Articles
Commentary
Riding Out the Rapids
It seems that we are moving from crisis to crisis—tariffs, a plummeting stock market, cyber-attacks, recalls—at an ever-increasing pace. While we can’t avoid these crises, we can minimize their impact with a lean, agile supply chain. While that’s easy to say, it’s hard to do. Some key components to focus on include: Supply chain visibility, […]
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The Cure for Meeting Pharma Requirements
Complying with global pharmaceutical serialization and traceability regulations without collaboration and system interoperability represents a significant challenge for pharmaceutical trading partners. Collaboration preempts disagreements among supply chain trading partners simply because complete, accurate data is important to both parties. Contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs) are a crucial component of the pharma manufacturing ecosystem, and many pharmaceutical […]
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Driver Shortage or Lack of Innovation?
The trucking industry has faced a driver shortage for many years now. In a world where every industry seems to be evolving, the stagnant nature of trucking is hurting the employment pool. While trucking was a popular profession for two previous generations, millennials have drastically different career expectations. Almost all millennials were raised using technology […]
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Pushing Blockchain Past the Hype
Businesses across the supply chain are finally embracing blockchain as an asset capable of unlocking tremendous value, especially as supply chains grow more globalized and susceptible to compromise. Yet many companies still approach blockchain with apprehension. Misinformation and lack of clarity loom over businesses curious about blockchain. Supply chain companies are understandably wary of having […]
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Not So Fast: Rethinking Multi-Item Orders
In the name of speed and satisfaction, many retailers think they’re doing the right thing by delivering products to customers as quickly as possible, shipping partial orders, but that isn’t always the case. High on the list of shopper frustrations is placing a multi-item order online only to have it arrive in multiple shipments over […]
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Why Millennials Deserve Our Attention
By 2020, global millennial spending power will total $20 trillion plus. Not paying attention to the needs of this burgeoning demographic is business suicide. The sooner supply chains can adapt to millennial attitudes, the better placed they are to thrive in the future. Agile logistics buyers who can secure providers offering millennial-focused services will reap […]
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Keeping Truckers Safe on the Road
Keeping drivers safe is important for everyone on the road, especially with 115 million cars and trucks hitting U.S. streets every day. Not everyone who drives will get into an accident. However, the risk is much higher for truckers who drive every day for work. A range of factors can cause crashes. One of the […]
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A Lot to Learn
In the not-so-distant past, logistics and supply chain practitioners had just a few ways to boost their skillsets and keep current on the latest best practices. The options were mostly limited to on-the-job training, or required an unrealistic investment in time. Today, a world of resources is available to help even the busiest logistics professionals […]
Read MoreGood Question: What are your top supply chain predictions for 2019?
Uber Freight and other new platforms will power increasingly connected truckers and LTL providers into the gig economy. Steve Dowse SVP, Product Management Blume Global Supply chains will continue their evolution from the traditional lean standard strategy to more of a flexible and elastic supply chain to meet market and logistics fluctuations. These changes will […]
Read MoreGood Question: What was your first job in logistics and what did it teach you?
Summer seasonal order picker. It taught me an order is only as good as its accuracy; without it, all you would have is empty pallets. James Stone Client Sales Representative Echo Global Logistics Manually tracking and tracing previous-day LTL pickups. It taught me every missed pickup has three stories: why the carrier says it’s the […]
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Post Office Dings E-Commerce?
Two recent and important developments will impact domestic and international e-commerce shipments. The first one concerns the U.S. Postal Service’s relationship with Amazon. Let me set the stage. The Postal Service lost $2.7 billion in 2017. U.S. taxpayers guarantee the perennially stressed postal worker retirement fund. And first-class mail receipts are off by $1.8 billion […]
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How to Become a Shipper of Choice
As shippers, carriers, and logistics service providers prepare for a busy Q4 2018, here are some ideas for easing the capacity crunch, controlling costs, and becoming a "shipper of choice." Carriers in the driver’s seat. When the freight market shifted, so did the balance between shippers and carriers. In today’s market, carriers can afford to […]
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Going Straight to the Sourcing
Strategic sourcing, which consultants popularized in the late 1980s/early 1990s, is a supply chain management approach that formalizes the way organizations gather and use information to leverage consolidated purchasing power and find the best values in the marketplace. Strategic sourcing involves developing supply channels at the lowest total cost, as opposed to the lowest purchase […]
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No Industry is Amazon-Proof
Amazon is now in the oil business. With the release of its Amazon Basics Synthetic Motor Oil, the mega retailer has effectively entered an industry ripe for disruption. There isn’t an industry Amazon can’t enter. I’m amazed at how many executives across different industries tell me that they’re not concerned about Amazon for one reason […]
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Rethink Fulfillment During Peak Season
Peak season is a great opportunity to determine where your warehouse priorities should lie. Here are the biggest stories to watch this holiday season. From fast to accurate. Amazon Prime’s free two-day shipping sent shockwaves through the fulfillment industry. Reaching peak productivity and keeping up with Amazon became a major topic of discussion. But it’s […]
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The Supply Chain World is Not Flat
The idea that supply chain and logistics networks aren’t linear is not new, and neither is the concept of the circular economy. In our globalized world, the value chain has gotten much more complicated and difficult to manage, with many more variables now part of the equation. Add in the fact that the globe’s resources […]
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Talent Gap or Training Gap?
In the past, workforce training and development for blue- and gray-collar jobs took a back seat at many businesses and academic institutions. Schools often steered students toward white-collar career paths, while businesses put cutting costs, staying globally competitive, and turning a profit above training workers—a short-sighted focus on the next quarter rather than the next […]
Read MoreGood Question: What recent supply chain development will have the greatest impact on your job
Tariffs create global challenges. The United States has taken a strong position in dealing with fair trade, but we have felt the same strong efforts by many governments around the world. Michael Ford Chief Compliance Officer BDP International The digitalization of the supply chain will provide the single biggest boost to transparency in what is […]
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Good Question: To address the truck driver shortage, should we lower the minimum driver age to 18?
I agree with lowering the age restriction for getting an interstate CDL to 18. Currently, commercial drivers between 18 and 21 can operate with a CDL as long as they don’t cross state borders. Think about that—a 19 year old can legally operate a commercial rig between Miami and Pensacola, Florida (670 miles apart), but […]
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Good News From the Government! (Yes, You Read That Right)
In its second estimate of Q2 2018 Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the U.S. Census Bureau quoted growth at 4.2 percent, the best quarterly figure since Q3 2014. That comparison is important because 2014 was also the last time the truck market was tight. When GDP rises above four percent, freight grows and the truck market […]
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