Delivering the Goods: The Art of Managing Your Supply Chain
Master the recipe and you achieve efficiencies and savings. Becoming a better global competitor is just the icing on the cake.
Slow-Moving Inventory: All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go
Some companies that think they do a good job speeding inventory have it only half right. Many focus only on fast-moving items, ignoring the savings potential of managing slow-movers. Here’s how to tap this new opportunity.
This Just Out: The Latest in Logistics I.T.
Heavy freight, “lite” logistics and global customs clearance procedures drive three new supply chain applications.
Logistics I.T.—5×5
Five solutions providers answer five questions about new logistics IT buying trends.
Air Cargo: Business As Usual
Unfazed. Surviving a tumultuous two-year stretch marked by security and regulatory demands, rising shipper expectations, and internal profitability pressures, air carriers show resolve and resiliency. Here’s a look at how airlines, forwarders, and integrators prove that, despite the challenges, it’s just business as usual.
Brittain Ladd: Doing It Right The First Time, Every Time
Success to me,” says Brittain Ladd, “is educating others on the importance of quality and doing the job right the first time, every time.” As a Six Sigma black belt, Ladd has dedicated himself to eliminating variance—making sure his organization adheres to the highest standards in every detail. Ladd is transportation planning manager for Michaels […]
Where the Supply Chain Meets the Value Chain
By taking a different approach to the way we look at certain objects and processes, we gain the benefit of objectivity. A similar method holds true when looking at the supply chain. It is the nature of systems, especially complex ones such as in the supply chain, to evolve and change. Part of the pressure […]
Unilever HPC: From Nine Little Boxes to One Lean Machine
Web-based RFI, RFP and powerful analytic tools help Unilever HPC revamp its transport strategy.
Building Bridges With Your 3PLs
With competition at an all-time high, it is more important than ever to develop a trusting relationship with your logistics partners. As the logistics business grows, 3PLs offer services that encompass the entire supply chain. They no longer just manage your warehouse—today they offer global solutions that include transportation, warehousing, customs, and IT services. Because […]
Selecting Core Carriers
Choosing core carriers can be a daunting task, especially with so many carriers out there wooing your business. Here are 10 tips to help you keep a clear head when carriers come courting with all their bells and whistles, from Bob Belshaw, vice president business development and Robert Harper, product support manager, transportation, Insight Inc., […]
If You Spend IT, Efficiencies Will Come
While corporate departments such as operations are often high on the list for systems improvements, logistics departments are usually close to the bottom of the pecking order. As a result, many supply chain management systems are woefully behind the times. This, however, doesn’ t mean that logistics professionals have to or should accept this slight […]
Reducing Supply Chain Costs: Spend More to Save More
Managers who want to reduce supply chain costs need to spend more on transportation. The key to lower supply chain costs is holding less inventory. Buying more transportation lets you reduce inventory safely. The greatest mistake that manufacturers make today is equating transportation cost reductions with total available supply chain savings. In fact, transportation savings […]
NITL: A League All Their Own
The discussions at last month’s TransComp in Anaheim were wide ranging, covering port lockouts, homeland security, and globalization. But there was also a hint of what we might expect in 2003, and lest we grow too optimistic, economic recovery is not near at hand. A conversation I had with David Stubblefield, outgoing president of ABF, […]
Super-Charging Your Supply Chain
Companies use different options to fight the never-ending battle of optimizing their supply chains.
Winning Supply Chain Strategies: Adversity Breeds Creativity
While a slow economy drives many companies to wait out the siege, others do everything but. These winning companies look to the future, building supply chains based on creativity, velocity, collaboration, and speed. Here are their strategies for success.
Managing Your Spend
New strategies, reengineering, and powerful technology enable companies to revamp sourcing and procurement.
Using Aftermarket Service As a Strategic Weapon
Web-based inventory, supply chain planning, and forecasting tools are among the more important and growing applications in the supply chain industry. Within this maelstrom of supply chain management, customer relationship management, warehouse management, and ERP offerings, Atlanta, Ga.-based Servigistics is taking an aggressive position in aftermarket service. “Global leaders such as Dell, Toshiba, EMC, and […]
INSIGHT: Sticking With the Strategy
An in-house supply chain modeling system helps Henkel Consumer Adhesives react quicly to change.
