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Feature Stories

WMS: Beyond the Basics

Think you know absolutely everything about your warehouse management system’s capabilities? Think again.

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Paying the Bills: Choosing The Right Freight Bill Payment Provider

Any firm that ships anything is familiar with freight bills and the process for paying them. Less understood is the industry that has been built around outsourcing these payment activities. Why outsource freight bill payment services? There are several good reasons; the most popular is the possibility of reduced costs. It costs a large company […]

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Trucking Perspectives 2006: IL’s Motor Freight Market Insight Survey

Anyone who has spent time traversing U.S. highways and byways recently has likely witnessed firsthand some of the challenges facing domestic shippers and carriers: security delays at border crossings, infrastructure improvement projects that bottleneck traffic, and gas stations spinning prices like rental car odometers. Capacity and cost constraints as a result of high fuel prices, […]

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Buying Trucking Services: Managing the New “Normal”

While guaranteed capacity to haul freight was once a sure thing, times have changed. How are shippers and carriers dealing with today’s tight transportation environment? It’s all about collaboration—to mitigate capacity constraints, the driver shortage, and tough new federal regulations.

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The Consumer Products Supply Chain: Shopping for Solutions

“2005 was a remarkable year for the consumer products (CP) industry. A devastating hurricane season displaced consumers, closed retailers’ doors, drove huge demand swings across categories and caused sizable price increases for many products. The hurricanes further increased high fuel costs, which strained budgets among low-income consumers and pushed packaging and distribution costs sky high. […]

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Temperature-Controlled Logistics: Cold Comfort

Perishable-food shippers are warming up to the idea that public refrigerated warehouses and 3PLs are well equipped to handle their diverse temperature-controlled storage and transportation needs. Outsourcing refrigerated logistics lets food companies chill a little—and focus on core competencies to better serve consumers.

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Logistics by the Book

Lying on the beach, you can get away with reading pretty much any book. But as the hot summer sun starts to fade and fall kicks in, it’s time to toss something a bit more serious into your laptop bag. Put down the John Grisham and pick up one of these books to kickstart a new season of logistics learning.

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3PLs: Business Unusual

Wonders abound in Canyonlands National Park, Utah—from its native Pueblo wall paintings and famed arches, to an infinite maze of red rock canyons and rare flora and fauna. Yet, it is the sight of a lone brown truck barreling down a remote two-lane road that truly stands out. What can Brown do for the National […]

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