Articles
Commentary
How to Prepare for the Unexpected
Disruptions are part of our world. Weather, labor strikes, materials shortages, and demand spikes or valleys are simply part of doing business. High-performing supply chain organizations are differentiated on how well they respond to the unexpected. Moments when things don’t go well should remind anyone involved in the intricate and complex supply chain process to […]
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Status Quo? No.
The coming year is destined to be one of some major and minor changes in business operations. Given your role in logistics, you will face a perfect storm of new. Here are some events and trends that will drive change and the need to think flexibly and laterally, and adapt operations accordingly. Domestic trucking capacity […]
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CX in the Era of Supply Chain Impatience
Whether your customer is the end consumer or B2B buyer, supply chain and customer service performance expectations are converging. Providing an excellent customer experience (CX) requires super-expedited and sometimes free delivery. E-commerce customers increasingly choose to pay for same-day delivery, according to a DHL survey. Here at Inbound Logistics, we call that supply chain impatience […]
Read MoreGOOD QUESTION | What’s the difference between supply chain visibility and transparency?
Supply chain visibility is what you actually know; transparency is what you are willing to share with your partners. Don’t assume a supplier or customer is deliberately obscuring information when, in fact, they don’t have that information in the first place. Amy David Clinical Assistant Professor of Management Purdue University Krannert School of Management It’s […]
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Building Visibility, Response, Resiliency
Chief supply chain officers (CSCO) are tasked with a range of challenging issues when it comes to managing a company’s product supply chain. To maximize productivity and efficiency, the CSCO should consider visibility, response, and resiliency the most important aspects of supply chain management. Digital transformation is underway in supply chain management and it is […]
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How to Navigate the Driver Shortage
The industry’s driver shortage is no secret. About 100,000 seats need to be filled at a time when the pipeline for new drivers is getting thinner. But what’s the practical impact on shippers as this shortage gets worse? In short, it won’t be pretty. Tighter capacity will lead to fewer choices. Regulations mandating the use […]
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Stop, Look, Listen
We all know the best way to approach an unguarded railroad crossing is to stop, look, and listen. That same advice applies when examing the economy, which will likely roar through 2018 at full speed. While it is tempting to climb aboard and enjoy the ride, that is the exact wrong approach from a supply […]
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5 Ways to Improve Fulfillment Center Efficiency
To capitalize on the e-commerce boom, fulfillment centers—which are different from distribution centers in that they do not distribute inventory but fulfill customer demand in either B2B or B2C businesses—need to scale and react nimbly and agily. Fulfillment centers must also be as efficient as possible to maximize customer satisfaction. Fulfillment centers do not generate […]
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Sometimes It’s Better Not to Be So Pushy
Supply chain processes fall into one of two categories: pull systems, where a company initiates execution in response to a customer order (reactive) and push systems, where execution is initiated in anticipation of customer orders (speculative). The boundary that separates push processes from pull processes is one measure of a supply chain’s “lean-ness”—the farther upstream […]
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Using KPIs to Optimize Transportation Data
Data drives sound business decisions. The same principle applies to decisions surrounding transportation issues. Specifically for parcel, the best data source is carrier invoices, supplemented by the manifest (TMS) data where possible. Your carriers should make invoice data easily available, especially if you use a third-party vendor to review and pay your invoices. They should […]
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