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How Walmart’s OTIF Policy Creates New Baselines for Suppliers

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. caught many shipping companies off guard when it released its new “On-Time In-Full” (OTIF) policy. This program mandates that if any shipment arrives early, late, or on-time but not packaged properly, the shipper will be charged 3 percent of the total items’ value. It was only a few months ago that Walmart […]

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5 Ways Automated Dimensioning Helps Optimize First Mile Logistics

E-commerce is not just changing the retail industry, but significantly impacting logistics as well. Reaching $394.86 billion last year, e-commerce has increased 15.6% compared with $341.70 billion in 2015. With such an increase in e-commerce sales, the need for an efficient delivery service has never been so high. Customers are greatly influencing the delivery of […]

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Report: Multimodal Transportation Has a Future in Europe

Multimodal logistics moves freight by combining two or more transport modes. In this area, Europe still lags the more advanced U.S. market but has made steady progress. In its latest industrial research for the EMEA region Colliers International highlights a number of examples of established and emerging European multimodal platforms and discusses the drivers and […]

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Supply Chain Commentary: Customer Loyalty Hinges on Quality of Product Information

Knowledge is power, and today, consumers are demanding to know more about products they buy before making a purchasing decision. The internet and online shopping have helped fuel their appetites for more product details, driving big changes across all industries. In the food industry, for example, new legislation like the GMO labeling law and Nutrition […]

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The Key to Lasting Supply Chain Innovation: Get Real

Managing a business for sustained growth often means finding and implementing innovative solutions to the challenges of complex supply chain logistics. Yet, when it comes to achieving lasting, repeatable innovation, it’s the real-world solutions that win out time and time again in leading logistics facilities. In his book Moneyball, Michael Lewis detailed how an analytical, […]

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Discovering Eight Truths of the New Era of Retail

Over the past 20 years many retailers have had the dream of entering the food retail business. The appeal is undeniable huge revenues, repeat business and in-store traffic. The fascination has resulted in a proliferation of food retail models ranging from dollar stores, off-price stores, convenience stores, drug stores, supermarkets, discount supermarkets, premium supermarkets, farmers […]

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Why Onshoring Manufacturing Requires Offshoring IT

Despite a slowing economy, U.S. manufacturers continue to add capacity stateside. According to a 2015 Boston Consulting Group survey, 31 percent of U.S. manufacturing executives said they were most likely to add capacity within the U.S., compared to only 20 percent opting to do so in China. This marks a stark reversal from 2013, when […]

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Are Warehouse Insurance Policies Covering Today’s Emerging Risks?

Warehouse legal liability insurance has always been one of the most misunderstood insurance contracts in existence. In general, insurance companies and brokers have limited industry knowledge and understanding of what warehouse operations entail. Not only that, but warehouse risks and vulnerabilities are increasingly complex, and many policies simply aren’t keeping up with today’s sophisticated new […]

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Fleets Must Be Hyper Vigilant About Securing Telematics

The broad deployment of telematics has driven unprecedented efficiencies in fleets by providing greater visibility into the location, movement, status, and behavior of every mobile asset. This level of connectivity and communication between assets has alleviated many of the pain points associated with day-to-day fleet management operations, on the road, and back at the office. […]

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Secrets to Today’s Digital Age Supply Chain

The rate of evolution of the supply chain today is staggering. Both retailers and restaurants have had to shift their strategy more quickly to remain relevant and competitive amidst rising digital trends. Increasingly, consumers are altering their habits and how they buy products and services. Supply chain leadership should embrace the opportunity to adapt and […]

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Supply Chain Security: Defending Against a Data Breach

What a wonderful world this would be if protection from cybersecurity threats were contained within the four walls of your business. But the hard truth is every entity on your company’s supply chain list – from the most active vendor account to the least – must be fully vetted to ensure they are protecting theirs […]

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Five Ways to Simplify Your Supply Chain Design with Analytics

Ask a supply chain pro to name the biggest problem their organization faces and chances are “effectively using data” will be at the top of the list. While no one understates the importance of data, supply chain professionals now have access to more data from more sources than ever before, making the effective application of […]

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Supply Chain Commentary: Get Ready for a Shortened Path to Purchase

Google quietly introduced the beta version of Purchases on Google in the middle of May 2017 to users in the United States. The feature allows users to click a ‘Buy on Google’ call-to-action on product ads within the search engine results page and directs them to a purchasing page created and hosted by Google. Right […]

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Clean Diesel Truck Engines Yield Significant Emission Reductions

Introduction of new technology clean diesel truck engines equipped with advanced emissions control systems into the nation’s trucking fleet over the last five years is now at a 30 percent level and has yielded significant emission reductions and substantial fuel savings, according to new research commissioned by the Diesel Technology Forum. “Almost 3 million heavy-duty diesel […]

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June Caps Off Hot Stretch for Spot TL Freight

Spot truckload freight activity in June rallied to record highs for the number of available loads while rates rose to their highest points in nearly two years, according to the DAT North American Freight Index. The June Freight Index increased 24 percent compared to May and was up 57 percent year over year, capping a robust […]

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Bruce Orcutt
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6 Information Management Trends Redefining Transportation and Logistics

While we usually think of challenges in the transportation and logistics industry as being the physical mechanics of transporting an item from point A to point B, the new reality is that information management – and how quickly data can be put into action – offers the biggest challenges. Fortunately, the digital transformation movement offers […]

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Route Planning: How Good Logistics Makes E-commerce Companies Great

The e-commerce industry is growing at an incredible rate, according to Route4Me. Consumer expectations are growing as well. A decade or two ago, people were happy as long as their orders got to their house within a day or two of the scheduled arrival date. Now, people expect retailers to offer next-day or even same-day shipping. Also, […]

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Consumers: No Patience For Supply Chain Fails
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Consumers: No Patience For Supply Chain Fails

Seventy-eight percent of consumers want to receive updates on the status of their orders when purchasing goods, and they won’t hesitate to switch brands if supply chain performance fails to meet their expectations, according to a global survey conducted by YouGov and sponsored by Infor, a provider of industry-specific cloud applications. The survey polled 6,285 […]

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