Articles
Viewpoint: Logistics & Supply Chain Analysis
Vendor Compliance: What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger
You just landed your first big customer. No more selling to mom-and-pops. You alert your suppliers and increase your raw materials inventory. You step up production and increase your finished goods inventory, anxiously awaiting the purchase order. Then suddenly it hits you: in order to get the purchase order you have to comply with a […]
Read MoreTechnology Is Not a Cure-All
It isn’t always about technology. That sounds a bit heretical to modern ears. Technology has done so much to alter our world, make our lives easier, and provide answers to decades-old business problems. We have come to depend so heavily on the value of technology that our first response to most business problems is investing […]
Read MorePackaging Automation Delivers What Customers Demand
“The factory of the future will have only two employees, a man and a dog. The man will be there to feed the dog. The dog will be there to keep the man from touching the equipment,” writes author Warren G. Bennis. Well, not quite. But automation is certainly the watchword as today’s manufacturers face […]
Read MoreCycle Time Reduction Gives Life to Productivity
Manufacturers that can’t deliver on time won’t keep their customers happy—or keep them at all. This reality is all the more reason why small and mid-sized manufacturers need to get their products into customers’ hands as quickly as possible. Often, however, bottlenecks in the production process make this impossible. The following scenarios of lost productivity […]
Read MoreReducing Supply Chain Costs: Spend More to Save More
Managers who want to reduce supply chain costs need to spend more on transportation. The key to lower supply chain costs is holding less inventory. Buying more transportation lets you reduce inventory safely. The greatest mistake that manufacturers make today is equating transportation cost reductions with total available supply chain savings. In fact, transportation savings […]
Read MoreSeeing’ Safe Ports: Connect to Protect
The emergence of new global logistics challenges in the wake of Sept. 11 has prompted the U.S. government to effectively secure our borders. But, of the 5.7 million containers arriving in the United States each year, less than two percent of all shipments offloaded at U.S. ports are inspected prior to arrival. Limited human resources […]
Read MoreYou Have Entered the Material Transfer Zone
The loading dock has become a critical component of virtually any supply chain strategy. Mistakes in dock design and equipment choices can have costly consequences that ripple throughout the supply chain. For instance, slowdowns and product damage can very quickly multiply when overhead door openings are too small and dock levelers too narrow to provide […]
Read MoreProactive Returns Management Yields Hard ROI
Multi-channel product distribution and stiff competition for more demanding and discerning customers require creative strategies for managing and maintaining customer relationships. As companies search for areas of opportunity to meet these needs, returns management tops the list.Product returns and their impact on a company’s bottom line is an age-old problem. The complexities of reverse product […]
Read MoreHandling the Rigors of Global Compliance
Compliance is an intrinsically complex and often misunderstood part of the global supply chain. Unlike other functions such as purchasing and receiving, which generate a lot of attention and activity, successful compliance is gauged when absolutely nothing happens—when freight leaves its origin and arrives at its destination on time and intact. But as soon as […]
Read MoreTapping Into SRM for Supply Strategy and Procurement Execution
Manufacturers today have an opportunity to leverage their supply base for competitive advantage. Unfortunately, most do not have the tools required to tap this value. For the last decade they have focused mainly on growth issues such as supply chain planning and customer relationship management. As the engine of growth has stalled, manufacturers are casting […]
Read MoreLet’s Mobilize Our Disaster Management Expertise
It struck me a few years back. Earthquakes in Turkey and Taiwan. Floods in Curacaos. Disaster upon disaster hit nations where Fritz Companies’ employees were based and we didn’t have a plan to help them and their families. In fact, when I called around to other companies at the time, I couldn’t find anyone that […]
Read MoreRaking in the Trash
“It’s only trash.” That’s how supply chain managers often refer to the mountains of packing material, broken pallets, paper, and other trash that clutters distribution facilities. For most companies, disposal is an expense item, with additional costs for compactors, waste bins, carting, landfill use, and myriad other variables. With a little of the same skill […]
Read MoreHow Retailers Become Promise Keepers
Retailers today increasingly leverage online channels to offer services from third parties, including product drop-shipped from other vendors, cross-branded product bundles, and special orders. Amazon essentially built its business on this model and traditional retailers have followed. These strategies present great opportunities for new revenues, efficiencies, and service levels. But serious pitfalls exist, too. When […]
Read MoreNavigating the Virtual Marketplace
Within the logistics online marketplace operates an aggregation of companies acting on behalf of shippers that purchase transportation from a diverse group of logistics services providers. These providers include trading exchanges; logistics solutions providers; trucking, rail, ocean, and air carriers; and companies specializing in ancillary logistics services such as supply chain event management. Over the […]
Read MoreDrilling Down to Core Competencies
With increased competition in a sluggish economy, many companies are getting back to basics by re-focusing on critical operational elements and recommitting themselves to the principles on which their businesses were built. Have you taken a step back to examine your company and determine what truly makes it better than the competition? Not in terms […]
Read MorePaying Attention to the Whole Logistics Package
Lance Armstrong doesn’t know it, but when he won the Tour de France this year, he provided a powerful business parable for our times. His come-from-behind victory demonstrated an important, but often overlooked, competitive concept: No matter how impressive your start, you must have a strong finish to win the race. Nowhere is this more […]
Read MoreBringing Logistics Out of Medieval Mode
At the end of the quarter, as salespeople demand that items move off the dock and into revenue status, logistics specialists find their faxes humming, phones ringing, and desktops overflowing with paper. The struggle to meet the transportation needs of customers and move products across international borders would be easier were it not for the […]
Read MoreMoving Furniture the Right Way
The online furniture community recently has seen its share of well-publicized supply chain failures. From my perspective as a transportation provider to this specialized niche, these online firms did not seriously consider product distribution issues. Granted, other customer-related consequences contributed to the difficulties, but it is impossible to overcome critical distribution problems. Most of these […]
Read MoreInventory Theft: Is Your Company Easy Prey?
The logistics industry has grown dramatically in the past few years and inventory loss has kept pace. Estimates now range in the $80-billion area for cargo and warehouse related theft. One reason that so many warehousing and transportation companies have incurred loss is that they often rely on ineffective security safeguards. This can prove to […]
Read MoreHandling Returns: Just Tell Me Where it Hurts
Our economy has experienced tremendous growth cycles over the past several years. As a result, manufacturers are making more stuff, retailers are buying more stuff, and consumers are spending more money on stuff than ever before! Inevitably, mistakes are made, resulting in product defects, bad merchandising decisions, or over-optimistic sales projections. No matter how good […]
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