Articles
Trends
Turn Up the Volume on Omnichannel Fulfillment
Customers are changing the way manufacturers, transportation and logistics firms, and retailers operate, finds the Future of Fulfillment Vision Study conducted by Zebra Technologies with research partner Qualtrics. Among the study’s key findings are these three factors to consider when preparing your company for omnichannel fulfillment: Omnichannel is difficult to attain. If you feel like […]
Read MoreFinder’s Keepers
Seventy-six percent of transportation industry professionals responding to HireRight’s 2018 Annual Employment Screening Benchmark survey expect to grow their workforce this year, despite the challenges of recruiting and retaining qualified candidates. The survey also reveals planned strategies to overcome these challenges: Respondents plan to invest in developing retention programs (40 percent) as well as training […]
Read MoreDriver Pay and Benefits Rise
Driver pay has climbed as rising demand for freight transportation services raises competition for increasingly scarce drivers, according to data gathered from more than 100,000 drivers in the American Trucking Associations’ (ATA) latest Driver Compensation study. "Fleets are reacting to an increasingly tight market for drivers by boosting pay, improving benefit packages, and offering other […]
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Rolling on the River
To establish and grow an alliance designed to generate new business by promoting international and inland trade routes at strategic locations along the Mississippi River is the intent of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) recently signed by The St. Louis Regional Freightway, Plaquemines Port Harbor & Terminal District located in the State of Louisiana, and […]
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Georgia Ports: Crane and Able
The first of Georgia Ports Authority’s (GPA) four new Neo-Panamax cranes have come online, bringing its operating fleet to 27. The super-sized crane is tall enough to lift containers 152 feet above the dock. Konecranes of Finland designed these massive cranes, which can work the largest ships now calling the U.S. East Coast, reaching across […]
Read MoreTrucking Challenges Impact SCM
It is no secret that the current state of the U.S. trucking industry has had several negative impacts on logistics and supply chain management. The shortage of drivers and ripple effect from the ELD mandate have caused trucking delays and pricing increases across the country, and are now affecting global supply chains. Indianapolis-based logistics solutions […]
Read MoreManufacturing Reaches Pre-Recession Levels
The U.S. manufacturing sector will regain all of the output lost since June 2009 by April 2019, indicates a recent report from the Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation (MAPI). A global economic rebound, the passage of U.S. tax reform legislation, and the depreciation of the U.S. dollar are the chief components MAPI identifies as […]
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Engaging the Informed Consumer
Retailers and branded manufacturers can differentiate themselves in a crowded marketplace by showcasing their most unique assets, according to Kibo’s annual 2018 Consumer Trends report. Based on responses from 3,000 U.S. consumers, the report suggests that while price is still the primary factor in purchasing decisions, consumers are increasingly seeking out a differentiated shopping experience—one […]
Read MoreELDs: Ready or Not, Here They Come
While most owner-operators are ready for the ELD mandate, many are unhappy with the electronic logs, and blame them for a loss of productivity and a resulting decline in income, finds a recent DAT survey of 645 carriers and owner-operators. In addition, it’s harder to find parking for trucks, driver detention remains a problem, and […]
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2018 Business Trends: For Better, For Worse
Investing in new and improved information technology and robotic process automation (RPA), talent shortages, and trade protectionism are predicted to be the top trends in service delivery for 2018 and the next several years, according to the latest quarterly KPMG Global Insights Pulse survey. Respondents predict these trends will have the largest positive impact: intelligent […]
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FedEx Reserves 20 Tesla Semi Electric Trucks
FedEx Corp. has placed a reservation for 20 Tesla Semi trucks. Less-than-truckload unit FedEx Freight will operate the fully electric trucks, which are scheduled to begin production in 2019. This new big rig will deliver a far better experience for truck drivers, while increasing safety and significantly reducing the cost of cargo transport, according to […]
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High School Meets Truck Driver Challenge Hands-On
A Patterson, California, high school has an answer to the commercial truck driver shortage: kick young students’ interest into high gear. Its recently launched truck driving school program puts high school students behind the wheel. In addition to classroom instruction, they receive hands-on experience on a truck as well as training on truck simulators, where […]
Read MoreIn It for the Long Haul
This first of its kind Heavy Haul Freight Carrier Survey of 258 heavy haul truckers, co-sponsored by FR8Star and Comdata, yields some interesting trends: Nine out of 10 truckers say they are tech savvy, suggesting the myth of the anti-tech trucker is just that—a myth. Of the almost one-quarter (22 percent) of truckers who have […]
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Logistics Jobs: Follow The Money
The rise of e-commerce, coupled with manufacturing and logistics facilities implementing robotics and other emerging technologies in the production process, has caused demand for digitally savvy workers with trade skills to skyrocket. But with a projected manufacturing and logistics (M&L) talent shortage of two million jobs, employers must pay competitively, beyond the market salary rate, […]
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New Jersey, Rhode Island: Highways to Hell
The nation’s top-performing, most cost-effective highways can be found in North Dakota, Kansas, South Dakota, Nebraska, and South Carolina, according to the latest edition of the Reason Foundation Annual Highway Report. Reason Foundation’s Annual Highway Report ranks the performance of state highway systems in 11 categories, including pavement condition, deficient bridges, traffic congestion, fatality rates, […]
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Consumer Confidence Builds Up Industrial Real Estate
2017 was another banner year for the industrial real estate market, in large part due to consumer confidence, which hit a 17-year high in December, according to Transwestern’s year-end national industrial report. The U.S. market witnessed its eighth consecutive year of growth in 2017, marking 31 consecutive quarters of positive absorption and 29 consecutive quarters […]
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Capacity Crunch? Carriers Weigh In
Shippers express concern about finding capacity, but how do carriers see the situation? To find out, Transporeon Group, a cloud-based supply chain execution platform provider, surveyed its base of more than 3,000 North American logistics service providers. Most carriers surveyed claim they are at capacity utilization rates of 95 percent and higher, both in the […]
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Supply Chains Get Smart
MIT and JDA Software will team up to advance research on intelligent supply chains, including machine learning, optimization, and consumer behavior modeling. The collaboration leverages both parties’ business domain expertise and customer base. Professor David Simchi-Levi of the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society has been tapped to lead the multi-year collaboration. The MIT and […]
Read MoreGeorgia at the Center of Innovation
A Georgia senate committee has named Savannah and Augusta as locations for new logistics technology innovation and information technology corridors. The cities were chosen following a committee report that identified incentives for technology growth, and the best locations to establish these innovation corridors. In December 2017, the Senate Information Technology Corridors Study Committee released a […]
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