Articles
Feature Stories
Managing Inventory: From Fat to Lean
As more businesses source from offshore manufacturers and suppliers, having visibility and control over moving inventory requires both a tactical and strategic lean approach.
Read MoreTrucking Tips of the Trade
Transport buyers face tough questions every day. To help find answers, Inbound Logistics turned to transport buyers and service providers for the inside story.
Read MoreMission: Critical
Companies are turning to information technology, logistics specialists, and partnerships with premium service carriers to keep their customers’ mission-critical systems running while minimizing their investment in parts inventory. Here’s a look at the unique challenges and solutions driving critical parts logistics today.
Read MoreFreight Payment Outsourcing: Getting Finances in Ship Shape
Consider this: Because of administrative overhead, it costs large companies about $11 to pay one freight invoice. For a company with 1,000 carrier invoices a month, that’s $11,000. But if a third-party freight payment/auditing firm processes these invoices, companies pay just 5 percent to 10 percent of this benchmark cost per bill. Companies that outsource […]
Read MoreCool Stuff, Blazing Speed
When consumers need the hottest new gadget, they need it cheap and they need it now. That’s why logistics leaders such as Hewlett-Packard power up their supply chain to deliver the goods. Now that’s cool.
Read MoreSCM: Pharma’s First Aid Kit
Pain points plague the pharmaceutical industry—skyrocketing expenses, stringent regulations, costly product development. Is supply chain management the cure?
Read MoreFast Forwarding
Globalization and security concerns are thrusting the air cargo industry into full throttle. From their unique perspective as both service provider and shipper, airfreight forwarders air their views about the growing challenges facing global businesses.
Read MoreExtreme Outsourcing: Tales from the 3PL Wild Side
When mere execution is not enough to accomplish extraordinary logistics challenges, companies turn to a special breed of 3PLs to deliver extreme results. What makes them special? Stellar leadership, plenty of resources, effective communications, precise project management, a deeply committed team, a passion for achieving a common goal, and sometimes the ability to function well on little sleep. Welcome to extreme outsourcing.
Read MoreRethinking Reverse Logistics
Companies have become more aware of the benefits of managing reverse logistics. But now it’s time to decide between merely managing returns more effectively and rethinking reverse logistics’ role as a supply chain strategy.
Read MoreFrom Factory to Foxhole: The Battle for Logistics Efficiency
Military and business logistics managers share some challenges—tracking, moving, and storing inventory while maintaining visibility—but the differences are dramatic. For the military, the goal is survival, not profitability. The competition is an enemy force. And the customer is a warfighter on the move in hostile territory.
Read More