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Tough Economic Times Require LEAN Logistics Solutions
With economic pressures rising, companies must seek ways to evaluate their current state, and design a future state that surpasses their strategic goals and their customers’ expectations. Manufacturers, retailers and distributors are constantly working to improve their performance in quality, cost, delivery and service. With those goals in mind, forward-thinking organizations are pursuing LEAN assessments […]
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Joplin is Rebuilding and Open for Business
On May 22, 2011, the most devastating, deadly single U.S. tornado in six decades ripped through the city of Joplin, Missouri and the neighboring village of Duquesne. With winds of nearly 300 miles per hour, the tornado carved a path 10 miles long and nearly one mile wide through the two communities. The death toll […]
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Dedicated Refrigerated Fleet Helps Food Distributor Keep Its Cool
THE CUSTOMER: United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI), Providence, Rhode Island UNFI is a U.S. independent national distributor of natural, organic, and specialty foods and related products, including nutritional supplements, personal care items, and organic produce. THE PARTNER: Cardinal Logistics, Concord, North Carolina The third-party logistics (3PL) provider serves multiple industries nationwide with dedicated contract carriage, […]
Read MoreSuperior Service, Seven Days a Week
Receiving great logistics service, communications, and pricing is no game for the leading provider of LCD monitors to the global gaming industry.
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Reliable In-Store Deliveries Fit to a Tea
Outsourcing its direct-to-store distribution to Ryder Supply Chain Solutions helped Milo’s Tea Company quench its customers’ thirst for better service.
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Freight Consolidation Drives Auto Supply Chain Efficiency
Automotive component supplier IAC needed better control, visibility, and reporting to help weld its supply chain into a cohesive unit. ProTrans delivered innovation and customized solutions designed to control costs along IAC’s network.
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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
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
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
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
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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How to Evaluate a 3PL Partner
Shippers, carriers, and even small intermediaries increasingly rely on third-party logistics (3PL) service providers to manage non-core logistics and supply functions, access capacity, and tap technology capabilities. 3PLs create value by pushing the envelope and helping customers reduce costs through tactical improvements, and enhance overall supply chain performance with strategic business process enhancements. Making the […]
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How to Ensure Successful Transportation of Your Project Cargo
When it comes to transporting over-dimensional or heavy-lift cargo—whether it’s equipment bound for Alberta oil fields or turbine components for an Iowa wind farm—transportation and logistics demands are infinitely greater because they are unique to each situation. The complexity of moving unwieldy cargo as quickly and economically as possible requires collaborative partnership, attention to detail, […]
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Illinois-Missouri Bi-state Region: Logistics Center of Attention
A central location, well-developed transportation infrastructure, emerging trade connections with Asia and South America, and unified vision for economic development have made the bi-state metropolitan area around St. Louis a global intermodal crossroads.
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The Panama Canal Expansion Will Be a Supply Chain Game Changer
The upcoming Panama Canal expansion is much more than just a story of bigger ships and increased trade for East Coast ports. It will also have a substantial impact on the U.S. supply chain and its efficiencies. By lengthening, widening and deepening the locks, the Canal will accommodate much larger ships. In fact, the largest […]
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Strategic Logistics Sites: In the Right Place At the Right Time
Locating your manufacturing or distribution business in a great logistics site puts you where you need to be, when you need to be there.
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APIs Enrich Software Users’ Experience
Q: What is an Application Programming Interface (API)? Heine: It’s a software-to-software interface that enables Web-based applications to be part of your transportation management system. You can access outside information without leaving your working application. For all practical purposes, it’s built-in. For example, Google Maps APIs are often built into Web sites. Q: How are […]
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Getting a Handle on Specialized Transportation Costs
Q: Why is controlling fuel and permitting costs important for companies moving heavy equipment? Lowry: Managing these increasing costs is a major task, but it’s essential to gain greater efficiency and profitability. With state governments across the country facing significant declines in tax revenue, many are enforcing new weight restrictions and fuel tax requirements on […]
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Coordinated Transportation Improves Margins for Wholesalers
Q: What are wholesale distributors hoping to achieve with transportation initiatives? Mulqueen: Transportation initiatives are approved and funded based on their track record of delivering quick ROI through freight spend reduction. However, leading wholesalers understand that siloed transportation planning, while beneficial, has limitations. It does not take into account the impact of transportation on the […]
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Freight Payment and Auditing Services: Finding the Hidden Gold
They may be designed to perform a straightforward function, but freight bill payment and auditing services can also reveal money-saving operations data.
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