Articles
Commentary

Mitigating the Flood of Post-Holiday Returns
Businesses across the country spend months gearing up for the holiday season. And while they survived this year’s frenzy, many are now bracing for a flood of post-holiday returns.
Read MoreModernizing Information Along the Supply Chain for Natural Disaster Response
When Hurricane Maria threatened Puerto Rico, it was already a Category 5 storm. Baxter International, which manufactures saline solution bags in the commonwealth, took a major hit in production. The slowdown crippled the flow of these essential medical supplies to Baxter’s primary hospital consumers in the continental United States. Despite dire forecasts about the hurricane, the medical industry could not react fast enough, resulting in a major shortage of saline bags.
Read MoreUsing Mentors and Technology to Close the Talent Gap
New logistics technologies can lead to major operational improvements. However, few organizations have the personnel—along with the right mindset and skills—to take advantage, much less the ability to adopt new processes and infrastructure.
Read MoreImplementing Industry 4.0 to Streamline Your Supply Chain
How beneficial will the fourth industrial revolution be for manufacturers? Adrian Burton, from Harrison Castings, explores three ways Industry 4.0 may help streamline your supply chain.
Read MoreAre You Ready to Join the Circular Supply Chain?
It may be time to revisit how your company produces and delivers products as consumers and retailers become more environmentally aware and shift to a circular supply chain.
Read MoreGOOD QUESTION | When choosing a logistics provider, what’s more important: cost or customer service?
With a tumultuous global economy and trade uncertainties, the most important consideration is value. Can they provide global visibility to your supply chain? Can they help you effectively navigate the ever-changing regulatory landscape? Park Williams VP, North America Sales BDP International Customer service. Simply put—you can win and lose with cost, but you will always […]
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Seeing Clearly: The Value of Visibility
Few parts of the enterprise have transformed more radically over the years than supply chain as companies struggle to navigate global sourcing, just-in-time delivery models, and unprecedented customer expectations for product availability and delivery speed.
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Four Ways Reusables Benefit the Circular Economy
The consumer-packaged goods (CPG) supply chain is changing. From faster, more frequent deliveries to specialty packaging, the way goods are handled and delivered has adapted and evolved. But change can come with consequences and the amount of packaging waste due to e-commerce has skyrocketed.
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What’s the Word?
We asked the experts in our audience for the hot supply chain words or phrases you and your colleagues will be talking about next year. Here goes. Door to floor. Given e-commerce deliveries of larger consumer products, door to floor is a thing, explains Bob Hitt, industry go to market manager for Salesforce. Some call […]
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The Death of Your Profession?
In a few short years you won’t be employed. That’s right, if you work in the supply chain management field, and have a decade or so until you retire, it’s time to dust off your resume and consider other career paths. That’s according to commentary authors Allan Lyall, Pierre Mercier, and Stefan Gstettner in a […]
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GOOD QUESTION | Popeyes chicken sandwich shortage: Supply chain fail or marketing savvy?
All marketing strategy in my humble opinion. Like a limited release of Jordan sneakers and then a re-release at a later date. Milton O’Quinn III National Operations Manager, RPM It’s a great lesson—companies should do more data analytics to better understand how consumers respond to social media marketing and build up supply chain agility and […]
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Drilling Deeper Into Your Supply Chain
Data analytics is the science of examining raw data to help draw conclusions about information. When applied to the supply chain, it allows companies to drive insight, make better business decisions, and verify or disprove existing models or theories. Data analytics breaks out into the following categories: Descriptive analytics. In supply chain, descriptive analytics helps […]
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Using Real-Time Tech to Mitigate Risk
Mitigating risk is one of the most challenging aspects of managing shipping logistics. The good news: Help is available.
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Tech Can Turn Your Supply Chain Into a Well-Oiled Green Machine
The majority of your customers want to make their consumption habits more sustainable and their loyalty will only go so far if your brand doesn’t adapt. Despite growing demand for sustainable products, and consumers who value green practices over the green in their wallets, CPG brands are falling short. If they want to succeed, smart […]
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How Smarter, Stronger Supply Chains Improve the Customer Experience
Companies today are increasingly leveraging digital technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), deep learning, and machine learning (ML) to build smarter supply chain operations. They are turning “big supply chain data” into real insights that improve efficiency, bring products and services to market faster, and deliver differentiating customer value, all key to remaining competitive in the […]
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Five Tips to Achieve Career Success
The beauty of working within the supply chain is that it touches nearly every aspect of a business, which opens up huge career opportunities. Regardless of the career path you opt for within the supply chain, and like any job you embark on, to achieve success you need to work hard. Here are five tips […]
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Why Freight Rail Needs Reform
A lack of competition, outdated regulations, and a handicapped federal agency allow poor delivery service, failure to provide notice of fee changes, and inadequate customer service, making it harder for shippers to depend on freight rail. Those shippers include a substantial percentage of National Association of Chemical Distributors (NACD) members, such as Univar Solutions, who […]
Read MoreGOOD QUESTION | What’s the 2020 supply chain buzzword or phrase?
GIG WORKER. Embracing this growing segment of workers is the key to helping companies handle variability—from last-minute orders to seasonal swings—while remaining agile. Robert O’Dwyer Logistics Industry Principal Kronos Incorporated AI. It has only just begun to transform freight and logistics. With innovation comes new services and opportunities for cost savings or efficiency gains. Oren […]
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Take the Current When It Serves
I recently participated in a summit of supply chain and business leaders who shared the many ways they are successfully navigating the turbulent waters of global trade. Despite the headwinds, they were determined to find new supply lines and expanded market opportunities. Determined and, yes, even optimistic about their economic future. It reminds me of […]
Read MoreDriving the Efficiency of the U.S. Supply Chain
The recent surge of domestic manufacturing and the overall growth of the U.S. economy has required suppliers and carriers to re-examine and seek out new ways to streamline their operations. As the economy has continued to grow over the past decade, the American truck driver has become one of the most important facets in the […]
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