Articles

Supply Chain Technology

What Are Your Tech Vendors Up To?

Twenty-five years after its initial launch, the annual Distribution Computer Expo is still an important event for previewing the latest in logistics and supply chain technology. The conference is a one-stop shop for catching up with the various providers that power supply chain technology. Here are highlights from my meetings with technology companies that attended […]

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3PLs and Carriers: Desperately Seeking Tech Solutions

Shippers are a demanding bunch. They want their goods picked up and delivered at the right time and to the right place—every time. They expect shipments to be transported without damage, while complying with security regulations and customer mandates. They need reporting capabilities, online access to data, and superior customer service. Oh, and they want […]

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Rumble in the IT Jungle: ERP vs. Best-of-Breed

If the logistics software world held a heavyweight championship fight, it would feature ERP systems such as Oracle, SAP, and Infor in one corner, versus best-of-breed providers – Manhattan Associates, i2, and HighJump – in the other. While ERP may be the reigning champ, best-of-breed is a serious challenger, and the fight would go quite […]

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Global Technology Gets Hyperactive

Few people in this industry are better suited to wax poetic about globalization and technology than Supreet Manchanda, executive vice president/chief technology and corporate development officer for Brentwood, Tenn.-based 3PL Ozburn-Hessey Logistics. What Manchanda calls his “weird genealogy”—born in India, raised in Africa, educated in London, and a former resident of New York City, Silicon […]

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Logistics in the Blogosphere

Say what you will about blogging—that it democratizes information dissemination, or, adversely, that it is killing well-edited, fact-checked journalism—logistics professionals have embraced it. Because of their low-tech, easy-to-use nature, blogs have exploded not only as forums to discuss celebrity and political goings-on, but as a resource tool for finding solutions to real business challenges. While […]

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Virtual Container Yards Net Real Results

Waste is the sworn enemy of the supply chain. Whether time and money is squandered because of excess inventory, unnecessary cargo moves, manufacturing foul-ups, under-utilized technology systems, or inaccurate sales forecasting, logisticians are tasked every day with avoiding waste and inefficiency. One particularly vexing source of waste for transportation carriers today is empty containers. Thanks […]

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TMS Soothes Transportation Woes

Thanks to increased global trade and visibility demands, TMS applications are enjoying widespread popularity. Transportation management may never be the same. With all the negatives swirling around the transportation industry these days—high fuel prices, tight capacity, and the driver shortage, to mention a few—it is hard to imagine any company sustaining, let alone decreasing its […]

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Talking Tech at CSCMP

The annual Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) conference in San Antonio last month provided a great opportunity to catch up on the latest innovations in logistics technology. The Supply Chain Technology Solutions educational track, and the many sessions that dealt with logistics technology, expertly dissected top tech capabilities in everything from global trade […]

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Voice Technology Hitting a High Note?

When a new whitepaper written by Pittsburgh, Pa.-based voice technology provider Vocollect landed in my e-mail inbox, I was not surprised to find it full of positive information about the wonders of voice-directed picking. After all, companies don’t prosper by releasing negative whitepapers. The paper, Using Voice-Directed Work in the Supply Chain, showcases the ability […]

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Say Goodbye to ‘Dumb’ Devices

Of all the recent supply chain process evolutions – from push to pull, fat to lean, and manual to automated everything – one of the most compelling transformations is currently unfolding in an unexpected place: supply chain data capture devices. Forklifts, truck trailers, shipping containers, and other everyday logistics items look at first glance to […]

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