Articles

Commentary

Flying Under the Global Radar

Earlier this month, billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson’s Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer completed the first round-the-world flight in 67 hours, two minutes, and 38 seconds. Four days later, and to considerably less fanfare but arguably greater importance, Boeing’s 777-200 LR Worldliner, the longest-range commercial airplane in the world, completed a three-hour test flight from Everett, Wash., to […]

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RFID: Setting the Standards

Anyone who thinks RFID and all it entails will quietly fade away is going to be terribly disappointed. Any new technology or strategy operates like a dog preparing to lie down—it goes in circles. First we circled around Wal-Mart and the Department of Defense mandates. Now we are circling around establishing standards for the RFID […]

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5 Best Practices to Boost Import Efficiency

In today’s heightened security environment, where cargo entering the United States faces ever-increasing scrutiny, importers must tackle many challenges to keep goods flowing through international trade. The complexity of moving commerce in a safe, quick, efficient, and compliant manner is frequently overlooked. The processes behind importing often cause confusion and frustration for all parties involved, […]

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Can Collaboration Cure the Capacity Crunch?

Today’s capacity crisis is a perfect storm of volume limitations spanning three major modes of transportation: truck, rail, and ocean. Driver pay and work/life balance are key issues affecting capacity in the trucking industry. The industry is losing drivers to careers with higher pay and more attractive lifestyles. Carriers today are also more disciplined about […]

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Keeping an Eye on RFID Challenges

In The Prince, savvy politician Machiavelli asserts, “there is nothing more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than taking the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.” That 16th-century admonition should serve as warning to those who espouse the advancement of RFID. The swirling hype, promises of opportunity, and […]

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Power to Our People

Have you seen Wal-Mart’s new supply chain commercial yet? It’s exciting for this industry because it builds on what UPS started with its “What can Brown do for you?” ad campaign: an attempt to make consumers more aware of the complex logistics behind everyday purchases. The commercial starts with a two-liter bottle of ginger ale […]

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RFID Mandates: Gorillas in the Mist

Embracing a new technology can sometimes feel about as good as a hug from an angry gorilla. Implementing RFID within a customer-mandated time frame is a good case in point. Rushing to implement is less wise than doing finely tuned planning, regardless of the scale of the demand. RFID is not just about tags, readers, […]

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Choosing a Warehouse Location: Look for More than Just Price

The pressure on corporate supply chains has never been greater. Major supply chain glitches can impact a company’s shareholder value by as much as 20 percent or more within six months—regardless of who is at fault—according to industry estimates. Companies feel increasing pressure to reduce inventories and increase inventory turns. And, in a post-Sept. 11 […]

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Short Sea Shipping: Long On Benefits

To help meet the current congestion crisis on U.S. highway systems and rail networks, the Department of Transportation and the U.S. Maritime Administration are promoting short sea shipping as an environmentally friendly, timely, and cost-effective way to expand freight capacity. The practice uses existing vessels and infrastructure to move freight between coastal ports, and between […]

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Multi-Enterprise Computing: Competitive Advantage for Those Who Do it Well

Logistics managers know how vital it is to keep things moving. Failure to deliver products on time, in the proper quantities, and to the right place carries very real consequences: assembly lines halt, shelves lie empty, perishable goods grow stale, and the window of business opportunity slams shut. Tangible, bottom-line metrics back up these anecdotal […]

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Distribution Takes Center Stage

A paradigm shift has occurred within the supply chain, and distribution is taking center stage. In the midst of a total revival from its undistinguished past, distribution is now more instrumental than ever to an organization’s success. Traditionally, distribution took a back seat to manufacturing and other supply chain activities—not surprising given its historical perception […]

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Building a Better Mousetrap (Felecia Stratton)

Striving to build a better logistics mousetrap—changing and tuning your process to balance competing demands within your supply chain system—is a tough game. It requires skill and split-second timing to orchestrate ever-morphing variables to exceed your logistics goals. And it is growing increasingly difficult. But stasis is not an option. Not with growing and changing […]

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Tipping Point, Again? (Keith Biondo)

We are at a tipping point in terms of America’s ability to compete globally. Go one way and we can expand our economic growth and leverage the trend toward globalization. Go the other and we may reach a point where others drive the well-being of our economy and workers. And if it is now true […]

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Talking Tactics with IBM

The global outsourcing trend has generated enough excitement in the media and the business community to heat a small Midwest city for a year. At issue is the concern that outsourcing strips away many U.S. jobs, and does detriment to America’s general long-term economic well being. The fact that outsourcing is by no means new […]

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Freight Forwarding Goes Native

The future of international freight forwarding technology lies in the adoption of Internet-based solutions. To date, however, most freight forwarders have lagged behind when it comes to embracing this technology and making it part of their work processes. An Internet-native international freight forwarding system offers the ability to utilize electronic data exchanges, and is easily […]

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Turning Returns Into a Competitive Advantage

Growth of direct-to-consumer sales through catalogs, television, and the Internet continues to explode. Business-to-consumer retail e-commerce sales in the third quarter of 2003 totaled $13.3 billion, a 27-percent increase over 2002, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. While direct shopping makes it easy and convenient for customers to buy merchandise, it does not allow them […]

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Outer Limits

“We’ve reached the limit of what our grandfathers invested in infrastructure.” So says one top rail executive. If you manage supply lines originating overseas, you already know that port and intermodal capacity are sorely strained. An unexpected uptick in imports caused many to come up holding the short end of the intermodal capacity stick. Worse, […]

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