Transforming Density into Savings
As companies continue to focus on supply chain management to increase efficiencies and drive down costs, they are examining every link in the supply chain—from manufacturing to logistics and transportation. But after carefully scrutinizing your supply chain and identifying strengths, one question remains: how do you turn those strengths into a means to achieve your […]
Brian Godfrey: An Explosive Career
Work is a blast for Brian Godfrey. As a logistics supervisor for Dyno Nobel North America, Godfrey is in charge of moving truck, railcar, and barge loads of ammonium nitrate (AN), a fertilizer used as an explosive in mining and construction. He negotiates transportation contracts, traces rail shipments, and routes his goods from manufacturing plants […]
Logistics Contingency Planning
Can your company weather a logistics disaster such as a terrorist attack, airport closure, or worker strike? These sudden disruptions can strand you—along with your customers’ freight. Here are tips on planning for a crisis, and handling emergency shipping when a major disruption happens, from Joel Childs, vice president of marketing, FedEx Custom Critical. 1. […]
Navigating the Rigors of NAFTA
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has been the catalyst for many small- to mid-sized U.S. importers to expand their comfort zone and test the waters with new suppliers and customers. While many large or multi-national importers have processes in place to determine and track eligibility for NAFTA and other special trade programs, smaller […]
Network Software: Finding the Perfect Fit
A shift is occurring in the way logistics software is delivered. Companies have spent billions of dollars customizing, implementing, and maintaining supply chain software to improve efficiency and service. Yet, despite this investment, projects are often discontinued as software too quickly becomes shelfware. High failure rates and delayed ROI can be attributed to costs associated […]
Seeing’ Safe Ports: Connect to Protect
The emergence of new global logistics challenges in the wake of Sept. 11 has prompted the U.S. government to effectively secure our borders. But, of the 5.7 million containers arriving in the United States each year, less than two percent of all shipments offloaded at U.S. ports are inspected prior to arrival. Limited human resources […]
Web Portal Builds Concrete Relationships
Striving to stay competitive despite lower operational costs, St. Lawrence Cement Company turns to a web portal to facilitate order processing and delivery.
Are You a Logistics Laggard?
Logisticians get saddled with lots of responsibility when things go wrong—the shipment is late, the shipment is lost, the carrier filed Chapter 11, the ports are closed. Now we learn that we are not practicing “socially responsible logistics.” Talk about piling on! “The logistics discipline appears to be more of a laggard with respect to […]
Warehousing for the 21st Century
Companies explore merge-in-transit, crossdocking, and pool distribution in the never-ending quest to increase speed to market, improve service and inventory turns, and reduce costs.
Logistics 101: Back to Basics
Logistics can confound the newly initiated and veterans alike. So take out your notebook, sharpen your pencil, and take this Inbound Logistics short course on the fundamental concepts driving logistics theory and practice today.
Routing Guides: Inside the Matrix
Successful implementation of a routing guide feeds off constant communication among vendors, carriers, and consignees. Find out how you can help foster better shipping compliance among your supply chain partners with a dynamic routing guide.
Turning Invoices Into Intelligence
Don’t let bankruptcies in the freight payment industry overshadow the potential power of turning freight invoices into actionable information.
Karen Caswelch: Quality In High Gear
When Karen Caswelch joined Allison Transmission as director of purchasing last year, she had no corporate purchasing experience. But her record in operations and quality management made her supremely qualified to carry out her number-one mission. “The ultimate mandate,” Caswelch says, “is to keep the plants running. And you’ve got to keep them running with […]
CRM Plays Crucial, Often Confusing, Role in SCM
The importance of customer relationship management (CRM) within the supply chain is vitally important. This column offers my take on some important integration issues. The customer and the customer’s customer have been a critical part of the supply chain since its inception. The customer is quite clearly what the supply chain is all about. Having […]
Adding a Dash of SALT to Logistics
Speech technology developers cook up a new recipe for web applications.
Choosing Cross-Border Partners
Moving goods across U.S. borders into Mexico can be difficult if you don’t align yourself with the right partners and establish solid relationships with carriers and brokers. Here are suggestions to help you select your cross-border partners wisely, from Gene Sevilla-Secasa, vice president, managing director for Ryder Latin America. 1. Invest adequate time and do […]
What Do You Really Know About Intermodal?
