Articles

H.O.W.

How to Foster a Long-Term 3PL Partnership

How to Foster a Long-Term 3PL Partnership

When companies begin working with a third-party logistics provider (3PL), they are generally looking to address a functional pain point. The partnership is transactional and fills an operational gap. But the true value of 3PL partnerships can grow infinitely greater when shippers take a long-term approach that focuses on sustainable gains rather than short-term savings. […]

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How to Reduce Costs by Integrating Packaging with Distribution Center Operations

How to Reduce Costs by Integrating Packaging with Distribution Center Operations

Product packaging is often handled as a discrete supply chain function, separate from warehousing and distribution. But companies can capitalize on considerable efficiency and economy gains by driving toward greater integration of these functions. In fact, performing final packaging in the distribution center can reduce combined warehousing, logistics, and freight costs by 30 percent and […]

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How to Move Freight in Volatile Locations

How to Move Freight in Volatile Locations

Despite geopolitical upheaval, natural disasters, labor strife, war, and countless other disturbances that threaten supply chain efficiency and economy, freight still needs to move. From delivering humanitarian aid in hurricane-ravaged locations to managing mission-critical parts replenishment in remote areas and delivering heavy equipment in support of government operations, shippers need to be flexible and responsive […]

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How to Make Driver Recruitment a Competitive Differentiator

How to Make Driver Recruitment a Competitive Differentiator

One challenge the logistics sector faces is, well, finding new faces. While the U.S. recession largely suppressed a dormant truck driver shortage, the prospects of economic recovery are stirring old concerns. Adding to the problem, recent government mandates including the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s Hours of Service and Compliance, Safety, Accountability rules threaten to […]

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How to Find Savings Through Landed Cost Analysis

How to Find Savings Through Landed Cost Analysis

As shippers adapt sourcing strategies to build redundancy, economy, and responsiveness into their supply chains, the complexity of drilling down total landed costs increases. Shippers often focus resources and attention on procurement, looking only at production and logistics spend. At a more granular level, a myriad of other factors can impact the total supply chain […]

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How to Ship in Alaska 

How to Ship in Alaska 

The "last frontier" can be a daunting place for shippers moving freight unless they select the right airfreight forwarders to work with. Alaska is twice the size of Texas and has 640 square miles of land for every mile of paved road. When waterborne transport isn’t an option, freight moving in and out of Alaska […]

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How to Balance Export Demand 

How to Balance Export Demand 

While much has been said about the United States’ anemic manufacturing sector and the stress it places on sustainable economic growth, agriculture exports are booming. The United States remains a net exporter of food and delivers half the world’s grain supply. In 2010, China became the largest export market for U.S. agriculture with soybeans, cotton, […]

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How to Improve Maritime Cargo Security

How to Improve Maritime Cargo Security

When U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) introduced the Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) initiative in the aftermath of Sept. 11, it gave government, shippers, carriers, port authorities, and other transportation and logistics intermediaries a platform to build better security protocol into the supply chain. As a consequence, shippers today are taking cues from […]

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How to Benefit from SaaS TMS 

How to Benefit from SaaS TMS 

Emerging technology platforms are accelerating the maturation of transportation and logistics solutions, particularly those that enrich and empower the user community by integrating partners and aggregating data. The Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) transportation management system (TMS) is a prime example. SaaS TMS is a single-instance, multi-tenant environment where customers and their partners access a shared solution via […]

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How to Manage Peak Season Variability

How to Manage Peak Season Variability

August is usually the busiest time of year for global manufacturers, retailers, steamship lines, and transportation and logistics intermediaries as they begin ramping up inventories and capacity to manage the holiday freight surge. In 2011, however, a sluggish economy, continuing changes in consumer buying habits, and leaner ocean carrier fleets conspired to toss peak season […]

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