Articles
Commentary
2023 Inventory… Too Much? Too Little?
Inventory. That was the theme unifying both attendees and exhibitors at the 2023 National Retail Federation (NRF) convention in New York City. More precisely, everyone I spoke to was interested in load balancing inventory to serve new retail fulfillment approaches striving to catch up with the blindingly fast evolution in consumer buying habits. For retail […]
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3 Ways Digital Transformation Enhances Capacity
After consecutive pandemic years, supply chains are a mess. As a result, businesses are running out of stock just as surging consumer demand drives up prices for remaining goods, contributing to record inflation and further disrupting consumer markets.
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5 Ways to Strengthen and Future-Proof Your Supply Chain
In recent years, environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) practices have become a critical aspect of any company’s reputation and success. Consumers don’t care just about what they are purchasing; they also care about how the product or service gets to them. For instance, an Edelman study shows 64% of consumers worldwide will buy or boycott a brand solely because of its position on a social or political issue.
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Resolving the Driver Retention Crisis
While the trucking industry has been put under further pressure by current supply chain issues, the real problem started long before the pandemic. Driver shortages were being felt as far back as 2005, according to a 2019 American Trucking Associations report.
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Automation: From Benefit to Necessity
Even prior to the pandemic, consumers were demanding. Since the rise of e-commerce, end users expect the ability to order what they want, when they want it, via the channels they want. Brands are adapting to this demand by offering curbside pickup, third-party delivery services, direct-from-social media purchasing, and a variety of other channels to cater to different consumer preferences.
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How to Avoid Paying Ransom
It is no great secret that cyberattacks are on the rise, and recent data suggests supply chains are no exception. A 2022 NCCGROUP survey shows that supply chain organizations experienced a 51% increase in attacks within the six months preceding the survey. The first step in addressing this risk is acknowledging that it exists. The good news is this should be a relatively easy step, especially compared to what comes next.
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Get Closer to the Action With Onshoring
Supply chains are the lifeline of globalization. In the years leading up to the pandemic, western companies routinely outsourced production to suppliers in lower-cost economies around the world. However, the seemingly never-ending string of supply chain disruptions over the past two years highlighted the fragility of complex and dispersed supply chains.
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Gaining Better Visibility: Where to Start
While the business-to-consumer (B2C) market has embraced sophisticated technology tools to enable a digital transformation across the supply chain, the business-to-business (B2B) industry has been slower to adapt, steadfast in a reliance on spreadsheets, phone calls and email.
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3 Top Emerging Automated Solutions
Within the four walls of distribution centers (DCs), more automated alternatives are replacing traditional labor-intensive process and material handling strategies. Operations leaders are beginning to automate and upgrade specific aspects of their DC operations that are bowing under the weight of e-commerce pressures.
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The Supply Chain: It’s Alive! It’s Alive!
In some ways, the supply chain of today is a living, breathing organism. It’s not just links and nodes on a map, but a blend of digital and/or analog data, machines, and yes, real people who are constantly moving and adapting.
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Three Considerations for Choosing a Cross-Border 3PL
Whether to solve existing supply chain issues or to make good supply chains even better, many companies are now cultivating shorter supply chains that boast greater agility during disruptive circumstances. As a result, North American warehouses and distribution centers are increasingly shifting to Mexican and Canadian-based suppliers, rather than overseas counterparts, to simplify supply chains and improve fulfillment processes. While this is a step in the right direction, companies are finding that shorter and simpler doesn’t mean easier.
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The Evolution of Container Chassis Provisioning
When Malcom McLean introduced the world to container shipping in 1956, it not only touched off a seismic shift in the way cargo was handled but also the equipment and infrastructure needed to support containerized operations.
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5 Ways Logistics Managers Can Battle Inflation in 2023
With inflation at 40-year highs and a challenging macroeconomic situation, here’s how you can find stability in your operation.
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Preparing for a Holiday Surge in Cybercrime? Secure Digital Logistics Workflows
The holidays have become primetime for cyberattacks as more businesses shift to digital-first. Given the sensitive nature of supply chains, your logistics data could be at risk if managed across disparate channels. Here are three ways client portals can effectively manage vendor relationships while prioritizing security. 360-degree VIEW Between 2018 and 2020, ransomware attacks increased […]
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We Need More Than Overtime Pay to Fix the Driver Shortage
Transportation logistics faces a conundrum. The U.S. commercial trucking industry is the foundation of our economy, yet it consistently struggles to recruit and retain drivers.
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Four Ways ERP Is Changing to Keep Up with Manufacturers’ Evolving Needs
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) has become a pivotal solution for withstanding today’s challenges. Here’s how the technology is evolving to ensure businesses can keep up with the current climate.
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GOOD QUESTION: What’s your best customer service tip for supply chain stakeholders?
What’s the secret to pleasing customers, whether they’re consumers, your partners, or other supply chain stakeholders? These industry insiders offer their best advice.
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Why a Supply Chain Management Ecosystem Is the Future of Enterprise Planning
Visibility providers are integrating with supply chain applications to give users multiple capabilities within a single ecosystem. Just like within our smartphone, these integrations are giving users the power to tailor their own ecosystem according to their needs.
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Logistics Technology: The Unsung Hero of Convenience Commerce
As consumers embraced online ordering during the pandemic, e-commerce sales ballooned from $571.2 billion in 2019 to $815.4 billion in 2020—a 43% jump—according to a recent Census Bureau retail survey. Although online sales have cooled since the initial pandemic-driven fervor, consumers continue to drive convenience commerce, with e-commerce sales increasing 6.7% in Q1 2022. More than 20% of consumer spending from January to March occurred online.
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How to Develop a Customer-centric Supply Chain
Supply chain variability creates hurdles to customer satisfaction. Prioritize the consumer experience by integrating flexible technologies and processes in your supply chain design.
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