Remember the Bill Murray movie Groundhog Day? The premise was that his character was trapped in a time warp that had him continuously reliving the same day. The people who work in the intermodal industry can probably relate—except it’s not their industry that’s stuck in a time warp. It’s their image. Intermodal transportation can take […]
You Have Entered the Material Transfer Zone
The loading dock has become a critical component of virtually any supply chain strategy. Mistakes in dock design and equipment choices can have costly consequences that ripple throughout the supply chain. For instance, slowdowns and product damage can very quickly multiply when overhead door openings are too small and dock levelers too narrow to provide […]
CLM: The Rules are Changing
The rules are changing? I wish somebody would tell that to the longshoreman’s union. I was recently in the center of the dock lockout imbroglio in San Francisco, having made the trip to attend the Council of Logistics Management’s 2002 conference. Business as usual for dockworkers apparently means a 70+ percent increase over three years, […]
Sourcing Globally Now That The Rules Have Changed
MORE TO THE STORY: The e-Procurement Advantage During the 1980s and 1990s, manufacturers saved billions of dollars in inventory and other carrying costs by instituting effective just-in-time (JIT) supply chain management and production processes. These efforts were based on the fundamental assumption that, while global supply chains might experience short-term hiccups, they would run pretty […]
Looking Inside The Box
As budget limitations and executive missives compel logistics managers to streamline operating expenses, web-based procurement solutions have become one obvious fix, offering greater control over purchasing decisions, the opportunity to consolidate supply orders and shipments, and the promise of reduced costs.
The Supply Chain: A Canary in the Corporate Coal Mine
To avoid the fate of companies that collaborated with WorldCom, Enron, Vivendi and others, you must learn to read supply chain performance as a gauge of corporate financial fitness. SCM performance is a leading—not a lagging—indicator of a suppy chain partner’s true economic situation.
Bob Wegmann: Blood Work
As Americans jammed Red Cross blood centers after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Bob Wegmann and his staff worked the phones. Their mission: to get vendors to rush enough blood bags, swabs, printed forms, and other supplies to accommodate the hordes of donors. “Obviously, no one predicted Sept. 11. But we were able to predict, […]
Velant’s Automated Planning Solution
Two primary goals of transportation management are reducing costs and enhancing customer service. To meet these demands and improve its transportation planning offerings, Velant, a solution provider headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., has developed a managed service that integrates advanced technology with the expertise of logistics specialists. The company’s Transportation Management Center (TMC) is targeted at […]
NTE Builds Toshiba’s Public-Private Partnership
Two electronic trading networks help Toshiba win prime-level service and attractive rates from contract carriers.
Proactive Involvement Ensures Clean 3PL Startup
When applied appropriately, an outsourcing strategy can add strategic advantage to your organization. Whether the value lies in asset efficiency, cost containment, customer service, marketing strength, or technological advantage, many 3PL customers can show measurable improvement in one or more of these areas. Customers dissatisfied with a 3PL, on the other hand, often cite unrealized […]
Choosing the Right Logistics Consultant
Choosing a logistics consultant should not be a search for the lowest-cost solution, but rather a search for experience and success based on definitive criteria. Dr. Dick Powers, CEO and president of the Bend, Ore., and Manassas, Va.-based consulting firm INSIGHT, which solves logistics and supply chain issues with optimization-based solutions, offers these tips for […]
Container Carriers: Why Can’t We Make Red Tape a Thing of the Past?
Container shipping is one of the world’s youngest industries—younger, in fact, than the computer industry. When Malcolm McLean drove the first container onto a ship less than 50 years ago, Big Blue was already churning out early computing and communication systems. Despite the rapid evolution of computer technology, container shipping companies still fail to grasp […]
Building a High-Velocity Supply Chain Network
Managing an extended supply chain network effectively requires coordination among many geographically dispersed partners. Done well, you can reduce operational costs and increase bottom-line profitability and customer loyalty. Done poorly, you can face increased personnel, as well as higher inventory and rush charges, all incurred in an attempt to avoid dissatisfied customers. With increasing decentralization […]
Proactive Returns Management Yields Hard ROI
Multi-channel product distribution and stiff competition for more demanding and discerning customers require creative strategies for managing and maintaining customer relationships. As companies search for areas of opportunity to meet these needs, returns management tops the list.Product returns and their impact on a company’s bottom line is an age-old problem. The complexities of reverse product […]
Bridging Infrastructure Gaps In Latin America
By partnering with a 3PL, Lucent moves inventory closer to its end consumers, reduces inventory-carrying costs, and better manages product flow.
