Articles
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What’s Lurking in Your Supply Chain?
You may think your company is well protected when it comes to cybersecurity, but an often overlooked source of vulnerability is your supply chain. If you can’t honestly say you are fully apprised of the security postures of your vendors, partners, and contractors, then you are already at major risk of a cyberattack.
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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." […]
Read MoreWhat’s the most unexpectedly good advice you’ve received about the supply chain?
Speed is not always the solution. Breaking shipments into inventory replenishment and just-in-time SKUs allows price and transit time optimization. Asia-to-U.S.-East-Coast transit through the Panama Canal versus the Suez Canal differs by 7 to 13 days. Pushing inventory cargo to the slower/lower-cost options provides free warehousing on the water while reducing overall landed cost. —Alan […]
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It’s Time to Digitize Your Back Office
Upgrading back-office functions may not be the sexiest subject when it comes to artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and business automation but, according to IDC research, it goes the furthest.
Read MoreHow Mobile IoT Brings End-to-End Supply Chain Visibility to Life
End-to-end supply chain transparency has proven a difficult-to-attain gold standard, not only by transportation and logistics companies, but by any company that depends on the movement of goods to propel business forward. In the thick of the COVID-19 era and its ripple effects, this need has become even more critical across nearly every sector. The […]
Read MoreAutomation Is the Key to Warehousing During COVID-19
Supply chain managers don’t have to sacrifice worker safety to maintain production levels during coronavirus—warehouse automation can solve the problem. COVID-19 has infected a great number of essential workers in the United States, leading companies on the front lines to implement new safety processes. While the spread of the virus has been grave enough to […]
Read MoreThe Value of Global Trade Insights in Navigating COVID-19 Supply Chain Disruptions
The coronavirus pandemic has exposed the fragility of the modern supply chain, as companies struggle to acquire the products and raw materials needed to keep revenue flowing. With many businesses relying heavily on a limited number of trading partners, many located in hard-hit areas like China, the scale of the supply chain disruption has been […]
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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 […]
Read MoreTrucking Companies Need to Flex in the Face of Disruption
This is an unprecedented time of disruption and volatility. The pandemic is showing the need to be more diversified. Trucking companies built around a specific customer base shut down when that industry shut down. Oversaturation in one market or customer base means disruptions hit harder. Companies supporting the food and beverage supply chain saw traffic […]
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The Road Map Out of This Mess
For years, I have been a proponent of operating a lean and agile supply chain, but some now say the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the shortcomings of a supply chain that is perhaps too lean. To be “lean,” however, doesn’t mean maintaining extremely low inventory levels with no coordination or backup plan. It also appears […]
Read More6 Keys to Pandemic Preparedness
Companies that have handled supply chain disruption the best to date did the following 6 things well in advance of the pandemic.
Read MoreWhat Is a Continuous Delivery Experience and How Has COVID-19 Increased Its Importance in the Supply Chain?
As the country and global economy begin to recover, the question on everyone’s minds, is “what will re-entry into the business world look like?” More specifically, how do companies fortify their supply chain, fulfillment functions and relationships with logistics providers to bring everyone back online smoothly? It’s difficult to imagine going back to business as […]
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The High Cost of Invisibility
The research is well documented and it’s not pretty. Supply chain visibility is a key driver to a company’s success, yet remains a top challenge. Nearly 7 in 10 procurement executives say they do not have full visibility of their supply chains, according to the Business Continuity Institute (BCI).
Read MoreCreative, Agile Leaders Look to Technology for Answers in a Post-Pandemic World
These are trying times as the current healthcare crisis affects us in ways never imagined. This is certainly the case in the supply chain, logistics and transportation sectors. What hasn’t changed, however, is the importance of strong, agile, creative leaders. These are the ones able to pivot their companies in response to anticipated lower volumes […]
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Agility On Demand
An instantaneous experience. It’s what consumers expect and the environment online retailers face. When consumers are captured by a product they must have, online retailers have only a few swipes and a few minutes until their brand’s reputation is on the clock.
Read MoreAdapting Supply Chain Strategies Amid COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an enormous strain on global supply chains as they rush to complete and ship orders as quickly as possible. With tightening budgets and a need to stay connected using technology, it is more important than ever for transportation and logistics companies to have an effective mobility strategy in place. To […]
Read MoreLife After COVID-19: New Realities, New Thinking, New Approaches
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a worldwide impact—economic standstill, stalled goods movement and disruption of the global supply chain. Most essential goods and services are delivered via heavy-duty trucks, and today we have new appreciation of our reliance on these vehicles to keep grocery stores stocked, health care worker supplies replenished and fuel in our […]
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Get RIP-Roaring Results with IoT
Companies are increasingly investing in returnable industrial packaging (RIP) to ship products to customers as sustainably as possible.
Read MoreHow Machine Learning Solves the COVID-19 Supplier Discovery Dilemma
Machine learning, in addition to a large amount of data, is a critical tool that can help manufacturers and supply chain professionals find, qualify, and use new suppliers for personal protective equipment (PPE) and raw materials during the COVID-19 pandemic. As stated in a recent Inbound Logistics article, “Companies need to first quickly develop transparency […]
Read MoreSupply Chain Cleanliness Matters—During and Beyond COVID-19
As the world grapples with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, global supply chain leaders are busier than ever and working hard to keep workers and customers safe—even as they keep millions of products moving. Of course, the threat of COVID-19 has dominated the national dialogue. But responsible warehouse managers know that safeguards to protect workers, drivers, […]
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