Articles
Commentary
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, […]
Read MoreHow Election Results Will Impact Supply Chain Stakeholders
The coronavirus, and the associated lockdowns, has brought a great deal of logistics activity – and many business decisions – to a grinding halt. Especially when it comes to international trade, it’s hard for business decisions-makers to decide at the moment if they want to invest heavily in a certain market, or to make commitments […]
Read More3 Signs a Warehouse Needs a Wireless Site Assessment
A properly designed wireless network, as well as enhancements made to an existing network, can maximize benefits of the Wi-Fi system and enhance efficiencies across all areas of a business. Connectivity poses a unique challenge for warehouse operations given constantly shifting inventory, shelving, racking and vehicles, along with potential interference from other wireless equipment. Ensuring […]
Read More3 Ways Retailers Can Fully Prepare for the Holiday Season
Retailers know Americans will still be spending this holiday season, even if it is in a wildly atypical manner. Smart retailers are taking the following steps to ensure they’re not left with a lump of coal this holiday season. 1. Finalize any online fulfillment and inventory management decisions. Retailers of all sizes are aggressively wrapping […]
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Shopping for E-Fulfillment Efficiencies
Online grocery shopping has morphed from a temporary necessity to a new way of life. Retailers with the best order fulfillment process and the highest-quality customer service will gain the upper hand.
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Should the Emergency Suspension of Hours-of-Service Rules be Extended?
Yes, the Hours-of-Service exemption should be extended until the country removes the emergency declarations for the pandemic and the CDC no longer declares the United States under a pandemic.
Read MoreServing Eye Surgeons During the Pandemic: Relying on Ingenuity and Partnerships
Flight cancellations, inconsistent supply, increased demands on our customer service teams…these aggravations are not about pleasure or business travel, but the urgent need to rush a cornea to someone waiting in darkness for a transplant.
Read More3 Tips for Using Data-Driven Technology to Augment Worker Safety
The adoption of wearable technology in the supply chain space has accelerated during the past six months, as the COVID-19 pandemic ushered in a new wave of workplace safety concerns. Now, in addition to reducing worker injuries, IoT technology is increasingly used to protect workers from the virus with newly added social distancing and contact-tracing […]
Read MoreBecome a “Partner of Choice” to Unleash the Full Power of Procurement
Most procurement teams are familiar with the concept of customer centricity, and some years back this concept was translated into supplier-centric sourcing. Becoming a “customer of choice” became the new top goal in order to secure the best deals and guarantee great relationships through close collaboration with core suppliers. In many organizations, this meant identifying […]
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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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Lessons Learned: Risk Mitigation Strategies for the Future
Companies can help avoid at least some of the pitfalls of supply chain risk—including COVID-19—by developing risk mitigation strategies such as supply chain mapping.
Read MorePower Through Logistics Challenges with New, Modern Chassis
When the pandemic rocked the world this spring, many companies were utilizing “pool chassis” in major ports and inland rail locations. However, with many pool chassis ranging in age from 20 to 25 years old, this led to serious problems, including: Breakdowns: This results in lost time on the road, missed appointments, and increased maintenance […]
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10 Ways to Leverage Intermodal
Intermodal, the movement of containers and trailers, has been a boon to the supply chain for decades. It embraces standardization—standard container sizes and rail schedules, and standard trucking from ports and terminals to customers—which has reduced transport costs and mistakes, and improved freight service across the globe.
Read MoreControlling Your Own Destiny: Why Shippers Must Find Ways to Ensure Supply Chain Resiliency
The challenge with today’s supply chain is that one glitch, at any mile, can impact the entire chain.
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What’s the most significant way COVID-19 has changed the supply chain?
The pandemic has increased uncertainty to a level never seen before in supply chains. Demand patterns are all over the place, supply lines are disrupted, lead times are uncertain, and nobody is quite sure when and how things will change going forward. Supply chain planning? More like supply chain prognosticating!
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5 Lessons Learned During the Crisis
As a major player in the freight forwarding industry, and having been through the SARS epidemic in China, I have learned and implemented some key lessons that are vital not only in navigating a pandemic, but doing so efficiently.
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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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3 M’s to Cut Supply Chain Costs
As the global supply chain settles into the COVID-19 technology-driven and customer-centric decade, there’s no time to pause and reflect on what has happened. Now is a time for action. Pick up the pace and ensure your processes are leaner and faster, and you are equipped to meet your customers’ expectations.
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Return-to-School Period Will Test Retailers and 3PLs
Retailers and their logistics partners are having to find ways to navigate through uncertainty in a way that they can take advantage of whatever demand there is while keeping costs down, all at a time when the pandemic is already placing significant strain on their operations and sales. In many ways, the return-to-school shopping period […]
Read MoreIn Allocating Virus Crisis Relief, U.S. Policymakers Can’t Ignore America’s Ports
COVID-19 has profoundly altered our ways of life. Thankfully, one aspect has remained relatively stable…the movement of essential goods through our ports. During the pandemic, America’s ports have ensured store shelves remain stocked and commerce continues to flow. Due to the supply chain in which ports are a central link, people have been able to […]
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