CF Bankruptcy: Labor Day
Consolidated Freightways files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Labor Day. Coincidence? I don’t think so. Can part of the reason for the demise of this once great carrier be laid at organized labor’s door? I remember meeting with two highly-placed CF executives six years ago. They were making the rounds, explaining to the press […]
Becoming a Better Trucking Customer
Put yourself in your motor carriers’ place for a moment. This past year brought more than a few bumps in the road. Union battles, driver shortages, rising insurance premiums, fluctuating fuel prices and surcharges, and increased safety and security costs have deflated profits and forced shippers, carriers, and supply chain partners to plug expectation gaps […]
Slow Economy? Invest Now in Logistics IT
While some companies have frozen investments in logistics and supply chain technology, forward-thinking companies seize the opportunity to gain a competitive edge.
Michael Trotter: Striking a Balance
Loading pallets with electrical supplies bound for factories and construction sites, “you learn quickly that you can’t set light bulbs on the bottom and put wire on the top,” laughs Michael Trotter, director of logistics at Van Meter Industrial in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. But for a distributor with 29,000 SKUs of all sizes and shapes—from […]
What’s Behind mySAP’s Technology?
The technology behind mySAP’s Supply Chain Management module—which spans planning, execution, networking, and coordination processes—bears closer review. mySAP SCM is built upon industry standards such as HTML, XML, and WAP (Wireless Application Protocol). These tools ensure interoperability and flexibility. Part of SAP’s flexible optimization strategy is the use of user-specific heuristics. “Within SAP, heuristics are […]
Servigistics Service Parts Planning: More Science, Less Art
Cray Inc. takes the guesstimation out of managing its stock of spare parts.
Finding the Right Logistics Recruiter
Alex Metz, president, Hunt Ltd., Lindhurst, N.J., offers these tips on deciding when to use a logistics recruiter and selecting the right one. 1. Recognize when you need help. If you need to replace an individual on staff confidentially, or you have a limited HR department that cannot process the field calls and interview candidates, […]
Truckers Unite to Combat Terrorism
Last September, our nation and the trucking industry were shaken by the realization of our vulnerability to terrorist attacks. While the trucking industry has fought to combat cargo theft and address other security concerns for many years, never before have we considered the magnitude of tragedy that can occur when cargo and equipment fall into […]
Handling the Rigors of Global Compliance
Compliance is an intrinsically complex and often misunderstood part of the global supply chain. Unlike other functions such as purchasing and receiving, which generate a lot of attention and activity, successful compliance is gauged when absolutely nothing happens—when freight leaves its origin and arrives at its destination on time and intact. But as soon as […]
A Ripe Market for Automated Routing and Scheduling
With promises of fresher and more timely delivery of perishable produce, here’s how an australian etailer is changing the way today’s consumers shop.
Food Retail: It’s a Jungle Out There
I was watching The Discovery Channel with my son the other day and saw a program about a group of cheetah hunting a lone springbok. Menaced from the front, sides, and rear the antelope leapt high in the air, and dodged from side to side to escape the jaws and claws of its larger, faster […]
Shopping for Supply Chain Excellence
Food companies embrace collaboration and supply chain technology in their quest o deliver service, selection and savings.
Europe’s Evolving Logistics Landscape
The advent of the European Union is dramatically changing logistics and supply chain management in the Old World.
Andrea Greco: Greco’s Game
The biggest logistics challenge I have right now is being able to go fishing on the weekends and still spend time with my kids,” laughs Andrea Greco, vice president, supply chain for Fila USA. Shuttling between a job near Baltimore and a young family in New York demands careful organization. So does coordinating the supply […]
For SAP, Size No Longer Matters
In this era of business change, even the biggest supply chain technology providers are reaching out to small- and mid-sized companies, creating new products, and making it easier for companies to respond to their offerings. Much of their focus is also targeted toward easier implementation. Industry stalwart SAP has responded to these changes in business […]
Wireless Technology: SCM For a New Generation
To support an improved sales and distribution model, PepsiAmericas swaps old handhelds for advanced mobile computing technology.
