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Demand Calls, Mexico Responds
For decades, Mexico’s coastal ports primarily served as a destination for cruise ships. But in recent years, the country’s Pacific and Gulf Coast ports have become known more for their inflow of cargo than tourists. While U.S. West Coast ports continue to battle terminal, freeway, and rail congestion, Mexico’s ports have become increasingly attractive to […]
Read MoreFreight Transportation: Four for the Road
Four strategies to help you get the most out of your carrier relationships.
Read MoreSupply Chain Roundup: The Hottest Trends of 2006
MORE TO THE STORY: Still a Gap When it comes to the supply chain, 2006 was a year of mixed outcomes. The cost of fuel skyrocketed, causing considerable pain in the transport sectors and in industries heavily dependent on petroleum-based materials. Companies hedged their bets by embracing strategies such as shifting to alternate modes and […]
Read MoreThe Unexpected Happens: Is Your Supply Chain Prepared?
Relatively few companies have a detailed and tested plan for responding to potential supply chain disruptions – great or small. Those that do have a distinct advantage.
Read MoreMoving Up: The New Supply Chain Executive
The transformation to an integrated supply chain boosts the role, responsibilities, and compensation of today’s supply chain executives.
Read MoreUnwrapping Seasonality Challenges
All retailers and vendors want for Christmas is supply chain success. Using logistics technology, savvy shipping strategies, and better planning, many will get their wish.
Read MoreGetting Service Parts Logistics Up To Speed
“What’s the difference between a drug store and a fire station?” That’s not a trick question, but a way to understand the service parts supply chain. “You expect to see goods moving rapidly through a drug store or retail chain,” explains Dr. Morris Cohen, Panasonic professor of manufacturing and logistics and co-director of the Fishman-Davidson […]
Read MoreHigh 5: Air Cargo’s Top Challenges
Increasing fuel prices, security threats, changing inventory strategies, mode shifting, and provider consolidation have the air cargo industry in a tailspin. Here’s how carriers and shippers plan to fly past these challenges.
Read MoreWMS: Beyond the Basics
Think you know absolutely everything about your warehouse management system’s capabilities? Think again.
Read MorePaying 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 […]
Read MoreTrucking 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, […]
Read MoreBuying 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.
Read MorePrivate Fleets: Your Own Private Ride
Targeting service, capacity and cost issues, companies turn to private fleets.
Read MoreIt’s 4 U: Tracking Cell Phones From Manufacturer To Market
Mobile handset and device manufacturers are evolving their product lines and adapting their global supply chains to meet the ever-shifting needs of consumers.
Read MoreThe 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. […]
Read MoreTemperature-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.
Read MoreLogistics 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.
Read More3PLs: 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 […]
Read More3PL Hybrids: Becoming a 3PL for Fun and Profit
While the third-party logistics market has grown at a compound annual rate of 14.2 percent since 1996, 3PLs have only penetrated 12 percent of the market potential in the United States. The market is still fragmented, with plenty of room for growth. Such attributes make the sector attractive to companies looking for business opportunities. If […]
Read MoreIL Exclusive Research: 3PL Perspectives
The Inbound Logistics 3PL Market Insight Survey provides a new perspective on the 3PL market, as seen through the eyes of leading 3PL executives. Where and how is the 3PL market going and growing? What challenges do 3PLs face and how will they face them? What do 3PLs think you want and how will they […]
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