Articles

Case Studies

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Melanie Foster: Raisin to Believe

Although Melanie Foster has lived in California’s Sacramento Valley all her life, her influence reaches around the globe. As distribution and transportation manager for Sunsweet Growers Inc., she is one of the people responsible for making sure that much of the world’s supply of prunes and other dried tree fruits reaches customers. “I handle all […]

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Greg Schwartz: Smooth Operator

In the smoothie business, hot weather is a blessing; as temperatures rise, so does demand. But when the sun blazes too long over peach orchards or berry fields, it may ruin the crops. Then, bringing in the fruit needed to whip up a perfect healthy drink becomes a complicated puzzle. That’s why Greg Schwartz, vice […]

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Jim Calo: Under Armour’s Over Achiever

Active people look to Under Armour’s clothing, footwear, and sports gear to help them stay at the top of their game. Since last October, Jim Calo has been giving Under Armour a similar boost. As the Baltimore firm’s first chief supply chain officer, Calo spends much of his time with the operations team, scouting for […]

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Norbert Ore: The Creative Touch

When Norbert Ore looks back at his career, he recalls with special satisfaction a phase that started in 2001, when a job switch took him from Chesapeake Corp. to Georgia-Pacific (GP) LLC, Atlanta. His new position, the one he still holds today, was group director, strategic sourcing and procurement. Even for a supply chain veteran […]

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Bean There, Returned That

Building its business around high-quality outdoor equipment and clothing, L.L. Bean’s sales channels include seven retail stores, one dozen outlet stores, the Internet, and its nearly 100-year-old catalog. But it’s not just the product that Bean built its reputation on—it’s also the retailer’s 100-percent satisfaction guarantee. The roots of that guarantee trace back to 1912, […]

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Vimal Patel: Taking an Eagle’s-Eye View

When Vimal Patel speaks, everyone listens. As manager of merchandise flow at American Eagle (AE) Outfitters’ Warrendale, Pa., distribution center, his job is to make sure all departments – receiving, replenishment, packing, and shipping – pull together to achieve the facility’s goals. “Every department wants to do well individually, but they don’t always look at […]

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Steve Lash: Loco Like A Fox

“A chicken is actually corn with feathers,” Steve Lash says. He should know. Lash is director of supply chain management for El Pollo Loco, a restaurant chain that built its success on citrus-marinated, flame-grilled, Mexican-style chicken. With more than 360 stores in seven states, and a 12-state expansion underway, El Pollo Loco (Spanish for The […]

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John Rickard: Logistics With a Human Touch

Try this logistics experiment: Drop packages of food from a helicopter onto a field filled with football and rugby players and see if anyone gets hurt. That’s the exercise John Rickard and his associates at the relief agency International Rescue Committee (IRC) conducted in 1999 while laying plans for a humanitarian mission in the mountains […]

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