Using Brokers and Forwarders for Global Trade
Hiring a broker or forwarder to move international goods can help you manage complex documentation and processes. But it takes some know-how to select and work with these agents. California-based international trade logistics solutions company Open Harbor offers these 10 tips to streamline global trade through brokers and forwarders: 1. Know when to use a […]
Human Resources Vital in the Age of Technology
Technology makes the modern world go ’round, or at the very least makes modern business work. But to build a global freight forwarding network—and make it thrive—technology is not an answer in and of itself. It is a cultural and business evolution. Before implementing technology, freight forwarders must have the right professionals in the right […]
Transforming Companies and Services on the Web
Developments in information technology are transforming the logistics industry by expanding the capabilities of logistics providers and enabling them to automate services to enhance customer support. Using the web, a logistics company can offer a variety of services and information to you without requiring them to invest in special software programs. Logistics services providers are […]
Tapping Into SRM for Supply Strategy and Procurement Execution
Manufacturers today have an opportunity to leverage their supply base for competitive advantage. Unfortunately, most do not have the tools required to tap this value. For the last decade they have focused mainly on growth issues such as supply chain planning and customer relationship management. As the engine of growth has stalled, manufacturers are casting […]
3PL Growth: Strange But True
In any field, find the strangest thing and explore it,” said renowned physicist John Wheeler. “You can learn a lot about your world if you take that approach.” Well, perhaps the strangest thing in our world of transportation is the advent of the 3PL. Many say buying transportation is just about buying a commodity—”I don’t […]
Logistics Outsourcing: Making a Long-Term Commitment
Experienced outsourcers identify keys to establishing long-term relationships with third-party logistics providers, for better or for worse.
3PL Roundup: Straight from the (Out)Source
Market pressure has driven more business to the third-party logistics sector, but as a result, businesses are expecting more from their 3PLs. Find out what customers are demanding and what potential customers should know before they decide to outsource.
The Name of the Game? Branding!
‘A new broom sweeps well,’ says an Italian proverb—and companies today are no strangers to cleaning house and reinventing themselves with modern, global names. Find out how three logistics companies rebranded their corporate assets and the challenges they faced finding the perfect name.
Logistics Outsourcing: A Panacea?
Is outsourcing a panacea? Of coursenot. But depending on your company’s circumstances, it can be a cure.
Transformers!
Transforming the supply chain requires vision, execution…and a strong constitution.
Stacy Eakes: A Seasoned Professional
Stacy Eakes took up rock climbing this year for fun, but she finds that the sport has a lot to teach a logistics professional. “It’s all about problem solving,” she explains. “You learn to shift your weight and look at things from a new perspective, opening new possibilities.” Back on the ground, that mix of […]
Clicking Toward Dynamic Carrier Selection
As supply chain technology evolves, service providers continually refine their offerings to deal with specific challenges. One difficulty many companies face is finding the optimal carrier for a shipment. To address this, Clicklogistics, currently being acquired by Yellow Corporation’s Meridian IQ division, recently launched version 3.0 of its web-native transportation management system (TMS) featuring a […]
Nistevo Finds Strength in Numbers
Nistevo’s network-based TMS gains punch as it attracts more shippers and carriers.
The 4 T’s of SC Excellence: Timing, Trust, Transparency, Technology
Last month, 75 years after Charles Lindbergh’s landing in Paris, his grandson Erik recreated the historic trans-Atlantic run. Charles navigated by sight—flying low and sticking his head out the window. Erik flew with advanced avionics and a sealed, heated cabin. What else has—and hasn’t—changed since the original flight? Both flights were as much logistical as […]
Closing the 3PL Expectation Gap
If you don’t always get what you want when you hire a third-party logistics firm, don’t automatically blame the 3PL. It may be a matter of mixed signals or miscommunication. The key to a successful relationship starts with a clear RFP and excellent communications between the two firms. Michael J. Gardner, global chief operating officer […]
Whole Order Visibility Supports Front Lines of Customer Satisfaction
In the days of dot.com euphoria, an order was an order, plain and simple. Consumers went to Amazon.com to buy a book, then felt the excitement of clicking on “track your package” to follow each step of the delivery. But B2B order tracking is different. No company uses Amazon.com to place complex equipment orders or […]
Let’s Mobilize Our Disaster Management Expertise
It struck me a few years back. Earthquakes in Turkey and Taiwan. Floods in Curacaos. Disaster upon disaster hit nations where Fritz Companies’ employees were based and we didn’t have a plan to help them and their families. In fact, when I called around to other companies at the time, I couldn’t find anyone that […]
Inbound Logistics: Playing the Name Game
“You are so much more than just inbound.” “Inbound Logistics…is this a magazine about importing?” “Why do you cover only inbound transportation?” So why do we call the magazine Inbound Logistics? Over the years, I have been asked this question, and at a logistics trade show in Chicago last month, I was asked it repeatedly. […]
Wayne Paul: Sticking to the Basics
Wayne Paul caught the logistics bug as a college student working in the receiving department at Sears. And much of what he knows about managing a demand chain he learned from his first post-college employer, Roadway Express. Paul joined the less-than-truckload carrier after earning his B.S. in Transportation from the University of Alabama in 1980. […]
Elite System Boosts Supply Chain Visibility
Web-based businesses continue to grow and become more sophisticated, especially when it comes to the supply chain. Technology that was once the exclusive provenance of CAD programs and complex industrial or financial GUIs now has a good chance of being used in applications that serve the supply chain. Clearly companies need greater visibility along as […]
Demand Planning’s Suite Song
Forecasting and planning software helps companies match inventories to customers’ future demands.
