Articles
Carriers Corner: Air, Ocean, Rail, Road Topics
Improving Employee Efficiency Through Education
Providing superior customer service is a fundamental goal of every successful business. The manner in which employees provide value-added service is key not only to maintain, but also to attract, additional business. To be successful service providers, companies need to focus on variables such as improving employee efficiency and productivity through focused training and education […]
Read MoreCreating New Avenues for Cost Reductions
To significantly reduce logistics costs, look beyond network optimization and rate reductions from your carriers. Transportation providers have limited opportunity left to cut costs, yet significant savings opportunities—in managing inbound inventory, reducing static inventory, and increasing supply chain velocity—often go untapped. The challenge in achieving these benefits is to replace traditional thinking with a new […]
Read MorePracticing Enlightened Leadership
With employers facing labor shortages and unprecedented worker mobility, a stable, productive workforce of drivers, owner operators, and support employees is unusual in the rapidly changing trucking industry. It has been my experience in this industry that workforce stability—with low employee turnover—follows enlightened leadership. Enlightenment arrives when leaders elevate their game to a higher level. […]
Read MoreBecoming A Change Agent for Marketplace Success
Two important premises exist in the business world: if we don’t change faster than the changes taking place outside our own walls, it’s just a matter of time before we lose our competitive edge. the future will be inherited by the fastest learning organization. How do leaders drive change so that we’re not left in […]
Read Moree-Commerce Change Is in the Air
In 1995, a major financial services firm said, “our customers will never go on-line to trade.” Five years later, the landscape of that sector has changed significantly with a whole new way of doing business and with a cadre of new companies that are formidable competitors. To some degree, the transportation sector, and specifically air […]
Read MoreStress-Free Shipping: The Reseller’s Way
Are you the owner of a small- to medium-sized business looking for ways to give your customers better service? Have you encountered stress in your business even as you’ve searched for something as seemingly simple as an overnight shipping service? In addition to the cost of transporting a package, perhaps you’ve had questions of dependability […]
Read MoreSupply Chain Revolution Is In Your Hands
Corporate leaders today recognize what logistics professionals have always known: supply chain performance can have a significant dollars-and-cents impact on an organization’s market share and profitability. The evidence is compelling. For example, best-in-class companies spend five to six percent less on supply chain management as a percentage of sales than median performers, according to The […]
Read MoreSpecialty Products: Don’t Get Boxed In
Thinking outside the box is good advice to follow—both figuratively and literally—when it comes to shipping odd-sized, high-value products such as structural components, store fixtures, trade show exhibits, display cases, office furnishings, computers, and related merchandise. Indeed the box or crate, with its attendant cost and downtime delays of packing and handling, can critically limit […]
Read MoreCreating and Managing Intermodal Partnerships
Much has been written about creating “partnerships” in business today. Increasingly, the word implies more than just establishing a close cooperation between two parties and maintaining an acceptable level of service. “Partnership” has become synonymous with forging a true vendor-customer alliance to achieve predetermined objectives and proactively identifying ways to provide the best service at […]
Read MoreThinking of Outsourcing? Ask Me Two Questions
A potential customer who was considering outsourcing her logistics operations recently asked me two thoughtful questions. The questions are fundamental, yet critical to ensuring that you, as the customer, share with your 3PL providers a common understanding of the task at hand. Her first question: What is logistics? The proliferation of logistics directories illustrates the […]
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