Articles
Checking In
Robots and People: Co-Evolving
Robots and people are adjusting their symbiotic relationship in logistics. Our recent robotics coverage (Feb. 2021) generated a good amount of audience feedback, most related to the growing importance and essential need for humans in logistics. It’s true that the stresses created by the virus economy spawned an increase in investing in automation to take […]
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GM & Kroger: Transformers
The interconnection between advanced manufacturing, automation, and supply chain management had a boost in the past year. Part of that boost was due to the virus economy, but most was due to the genius and creativity of those seeking solutions to tough business challenges amplified by ever-evolving customer demands. Transformation. Just as the silo-crashing impact […]
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The President’s 2021 Trade Policy
The Biden Administration’s new trade policy report is filled with laudable goals such as beating COVID-19, American family relief, and the Build Back Better initiative. But should these goals be the basis of U.S. trade policy or negotiating position with other countries? Do our economic competitors enter into trade negotiations with the United States with […]
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Buddy, Can You Spare a Can?
According to a CNBC investigation, shipping lines rejected U.S. export containers worth hundreds of millions of dollars during the last quarter of 2020. Empties were loaded and shipped back east to be filled with Chinese exports. But press reports blaming “congestion” are off the mark. Those empties are getting moved and loaded on ships somehow. […]
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A Valid Question
Recently I was interviewed for a popular supply chain and logistics blog. The interviewer asked this question: Has the name of the magazine been a deterrent because it doesn’t encompass the full breadth of content you provide? A valid question. My answer: It has not been a deterrent, but sometimes it does need explanation. So […]
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From a Modest Beginning
Having covered logistics for more than four decades, Inbound Logistics has promoted and encouraged companies to adopt demand-driven logistics practices, and reported their progress driving the evolution of traffic management to supply chain management. The key development in that process was accepting a sea change in business management: Don’t plan and push your product at […]
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Think Big, Act Small
Business disruption is creating disproportionate opportunity for mid-size forwarders, logistics solutions providers, and 3PLs. The maxim “He who is closer to the customer wins” is in play here. Says who? A recent survey by Barclays/BOD on the state of logistics confidence levels finds that “larger companies have generally found things more difficult than smaller ones, […]
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Do You Like Raspberries?
Initial and erroneous reporting on a Wuhan wet market renewed a focus on food supply chain management, or FSCM. The virus episode reminds us that reputations of food value chain partners—vendors, transport providers, governments, buyers, and retailers—can and will be severely damaged by any food chain fail. Twenty-three million people get sick from unsafe food […]
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The World Is Your Warehouse 3.0
In a column I wrote 20 years ago called "Millennium Musings," I used the phrase "make the world your warehouse." It took two decades, but it appears that we may be on the cusp of that actually happening, not just in developed countries, but across the entire world. How? Enter Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, […]
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A Plan for Freight Excellence
The U.S. Department of Transportation took many by surprise recently when it introduced the first-ever National Freight Strategic Plan (NFSP), designed to upgrade the American freight system and maintain the country’s competitive edge. Anyone who has been around our industry as long as I have has seen federal initiatives that address transportation inequities without moving […]
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Let’s Not Forget
Virus Times has reminded us that we have the capacity to quickly adopt "new" technologies, adapt to new working conditions, and remain highly productive. Certainly the "new" technologies for collaborative work are not really new. They are new just to a large swath of workers who had no reason to Zoom under pre-COVID-19 working conditions. […]
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What Can 3PLs Do?
Can third-party logistics (3PL) providers bring chaos to order? Or order to chaos? For starters, they can help you wrangle and bring some order to the current COVID-caused confusion in your logistics process. We’ve been reporting on how logistics partners can help you solve complicated business challenges and leverage opportunities long before “3PL” was a […]
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In Defense of You
You’ve failed at logistics. So says David Segal in his recent article entitled "What Happened to the Great American Logistics Machine?" in The New York Times. Here are the article’s punchlines: The virus is "winning at the logistics game," and "let us acknowledge the obvious: The country is flunking a curriculum that it basically wrote." […]
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Staying Productive in Unproductive Times
While driving around my neighborhood, I’ve noticed a lot more people putting items out to the curb. Have you noticed this? I wondered about that for a moment and then realized what was happening. People are using the virus downtime to organize, clean, and take up projects long postponed. The result is an uptick in […]
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Now They Know
Some search categories on the Inbound Logistics platform are up more than 108%. What are companies looking for? Logistics solutions, such as more carrier lift in certain areas, fulfillment help, warehouse solutions, transportation management technology, and 3PL solutions, to name a few. The scramble for logistics solutions and expertise is on. Everyone needs what you […]
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Flexing Muscle on China Trade Compliance
The Trump administration is using a novel approach—e-commerce shipment enforcement—to ensure that China complies with Phase 1 of the U.S.-China trade deal signed in January 2020. Trade compliance intersects with billions of dollars of e-commerce shipments in Operation Mega Flex, which the Department of Homeland Security outlined in late February 2020. Mega Flex targets what […]
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Robot Return Ratios
More robots are on the way to Walmart, says John Crecelius, the retailer’s vice president in charge of in-store innovations. Walmart will add shelf-scanning Bossa Nova robots to 650 more U.S. stores in 2020, for a total of 1,000 or more by the fall. Either Bossa Nova or Simbe robots will be in “the majority” […]
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Ten Minutes From Now—Do You Have a Plan?
While the publisher is focused on planning for a far-off future, I’m focused on providing practical information that you can use in the here and now. Leaf through this edition for the next 10 minutes, and you’ll find plenty of practical examples to help you navigate 2020. The content we provide is specialized because the […]
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Ten Years From Now—Do You Have a Plan?
It’s a new decade and time to project and plan for the next one. Ten years from today, what will your market look like? What kind of customers will you have and where will they be located? What will they buy? How will they buy? And how will you adapt your supply chain operations to […]
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What’s the Word?
We asked the experts in our audience for the hot supply chain words or phrases you and your colleagues will be talking about next year. Here goes. Door to floor. Given e-commerce deliveries of larger consumer products, door to floor is a thing, explains Bob Hitt, industry go to market manager for Salesforce. Some call […]
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