Articles
Feature Stories
Materials Management: Definition, Process, Benefits
Materials management is an aspect of supply chain management and planning. The primary purpose of materials management is to ensure that manufacturers have all the raw materials they need to make goods. Materials management also focuses on ensuring that no components are wasted and optimizing inventory maintenance and management. While materials management requires understanding what […]
Read More
5 Ways to Step Up Your WMS Game
A play-by-play guide to choosing the warehouse management system that will help you win the supply chain.
Read More
WMS Guide 2022
This short list of leading WMS solutions can help your enterprise react agilely and quickly to meet today’s new customer demands.
Read More
2022 Top 100 Truckers
Find Trucking Solutions In today’s challenging and volatile business climate, it’s more important than ever to find carrier partners that best fuel your diverse and demanding needs. Inbound Logistics’ annual Top 100 Truckers list helps you find them. More than 200 trucking companies, including the best-paying truckers, submitted their credentials to be considered for the […]
Read More
2022 Trucking Perspectives
Inbound Logistics’ exclusive yearly survey of motor carriers and shippers offers a close look at the state of the trucking industry in an era of inflation and supply chain volatility. In 2022, as shippers and their trucker partners have settled into what might or might not become the “new normal,” some are breathing a bit […]
Read More
The Building Blocks of Omnichannel Fulfillment
How leading brands snap together their omnichannel mix to meet market needs and expectations while serving business goals. E-commerce growth, accelerated by the pandemic combined with organic changes in customer needs and expectations, has forced both business-to-consumer and business-to-business (B2B) brands to adjust their omnichannel mix. Consumers are driving much of the change, with 82% […]
Read More
White Glove Delivery Strategies and Techniques
When consumers were sent home to work, big and bulky e-commerce orders took off, along with white glove delivery expectations. The right combination of technology and strategy can help retailers meet them. Saying that e-commerce shipping has had an eventful two years would be an understatement. The pandemic accelerated the shift toward online retail by […]
Read More
Project Logistics: The Basics of Anything But Basic
Moving big, bulky, unconventional freight around the globe precisely and effectively in the face of myriad challenges is not for the faint of heart. Here’s how project logistics experts get it done. It’s not every day in transportation and logistics that you are involved in a star-studded movie premiere with both Hollywood royalty and actual […]
Read More
Calling in the Troops
The ingenuity of America’s fighting forces has been the deciding factor in the greatest challenges the world has ever seen. Could history’s best-trained military men and women provide the answers to the supply chain workforce challenges we face today? Military leaders’ claim on logistics is pervasive throughout history. Everyone from Patton to Sun Tzu acknowledges […]
Read More
2022 Inbound Logistics Perspectives: 3PL Market Research Report
Our 17th annual 3PL market research report takes a deep-dish dive into the dynamics of logistics partnerships in 2022. Rampant inflation, including high transportation costs. A tight labor market. Commodities shortages. Uncertainties tied to the war in Ukraine and the pandemic. There seems to be no end to the obstacles ready to frustrate shippers as […]
Read More
Maritime Challenges: Ports Sea It Through
Ports ease rough supply chain conditions with new services, technology, and other initiatives. Even as many books, music, and movies travel electronically, physical goods still need to move, well, physically. More than four-fifths of global merchandise trade by volume travels by sea at some point, according to The Container Port Performance Index 2021, a publication […]
Read More
Technology for SMBs: No Small Matter
Supply chain technology isn’t just for large companies. It’s possible — and necessary — for businesses to invest in new innovations, no matter what their headcount. It was not long ago when supply chain operations were thought of as a backroom affair, running on paper charts and fax machines. But after nearly two years in […]
Read More
Top 10 3PLs: Readers’ Choice Excellence Awards
These third-party logistics providers made the cut, earning your votes by dishing out top-notch customer service and helping you save dough. AND THE WINNERS ARE: 1. Echo Global Logistics 2. Hub Group 3. Kenco 4. SEKO Logistics 5. Sunset Transportation 6. Werner 7. DHL Supply Chain 8. […]
Read More
2022 Summer Reading Guide
Great reads about supply chain and logistics are not all textbooks and white papers. Browse this collection of books, research, and guides that will boost your knowledge and keep you turning the pages. Profit from the Source: Transforming Your Business by Putting Suppliers at the Core By Christian Schuh, Wolfgang Schnellbacher, Alenka Triplat, and […]
Read More
No Matter How You Slice It, 3PLs Deliver
See the Top 100 3PLs. Whether shippers outsource their end-to-end supply chain by the pie, or just a portion of it by the slice, third-party logistics providers are meeting new challenges with updated and expanded menus. As many supply chain professionals have experienced, “U.S.-based supply chains are out of sync,” according to the 2022 State […]
Read More
E-Commerce: The Complete Package
Smart and Sustainable is the only way to go. Two and a half years after the pandemic caused e-commerce to accelerate, packaging and shipping methods continue to evolve. Consumers’ heightened awareness about sustainability and waste within the shipping industry, as well as economic pressures, lead the charge. The writing was on the wall. Of the […]
Read More
Pop Quiz: Supply Chain Educators Answer 6 Pressing Questions
For much of the decade prior to the pandemic, the number of students in supply chain programs couldn’t match industry’s need for supply chain professionals. “The biggest challenge was convincing students it was a real career path,” says Brian Fugate, chair of the department of supply chain management at the University of Arkansas. As the […]
Read More
Grocery Shortages: The Worm in the Apple
It started with toilet paper. Spurred by the onset of the pandemic, consumers bought toilet paper rolls in droves. Sales of the product rose 60% annually in March 2020, according to the Statista Consumer Market Outlook. On April 19, 2020, toilet paper was out of stock in nearly half of U.S. grocery stores, estimated NCSolutions, […]
Read More
Block and Tackle: How to Choose a Freight Bill and Audit Payment Provider
Interest in freight bill audit and payment (FBAP) providers has gained momentum in recent years as the demand for experts to manage transactions between shippers and carriers grows. FBAP providers can help shippers contend with complex transportation processes, while also bringing fresh tools and expertise that can add strategic value to shipper operations. The freight […]
Read More
Say Yes to the YMS
Companies sometimes overlook how important the yard is to their success. Without proper management, facilitated by a yard management system (YMS), pile ups can lead to delays, fees, and a full shipment of stress.
Read More