marketplace is challenging traditional approaches to manufacturing and distribution. “Pharmaceutical, medical, and medical device margins are collapsing quickly,” says Daniel Carbery, senior vice […]
Bill Justus: Home Sweet Home
Throughout your industry, sales are down. But the cost of materials keeps going up, and those higher prices sure don’t help you draw in hordes of new customers. What to do? Get all your partners working together to drive costs out of the supply chain, says Bill Justus, vice president, supply chain services at David […]
Signed, Sealed, Delivered…But to Whom?
Q: I am a warehouse operator. An insurance company recently refused to provide me with coverage for the wrongful delivery of goods stored in my warehouse, citing the Uniform Commercial Code as the reason. Can you explain the problem? A: The Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) is a body of law that has been accepted, with […]
Curve Appeal
The efficient delivery of goods requires a thoughtful way to negotiate curves and arcs to find the optimal route.
Good Chemistry Yields Better Inventory Management
Chemical manufacturer Celanese experiments with a formula for solving its inventory woes.
How to Manage Risk Among Logistics Partners
MORE TO THE STORY: SAFEGUARDING AGAINST RISKY BUSINESS Businesses face their own unique challenges in today’s waffling economy, with credit largely frozen, consumerism measured, supply lines lengthening, and transportation-related costs reaching record thresholds. Aside from these internal and market-driven obstacles, companies also encounter considerable risk partnering with carriers, forwarders, and third-party logistics providers laying down […]
How to Develop Infrastructure to Support Mission-Critical Logistics
MORE TO THE STORY: 6 STEPS TO SUPPLY CHAIN ENLIGHTENMENT here are critical logistics requirements and then there are mission-critical demands. The difference is end-user impact: a lost customer because of a late shipment, or a lost product line—and countless lost customers—because a critical part can’t be replaced in time. When companies move high-value shipments […]
How to Negotiate Ocean Carrier Contracts
MORE TO THE STORY: WHEN YOU APPROACH THE TABLE What you put into contract negotiations dictates what you get in return. So begin by putting together a prospectus of your industry and your company and where it is moving—with input from all departments and levels of management within the extended enterprise. Assess and understand where […]
How to Drive Excellence in Food Service
MORE TO THE STORY: FOOD LOGISTICS EXCELLENCE A LA CARTE Concerns over food product safety and integrity have ramped up efforts in the food supply chain to improve service, efficiency, and transparency—despite already robust regulatory oversight. Picking up and delivering shipments on time with no claims is the expectation among food service companies. Service is […]
How to Capitalize on Importer Security Filing (10+2)
MORE TO THE STORY: MAKE 10+2 WORK FOR YOU Sometimes opportunities present themselves in the unlikeliest places—in the bureaucracy of Customs compliance, for example. When U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) introduced the idea of Importer Security Filing (10+2) early in 2008, many global shippers and consignees greeted the proposal with reservations. The mandate requires […]
How to Gain Supply Chain Visibility
MORE TO THE STORY: 6 STEPS TO SUPPLY CHAIN ENLIGHTENMENT If there is one buzzword that continues to define supply chain management, itπs visibility. Everyone wants it but few seem to ever approach true nirvana. Part of the difficulty in this endless search for total insight and control is that companies have different interpretations of […]
Global Logistics-Nov
In a move that will get CN a little closer to its customers, the Montreal-based Class I is acquiring three principal railway subsidiaries of the Quebec Railway Corp. (QRC) and a QRC rail-freight ferry operation. The purchase comprises 540 track miles of rail line CN formerly owned in eastern Ontario, eastern Quebec, and northern New […]
Global Logistics-Nov 2008
In a move that will get CN a little closer to its customers, the Montreal-based Class I is acquiring three principal railway subsidiaries of the Quebec Railway Corp. (QRC) and a QRC rail-freight ferry operation. The purchase comprises 540 track miles of rail line CN formerly owned in eastern Ontario, eastern Quebec, and northern New […]
Trends-November 2008
Outsourcing demands spin third-party logistics providers in countless directions, a reality manifest in the array of value-added services today’s players bring to the market. Look no further than where 3PLs have evolved from—warehousing, transportation, forwarding, freight payment, truck lease, chemical, automotive, electronics—and the level of complexity, breadth of resources, and geographic scope they now wield. […]
Keeping Expedited Costs Down
While expedited shipping can be expensive, it doesn’t have to break the bank. With a little thought and planning, shippers can control the factors driving expedited shipping costs by following these tips from Dave Quinn, president of Belleville, Mich.-based Active On-Demand. 1. Choose the right mode. Utilizing the wrong mode costs shippers the most when […]
Can You Afford to Ignore Supply Chain Risk?
