Articles
Commentary
Silencing Self-Doubt and Building the Next Generation of Women Leaders
This year’s International Women’s Day got me thinking about the challenges I have faced throughout my finance and logistics career. While routinely being the only female in meetings has never intimidated me, I have experienced moments when an idea or question I’ve posed was overlooked, only to be raised by a male colleague and then […]
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5 Steps to Process Improvement
I was involved in logistics and transportation for more than 25 years and spent the last 16 of those years with a large apparel corporation’s private fleet. During that time, I cannot remember a single year when the private fleet did not have to defend its existence. Each year the argument seemed to escalate until the cost reductions started.
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FTL vs. LTL: What’s the Difference?
Understanding these seven key differences between shipping full truckload (FTL) and less than truckload (LTL) allows shippers to achieve the best possible results and support planning.
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4 Strategies for Effective Cross-Border Logistics
With a wave of overseas supplier disruptions due to COVID-19 and resulting supply shortages that bottlenecked operations across the supply chain, many companies are considering nearshoring to Canada and Mexico to minimize risk and potential disruptions.
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If you were writing a book on the supply chain in 2020, what would you call it?
The Shift from Efficient to Effective. 2020 was a gut punch to any supply chain organization that pursued operational efficiency without keeping a pulse on the risk factors that threaten disruption. Effective supply chains designed out risk by addressing safety, security, and reliability vulnerabilities. —John Reichert, Senior Director, Supply Chain Execution Solutions, Tecsys The Wake-Up […]
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It’s Time to Upgrade Your Tech Capability
Many manufacturers and business-to-business (B2B) companies are built around large volumes, making them traditionally slower to adopt e-commerce; yet, it’s becoming imperative to do so. Customer expectations are evolving, and the pandemic highlights the need for more supply chain flexibility and visibility.
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Achieving a Sustainable Returns Program
A good returns management program is a sustainability effort in itself. The right approach can improve value recovery, increase efficiency, and lower transport and labor costs, all while reducing your carbon footprint, food and landfill waste, and fossil fuel consumption.
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Buddy, Can You Spare a Can?
According to a CNBC investigation, shipping lines rejected U.S. export containers worth hundreds of millions of dollars during the last quarter of 2020. Empties were loaded and shipped back east to be filled with Chinese exports. But press reports blaming “congestion” are off the mark. Those empties are getting moved and loaded on ships somehow. […]
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Rail Price Controls? Ridicule the Thought
In 1980, CNN, fax machines, and camcorders made their debut, and for the first time since 1887, the rail industry was deregulated. Today CNN has many competitors, fax machines have been surpassed and their technology incorporated into other products, and camcorders are not only cheaper, almost all of us carry a better quality one in our pockets. Also, rail rates are 44% lower, and the market is flourishing.
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Do you expect a resurgence in reshoring to the United States? Why or why not?
No. I don’t expect a significant increase in reshoring. I do expect a significant increase in multi-sourcing of key products in the supply chain. Reshoring to a significant degree requires huge infrastructure changes that I do not believe today’s consumer is ready to fund in price increases and reductions in convenience. —Bill Denbigh Senior Director, […]
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