Articles
Demand Planning
Supply Chain Predictions for 2021
I think we can all agree that 2020 is a year that we’ll be excited to leave behind. With a global pandemic, and all its associated side-effects, day-to-day life has been a challenge. But with every challenge comes an opportunity, and this has certainly been the case in the world of e-commerce. With millions homebound, […]
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3 Ways to Bolster Your Supply Chain
Organizations across industries have spent decades optimizing supply chains for maximum profit, but the pandemic highlighted almost overnight how little attention these companies have paid to resilience. As production and mobility of goods experienced historic disruptions, demand quickly exceeded supply and forecasts have failed to produce reliable information for months.
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Other Reasons Why Supply Chain Stress Won’t End Soon
Our "new normal" global consumption reality won’t be ending soon. It’s not just e-commerce, virus buying, and the resultant impact on transport lift availability that’s driving shortages. Other factors augment long-term stress on your ability to marshal supplies and source transport to serve customers. Millennials with buying power, and there are lots of them, will […]
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Build an Agile and Resilient Supply Chain in 4 Steps
In an era when the most unpredictable challenge imaginable, a global pandemic, turned the business world upside down, the need for a reliable supply chain that can react quickly to any and all disruptions became the top priority for organizations. This is by no means an easy feat, and many are familiar with the concept […]
Read MoreOvercoming the Returns Challenge
The world of e-commerce shows no sign of slowing down. As parcel volumes soar and businesses strive to meet customer delivery expectations, returns services can, and have been, easily overlooked. Considering that in some sectors, such as fashion, returns can be as high as 45% and in the United States, customers are 3x more likely […]
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Maritime Logistics: Water Ya Gonna Do?
2020 created some choppy conditions for the maritime industry. But increasing volumes and new strategies and technologies point to a ship-shape future.
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How the National Freight Strategic Plan Can Benefit Shippers
The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) recently announced the first-ever National Freight Strategic Plan (NFSP), a historic initiative that will benefit shippers and others buying transportation and logistics solutions by delivering more affordable, efficient, and reliable options to move cargo.
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Everything’s Coming Up Roses
The complex art of floral logistics involves a delicate arrangement of proper packaging, refrigeration, and speed.
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A Valid Question
Recently I was interviewed for a popular supply chain and logistics blog. The interviewer asked this question: Has the name of the magazine been a deterrent because it doesn’t encompass the full breadth of content you provide? A valid question. My answer: It has not been a deterrent, but sometimes it does need explanation. So […]
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From a Modest Beginning
Having covered logistics for more than four decades, Inbound Logistics has promoted and encouraged companies to adopt demand-driven logistics practices, and reported their progress driving the evolution of traffic management to supply chain management. The key development in that process was accepting a sea change in business management: Don’t plan and push your product at […]
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Inventory Management: Two Key Indicators to Improve Warehouse Operations
Your warehouse is your company’s barometer: It measures the health of your sales, as well as its fluctuations. That is why good inventory management, including optimizing the flow of goods and sales forecasting, becomes essential if you want to avoid product shortages and overstock. Monitoring the turnover and coverage rates will help you limit the […]
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Amping Up the CX
Shippers and their logistics partners deploy supply chain and customer experience strategies to rock their customers’ world.
Read MoreWhat’s the Holiday Sales Scenario?
The holiday retail season will play out in one of two ways—a relatively stable year-over-year sales increase of 0% to 1%, or a jump of 2.5% to 3.5%—both of which are lower than prior years, according to Deloitte. Scenario one: Consumers experience growing anxiety about their health and finances. This reinforces the current high savings […]
Read More5 Must-Take Actions to Prepare for the 2020 Holiday Season
This year has been, and continues to be, unprecedented. Not since the Second World War have global supply chains been so dramatically interrupted. And given the integration of these global supply chains (thanks to the marvels of the integrated circuit) and advances in modern transportation, the disruption caused by COVID-19 is, arguably, unprecedented in modern […]
Read More3 Ways Retailers Can Fully Prepare for the Holiday Season
Retailers know Americans will still be spending this holiday season, even if it is in a wildly atypical manner. Smart retailers are taking the following steps to ensure they’re not left with a lump of coal this holiday season. 1. Finalize any online fulfillment and inventory management decisions. Retailers of all sizes are aggressively wrapping […]
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Building Resilience With Dedicated Transportation Solutions
In today’s volatile economic environment, shippers need reliable, cost-effective solutions to meet customer demand. Dedicated transportation solutions, which mitigate capacity risk and improve on-time delivery, are often a preferable option. Q: What are the factors driving demand for dedicated transportation solutions? A: First, companies understand, now more than ever, they need reliable partners. Interruptions in […]
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Supply Chains Need Long-Term Resilience
Before COVID-19 struck, supply chains were praised for their just-in-time capabilities. Now entirely new levels of supply chain resilience are needed, according to the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals’ (CSCMP) 2020 State of Logistics Report. In 2019, the U.S. economy achieved 2.3% growth, and the logistics sector grew to $1.65 trillion in expenditures. Productivity […]
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Reading the Room
Annette Danek-Akey is executive vice president of supply chain at multinational publishing company Penguin Random House. Responsibilities: Manage distribution, transportation, customer service, fulfillment, reverse logistics, and remainder sales. Oversee 1,700 employees in three distribution centers that ship 1.5 million books per day. Experience: EVP and SVP, supply chain, Penguin Random House; SVP and VP, fulfillment, […]
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