As companies gravitate toward a “build anywhere, source anywhere, sell anywhere” mind-set, supply chain risks—entering into long-term contracts at unfavorable prices or sub-optimal quality, excessive dependence on one geography or supplier, lead time variability, and supply disruptions caused by natural disasters—assume greater proportions. Any supply chain setback could negatively impact average operating income and return […]
Community Service: Supporting Logistics Education
Manufacturing jobs are leaving American shores at an increasing rate. While this presents challenges for manufacturing companies, it also boosts demand for distribution and logistics professionals. Because many products manufactured overseas are ultimately consumed in the United States, the need for warehouses and distribution centers to move those materials from port of entry to point […]
Boeing, Boeing Gone?
When times get tough, supply chain/logistics redeployment grows increasingly important. Part of evaluating site locations for your manufacturing and logistics facilities involves considering fundamentals such as proximity to sources and customers, and transport infrastructure. But there is a “softer side” of site selection. As I write this, Boeing is in the midst of a strike […]
Making a Commitment To Supply Chain Quality
Wedding jewelry manufacturer Benchmark ties the knot with a software tool that marries forecasting and inventory control.
Maritime Logistics: Staying Afloat
Ocean carriers toss out lifelines to help shippers navigate economic riptides.
New Horizons: 2008 Ocean Carrier Guide
Changes in trade latitudes and changes in shipping attitudes are steering ocean carriers in new directions. As global businesses explore new offshore manufacturing and sourcing locations and more efficient routings for pulling product to U.S. markets, carriers are tacking their sailing schedules, following demand into new ports of call, and developing a dashboard of value-added […]
Pacific Rim Logistics: Proceed with Caution
The road to successful Pacific Rim outsourcing has more than its share of bumps. Here are some turn-by-turn directions to the path of least resistance.
Memphis: North America’s Logistics Center
With its wealth of resources, central location, highly developed infrastructure, depth of logistics and transportation services, and talented labor pool, Memphis claims its right to the title “North America’s Logistics Center.” No wonder so many companies can’t help falling in love with Memphis.
Great Logistics Sites: The Pursuit of Excellence
Throughout the United States, local, regional, and state economic development authorities are ramping up investments in transportation and logistics infrastructure to stimulate and sustain business growth.
James Bradley: Supply Chain Management is in His DNA
Is there a gene for supply chain management? If so, James Bradley must have it—his father worked in logistics and supply in the Air Force, and Bradley has been focused on the field since college. If scientists do discover such a gene, chances are they’ll be working with technology from Bradley’s employer, Affymetrix, a Santa […]
Diagnosing Complexity
Complexity can be a concern wherever it arises. More often than not, it is perceived as a burden rather than a virtue. Simplicity, on the other hand, has shown great value in science and engineering. Yet even in these areas, complexity still persists. When complexity runs wild it becomes chaos. Some gurus tell us to […]
Hazmat Education Is the Best Response
Today’s logisticians need to be well-grounded in many areas of hazardous materials (HM) management and alert to the prevalence of these regulated materials throughout the supply chain—in the workplace, in the work process, and in distribution. HM falls into two categories and three broad applications. The two categories are materials inherently hazardous and materials that […]
Distribution by the Book
Automated routing helps Scholastic Book Fairs turn the page on inefficiency..
Global Logistics-Oct 2008
In tough economic times you can’t nickel-and-dime logistics process improvement. That, in itself, is a lesson for struggling retailers. The United Kingdom arm of Woolworths, the original five-and-ten discount chain, knows this reality firsthand, and is making supply chain management and leadership top priorities as it looks to reverse its fortunes. Beset by rampant stockouts […]