Articles
3PL
How to Choose a Single-Source Logistics Provider
The more service providers you work with, the more likely you are to suffer gaps in your supply chain. That’s why companies looking for maximum efficiency often decide to partner with a single-source logistics provider. A single-source provider is a third-party logistics (3PL) company that manages your whole supply chain, or a discrete portion of […]
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Accurate Transit Times: The Backbone of Efficient Supply Chains
Q: CarrierConnect® has been a crucial SMC³ product for nearly 20 years, and the company has continued to make upgrades during that time. How have customers been reacting to recently added features in CarrierConnect XL 2.0? A: GlobalTranz was the first technology partner to integrate the new XL features, and they discovered true strategic value […]
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Instill Passion, Purpose, and Leadership To Attract and Retain Logistics Talent
The talent gap in the logistics field is vast, touching everyone from truck drivers and warehouse staff to supply chain and third-party logistics (3PL) professionals. Finding the right people, and fast, is an ongoing struggle. Seventy-nine percent of 3PLs feel they are unprepared for the looming labor shortage and its impacts, states the Council of […]
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18 Sure-Fire Ways to Save on LTL Shipments
Carriers and 3PLs reveal road-tested secrets for cutting trucking costs.
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Complying With Big-box Retailer Requirements
Complying with big-box retailer regulations is not a one-person job for 3PLs. An integrated team approach is the best way to ensure your company, as a logistics provider, is able to be absolutely reliable to the retailer. Specifically, customer service, compliance, and transportation and operational services equally aid in the assurance of complying with big-box […]
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Still Pushing Your Customers Around?
Inbound Logistics published its first healthcare logistics article back in 1994. That article revealed several important reasons for companies to move to demand-driven logistics, even those not in the healthcare value chain. Hillarycare was introduced the year before that article ran. My opinion then was, “Fine, look at Hillarycare, but first cut costs and boost […]
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6 Cool Things I Learned Editing This Issue
This summer is a scorcher here in New York. Luckily, this issue is chock full of cool things. Here are a few of my favorites: We asked logistics and supply chain professionals to explain what they do in terms a five-year-old would appreciate. You’ll find their way-cool answers here. Like baseball, logistics is a game […]
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How to Stand Out From the Crowd
The changing needs of today’s manufacturers, coupled with the intense challenges third-party logistics (3PL) providers face—from greater reliance on just-in-time inventory and the increasing role of technology, to port congestion and the truck driver shortage—have led to a landscape ripe with competition. Arguably more diversified and sophisticated than ever, the 3PL sector is seeing an […]
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The Potential of Change
With schools across the country rapidly increasing the use of technology in the classroom, recent graduates entering the logistics workforce expect similar atmospheres. Without even realizing it, these individuals have trained themselves in a variety of ways to further their career. They are comfortable spending hours a day behind the computer, checking their emails religiously, […]
Read MoreIncreased Visibility
The strength of any supply chain is in its individual links. For shippers of all types of freight, that means having visibility into accurate and timely load locations. For shippers, carriers, brokers and third party logistics services providers, the MacroPoint freight tracking solution is proving to be the answer. Today as well, shippers are requiring […]
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Preparation: The Key to Successful Business…and Procurement Projects
Shippers everywhere are enjoying the "summer of ’16." Carrier capacity is abundant, and rates, particularly in the truckload spot market, have fallen by double-digit percentages relative to last year. Contrast this with the "winter of ’14" when the Polar Vortex drove spot rates to all-time highs. Since that time, decreasing fuel costs, coupled with favorable […]
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Become an Extension of Your Client’s Brand
As entities responsible for brokering appropriate carrier rates, ensuring accurate quantities of orders, and guaranteeing high quality of products, third-party logistics providers are extensions of companies’ brands. The functions 3PLs perform help shape their clients’ outwardly facing reputation. Here are the most effective ways to become an extension of your client’s brand. Cost Savings Carrier […]
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3PL Customer Service Specialization
Defining customer service can be difficult. Measuring it is even harder. Sometimes ambiguous, customer service is more than being courteous and helpful, it’s also about being knowledgeable. To solve complex problems, and to do so with speed, a 3PL must know a shipper’s needs inside and out. While intricacies of certain shippers and receivers will […]
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6 Technologies Guaranteed to Disrupt Your Supply Chain
As innovative technological solutions continue to shake up logistics, managing the supply chain is no longer business as usual.
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3PL Partnerships: How to Ink the Deal
How to form a relationship with your 3PL that’s so productive and strong, you’ll want to put it in a heart and wear it where everyone can see.
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3PL Perspectives 2016
MORE TO THE STORY: Perspectives Methodology 3PLs At A Glance 2016 Top 100 3PLs Ever get a tattoo? You don’t just go to the first place you stumble across. It usually takes some shopping around to find the right parlor. You ask your friends and acquaintances for recommendations. You go on the internet and read […]
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Readers’ Choice: Top 10 3PL Excellence Awards 2016
The global supply chain is ever changing. International trade deals, wars, embargoes, company failures, start-ups, and increasing regulations don’t even begin to complete the list of things shippers have to stay on top of. Many companies just don’t have the specialized knowledge in house to successfully manage complex logistics operations. MORE TO THE STORY: 3PLs […]
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Tapping Military Talent: Shoes on the Ground
Companies win the talent battle when they have troops in place in supply chain positions.
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Addressing Vendor Management and Shifting Global Trade Currents
Q: What are the most important aspects of good vendor management? A: Fairness is the first element that always comes to mind when this subject arises. Both parties need to be satisfied and gain benefits in each deal that is agreed upon. If not, deals tend to end faster than planned and turn into a […]
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Three Key Points to Communicate to Become Your Customers’ Dream Provider
Communication and transparency are key to being a good partner to your clients. If your logistics organization is in the process of responding to RFP questions from a plum potential customer, positioning your logistics organization as the ideal fit for that customer depends on clear communication of three defining factors of your business: specialization, size, […]
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