Articles

Case Studies

Jason Ballard: Distributing Ammo and Hot Chow
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Jason Ballard: Distributing Ammo and Hot Chow

NAME: Jason Ballard TITLE: Major, student in the Command and General Staff School, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, since 2010 COMPANY: U.S. Army PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE: U.S. Army Reserve: field artilery. U.S. Marine Corps: ammunition technician. U.S. Army: second lieutenant (recruiter, later cargo transfer company platoon leader); first lieutenant (assistant battalion operations officer); captain (battalion logistics officer, later assistant division […]

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William Cossey Jr.: Happy in the Middle of the Action
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William Cossey Jr.: Happy in the Middle of the Action

NAME: William Cossey Jr. TITLE: Executive director of supply chain integration, since 2009 COMPANY: Cox Communications PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE: Transportation and logistics sergeant, U.S. Army National Guard; staff accountant, PricewatershouseCoopers; assistant senior auditor, senior auditor, Cox Enterprises; business manager, Gulf Coast Market, Cox Communications; director of business operations, Middle Georgia Market, Cox Communications; state director of […]

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Kathy Zepaltas: Doing Fine, Moving Wine
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Kathy Zepaltas: Doing Fine, Moving Wine

NAME: Kathy Zepaltas TITLE: Director of logistics, since 2001 COMPANY: Jackson Family Wines, Santa Rosa, Calif. PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE: Inventory control coordinator, Apperson Business Forms; accounting assistant, BIW Connector Systems; recruiting specialist, S.L. Drown Associates Professional Placements; operations manager, Regal Wine Company; director of distribution, Jackson Family Wines EDUCATION: BA, business management, Sonoma State University of […]

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Learning by Example
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Learning by Example

Acquiring a warehouse and implementing a warehouse management system from Cambar Solutions helped The School Box earn top grades for its distribution operation.

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Scott Kingsley: The Personal Connection
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Scott Kingsley: The Personal Connection

NAME: Scott Kingsley TITLE: Logistics manager COMPANY: The Food Source International, Frazer, Penn., since 2009 PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE: Philadelphia Flyers archives intern, Comcast-Spectacor; account services representative, production planner, Transcontinental Direct; logistics planner/international freight management, Penske Logistics EDUCATION: B.S., business management and marketing, Pennsylvania State University, 2002 Scott Kingsley is as tech-savvy as any young logistics professional. […]

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Terri Sheely: Ready for Ignition

One tricky aspect of Terri Sheely’s work is the way her company, Altronic, manages inventory. “We don’t carry a lot of finished products,” says Sheely, purchasing and traffic manager at the Girard, Ohio, firm that makes ignition systems and digital instrumentation used in large engines that pump natural gas. But when a customer places an […]

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Cliff Hooper: X-Ray Image

Cliff Hooper has been managing inventories since high school. He started out working for a firm that installed and serviced jukeboxes, pinball games, and slot machines. Later, he applied his logistics smarts to aircraft and war planning functions for the U.S. Air Force, and to missile and radar systems for Hughes Aircraft Company. More recently, […]

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Bill Harlow: Power Play

While racing stock cars at the Hales Corners Speedway in Wisconsin, Bill Harlow took a job at the local Briggs   Stratton factory. “Racing was a very expensive hobby,” he says. To support it, he needed a day job. Harlow still works at Briggs   Stratton, but in the 31 years since he joined the […]

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Chris Osen: Leading From the Center

Pick up a frozen pizza, moisturizer, or weekly planner, and you may well be holding a product from MeadWestvaco (MWV). Formed in 2002 by the merger of the Mead Company and Westvaco Corp., MWV provides packaging solutions for leading brands in health care, personal care, food and beverage, media and entertainment, and many other industries. […]

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Gabriel Alcazar: He’s Got His Job Down Cold

When you tinker with a job that workers have been doing the same way for years, someone’s bound to get upset. “Change management has always been one of the biggest challenges I have faced,” says Gabriel Alcazar, supply chain manager at Sub-Zero Freezer Company in Phoenix, Ariz. Consider what happened when Alcazar’s team introduced a […]

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Beth Ford : A Woman of Taste

Some supply chain professionals like their work best when things are humming. Not Beth Ford. “I can’t get enough craziness,” says Ford, executive vice president, head of supply chain at International Flavors   Fragrances Inc. (IFF) in New York. What kind of craziness makes Ford’s day? Consider the time during her stint at Mobil Oil […]

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Elizabeth Little: Little Goes a Long Way

For Elizabeth Little, success lies in the details. There’s always a fresh piece of legislation moving through Congress, a revised rule, or a new security or safety requirement that affects the way companies ship goods across the border. “As the importer of record, I need to know what’s currently happening with everything related to shipping,” […]

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Lou Paioletti: Phoenix Rising

It took three months of intense work last fall for Phoenix Contact to shake the bugs from a new, fully automated distribution center in Middletown, Pa. The transition wasn’t easy, says Lou Paioletti, director of logistics at Phoenix Contact USA. But according to the company’s distributors, adjusting to new technologies and processes can take a […]

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