Articles
Commentary
Simple Collaboration: The Focus is Transportation
Reduced to its base element, supply chain management is the transportation of goods from Point A to Point B. At this core, the fundamental players are shippers, receivers, and transport providers. How well they perform together is the basis for creating wealth in companies and nations. Goods efficiently sourced and manufactured, but not shipped, have […]
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 MoreUnlocking the True Value of e-Marketplaces
E-marketplaces have earned tremendous interest and participation in almost every industry, from chemicals to office supplies. However, e-marketplaces are only now reaching a level mature enough to evaluate the benefits. Surprise! The main reasons used to lure participation—such as lower product prices for buyers and increased access to new customers and markets for suppliers—are not […]
Read MoreIs Logistics Boring?
Recently an assistant editor left Inbound Logistics to take a job with a consumer publication. Reason? Even though she was a young, bright, talented editor, she said she found logistics “boring.” That brought me up short. I never found logistics boring. In fact, changes in the transportation industry, especially these past five years, have been […]
Read MoreLeading Logistics to the Fourth Dimension
This past year has brought growth, mergers, and a steady move toward collaboration among supply chain suppliers and users. The supply chain community is growing up—and boldly—in a not-so-confident e-commerce world. There is a big difference between B2B supply chain organizations and standard fly-by-the-seat-of-the-pants e-commerce companies. The strong will survive and the poorly thought through […]
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 MoreChoosing Technology Over Nuts and Bolts
Picture this Information Technology (IT) department of a transoceanic shipping company: Hundreds of programmers sitting in front of computer screens. Managers training employees on outdated systems in use for 20 years. Phone calls from business unit heads wondering why legacy work is delaying project deadlines. This was Sea-Land in 1992, when I became CIO. Yet […]
Read MoreCross-Pollination and Excellence
Remember way back in high school bio class when you learned about J. Gregor Mendel’s experiments with peas? I bet you said to yourself, “What am I learning this for? I’ll never use it. I’m not gonna be a farmer.” Guess again, Mr. Greenjeans! You’re all grown up now, and you are the world’s finest […]
Read MoreNew Logistics Portal Saves Money on Every Shipment
Supply chain portals are growing in number, uniqueness, and breadth of service to all partners. They will continue to grow, given the ever-increasing usefulness of conducting supply chain management on the web and the constant growth of new technologies in this area. One new portal, which went live in November 2000, is worth noting. LTLNET.com, […]
Read MoreTransportation Software: A Guide for the Perplexed
Making the right transportation software choice is harder than ever. More than 60 Internet transportation dot.coms have launched in the last 12 months alone. If you’re like most people, you’re wondering: “How can I make sense of all these companies?” The good news: the Internet can provide enormous productivity gains for transportation and logistics companies. […]
Read MoreGet Customer-Centric or Get E-liminated
Ask three people to define e-commerce, and you’ll end up with three disparate answers. The problem is that companies use e-commerce to define varying degrees of involvement in e-business. Some companies think they conduct e-commerce because they have e-mail. Some believe that the mere presence of a web site constitutes an e-commerce approach. The fact […]
Read MoreCarpe Diem Logistica
For purists, 2001 is when the new millennium really starts. For this magazine, 2001 marks the beginning of our 21st year of publication. It also marks the beginning of the third decade of championing the inbound approach that advanced the idea of traffic management from its humble, if not important, beginnings to an engine of […]
Read MoreThe Lights Are On But No One’s Home
We have a saying in the big city, “the lights are on but no one’s home.” By the time you read this, in California at least, everyone may be home but the lights may be off. Chalk another one up to federal and state energy policy pooh-bah’s polymorphic foul-ups. They hit the off switch. Few […]
Read MoreAutomatic Information: The Supply Chain Goes Live
As the pressure for speed and accuracy increases within the supply chain, companies constantly search for technology to deliver goods quickly and reliably. To meet that demand, an ever-increasing number of end user communication solutions—such as RF devices, subtle bar-code readers, cell phones, and personal digital assistants—have been developed and marketed in the past 10 […]
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 MoreOnline vs. Offline Shopping: Retailers Must Respond
E- tailing has emerged as a significant retail force—consumers are shopping online. Now it’s up to traditional brick and mortar retailers to respond. With even more recent pressure on pure-play dot.com retailers, an integrated retail strategy seems to be in mode. Whether you adopt the creative label, or simply treat the Internet as a channel […]
Read MoreThis Land is Your Land: Real Estate Cuts Costs
As competition among 3PL firms continues to increase, finding new ways to reduce your operating costs and maximize supply chain efficiencies becomes increasingly important. A 1999 analysis of the logistics industry found that an estimated eight cents on each dollar spent on logistics can be allocated to the warehouse with the majority, or 59 cents, […]
Read MoreSharing Your Logistics Wealth
Hats off to the National Industrial Transportation League, which has joined with Transportation.com and Transportation for Tots to collect toys and cash for needy kids at its annual conference and at other transportation-related events. Transportation.com also teamed up with e-Toys.com this holiday season for a six-week online toy collection campaign. These folks know that logisticians—and […]
Read MoreDelivering B2B Supply Chain Flexibility
The stakes continue to rise in the online business-to-business world. Despite the still rapid entry of new dot.com players—1,000 new sites since the beginning of the year—Forrester Research predicts that within three years, less than 200 will remain. While there are many reasons for the falloff, the main reason is that many sites do not […]
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 […]
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