Articles

Commentary

Buck Black
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Helping Truck Drivers Address Job Stress

Change is a well-established cause of stress. In 1967, psychologists developed a stress scale that lists 43 stressful life events that can contribute to illness. Changes in financial state, job responsibilities, employment conditions, and working hours; trouble with an employer; and revision of personal habits place a person at a moderate risk of physical illness […]

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Marty R. Ready
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Trucking as a Driver to Economic Recovery

Trucking serves as a barometer of the U.S. economy, representing more than 67 percent of tonnage carried by all domestic freight transportation modes, including manufactured and retail goods. Forty-four percent of all wage earners in the United States work in the transportation sector. The trucking industry also accounts for five percent of the nation’s gross […]

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Mike Morel
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Improving Logistics and Distribution Processes at International Subsidiaries

Large enterprises continue to set up international subsidiary operations to find opportunities for growth. These subsidiary operations include sales and distribution offices, small operating divisions, customer service units, and joint ventures. They often need to develop their own logistics and distribution mechanisms to receive inbound shipments, store inventory and deliver orders to their customers. Unlike […]

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Dean Vella
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Supply Chain Management: A Needed and Growing Opportunity

Today, successful companies rely on the skills of supply chain management professionals to keep their goods and services flowing to the marketplace quickly, efficiently, and as cost-effective as possible. Supply chain management is a bright spot among up-and-coming careers, with employment opportunities in a wide variety of industries, in firms of all sizes. If you’re […]

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Felecia Stratton
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Supply Chain Therapy Strikes a Balance

There’s nothing like a spur-of-the-moment urge, then splurge, to improve temperament. Retailers today are all too willing to facilitate “retail therapy” and oblige customers by making it easier than ever to satisfy their random impulses. Advertising—subliminal or overt—is quick to connect happiness with material possession, regardless of what kind. Then the supply chain takes over. […]

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Paul A. Myerson
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Minimizing Wasted Movement

Ideally, material should flow smoothly from Point A to Point B in a process, and be touched only once. That is rarely the case, however. More likely, material is touched and moved many times before its ultimate use. In Lean terms, this excess transportation or movement is waste that occurs when temporarily locating, filing, stocking, […]

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Michael Watson, Ph.D.
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Discovering the Value of Analytics

Many companies are building analytics strategies, which use data to facilitate better decisions. To develop improved analytics strategies, consider the three different types of analytics: descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive. Each type uses data in a different way to provide a different type of value. Descriptive analytics: Using data to improve how you describe or report […]

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Ronald Leibman
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FMCSA Abandons Carrier Oversight

For 75 years, the U.S. Department of Transportation stood as the arbiter of interstate motor carrier safety. That significantly changed on May 16, 2012, when the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued three notices on its Web site signaling a retreat from its statutory and historical oversight of carrier safety, in favor of placing […]

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Keith Biondo
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3PL Partnerships: From Tactical to Strategic

It was déjà vu all over again as I sorted through the responses to this year’s Top 10 3PL Excellence Awards survey and 3PL Perspectives research. Like last year, and the year before, and the year before that, a sizable percentage of survey respondents said they select logistics partners based on their ability to secure […]

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