Articles
3PL

3PL Partnerships: You’re In Good Company
As product demand continues to rise, companies of all industries are partnering with third-party logistics providers and sealing the deal with on-time and cost-effective delivery to customers.
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3PLs Up The Ante
A good third-party logistics provider can be your ace in the hole to keep supply chain operations running straight and your bottom line flush.
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How Ariens Weathers Seasonal Demand
A 3PL partnership helps Ariens blow away logistics inefficiencies and mow down transportation costs.
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How Specialized Transportation Can Improve Customer Service
As a shipper, what does it look like to deliver on stellar customer service? Your buyers are looking for undamaged, on-time, seamless orders. But you are only able to control a portion of this. Somewhere along the way, a truck driver, warehouse worker, or dispatcher is involved in delivering on your customer service promises. Typically, […]
Read MoreThe Grass is Greener
Wagner Logistics helps a leading manufacturer of lawn care equipment overcome growing pains.
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GOOD QUESTION | When choosing a carrier/supplier, what’s more important: cost or customer service?
While reducing operational costs is top of mind for businesses, customer service comes first to ensure rising expectations are met with improved visibility and accuracy—especially in today’s increasingly competitive environment where loyalty must be earned and options are many. Steve Rice Director of Product Management, TAKE Supply Chain Bang for the buck. There are a […]
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Right on Target
MORE TO THE STORY: Customers, Everywhere He Looks One day, while working as a salesman for Overnite Transportation (now UPS Freight), Mike Wagner offered a customer a great set of rates. But the shipper said he didn’t need Wagner; the rates he already had with Overnite were lower than any Wagner could produce on his […]
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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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