Choosing the Right Public Warehouse
The strategic importance of choosing a public warehouse that best meets a company’s needs is often overlooked. Indeed, the difference between public and contract warehousing often comes down to strategy, says Rosario Rizzo, vice president of global warehousing and freight management services for APL Logistics, a global provider of supply chain management services. Though a […]
Selecting an ERP System
Companies often decide to implement enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions based on demand from customers rather than their own manufacturing departments. Sounds great. But sometimes, after implementation, the ERP solution doesn’t quite deliver what the end user wants. The challenge is selecting the right kind of solution. A small manufacturer with several warehouses will have […]
Raking in the Trash
“It’s only trash.” That’s how supply chain managers often refer to the mountains of packing material, broken pallets, paper, and other trash that clutters distribution facilities. For most companies, disposal is an expense item, with additional costs for compactors, waste bins, carting, landfill use, and myriad other variables. With a little of the same skill […]
Material Handling Automation: Money for Nothing, Clicks for Free
Necessity is the mother of invention but in a down economy it may be the mother of companies giving things away to make the sale. Sales of large-ticket capital expenditures are down, including warehouse automation and materials handling systems. At the NA2002 Material Handling Industry (MHI) conference, held in Detroit last month, exhibitor after exhibitor […]
The Right-Tech Warehouse
High tech or low tech – which level of technology is right for your warehouse or distribution center?
Materials Handling Technology: Toy or Tool?
Consider all the options when deciding what materials handling technology works for your operation.
Warehouse Visibility: Looking Beyond the Four Walls
Today’s visibility tools open a window into the warehouse so supply chain partners can see in—and out.
General John M. McDuffie: Telling War Stories
When John M. “Mike” McDuffie talks about a crisis, he doesn’t mean a late shipment; he means catastrophes such as the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. As director of logistics for the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Lieutenant General McDuffie coordinated the race to move people, equipment, and supplies to […]
SupplyPro’s Point-of-Use Inventory Management
Not all supply chain solutions providers offer broad-based remote services. Some do a very good job on a more local level—though, often, their offerings can be hooked into a global web network. Some concentrate solely on the supply chain at point-of-use. One such solutions provider is SupplyPro, based in San Diego, Calif. It has developed […]
Transentric: Filling in the Blanks
A new supply chain tool promises a broader and more detailed view of inventory.
Measuring Carrier Performance
You have just selected a new carrier. How do you make sure you’re getting the service you require? Rick O’Dell, president and CEO of Saia, a regional motor carrier based in Duluth, Ga., offers these top 10 metrics for measuring carrier performance. 1. Pickup performance. How can your delivery be made on time if your […]
Real-Time Visibility Ensures Real Savings
Cost control is an increasingly critical factor as companies fight to remain competitive. Simply put, if you cannot grow revenues, you must cut costs. Supply chain integration across business units is a leading cost-cutting measure, according to corporate managers responding to a recent Gartner Dataquest survey. One problem with most installed procurement and logistics systems […]
How Retailers Become Promise Keepers
Retailers today increasingly leverage online channels to offer services from third parties, including product drop-shipped from other vendors, cross-branded product bundles, and special orders. Amazon essentially built its business on this model and traditional retailers have followed. These strategies present great opportunities for new revenues, efficiencies, and service levels. But serious pitfalls exist, too. When […]
Logistics IT: Opening the Flood Gates
Eight years ago, Barbara Barnhill, transportation supervisor for Elizabeth Arden, excitedly shared her story with Inbound Logistics. She had started a revolutionary program that was racking up annual million-dollar savings by taking control of her inbound transportation. She did it using the latest technology—a fax machine. Today, fax machines have given way to web and […]