Articles
Distribution
Are We Ready to Deliver the COVID-19 Vaccine?
In March 2020, as the dynamics of a pandemic arrested American healthcare systems both in their capacity to deliver care and sustain supply availability, health systems around the world enacted their emergency preparedness protocols. Very quickly, medical, pharmaceutical and health organizations became aware of how effectively they had planned for these most extreme conditions. A […]
Read MoreTonya Jackson: Signed, Sealed, Delivered
Tonya Jackson is senior vice president and chief supply chain officer with Lexmark, a creator of imaging solutions and technologies. Responsibilities: Worldwide supply chain operations, including supply planning, global sourcing, hardware and supplies manufacturing, distribution and logistics, and managing shared service centers. Experience: Vice president, global supply chain operations; vice president, supplies operation and engineering; all […]
Read MoreTaylored Fulfillment Services Acquires U.S. Operations of Toll Global Logistics
Taylored Fulfillment Services, a national third-party logistics (3PL) provider based in New Jersey, acquired the U.S. operations of Toll Global Logistics, a $8.7 billion Australian logistics company, boosting its position as a top provider in the United States. The acquisition triples Taylored’s footprint in key distribution areas, which are located near the ports of Los […]
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Solving Distributor Liquidity Shortages
The pandemic is inflicting financial hardship on the supply chain—from manufacturers down to the end consumer—with particular pain for distributors, who are the critical intermediary agents responsible for delivering goods from producers to retailers and other businesses that sell to consumers.
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GE Appliances Flips Its Smart Switch
Do you think about how big appliances, such as refrigerators, washing machines, and dishwashers, move through the supply chain—from the factory to a homeowner’s property or a commercial apartment building? Mark Shirkness does, every single day.
Read MorePRODUCT SPOTLIGHT | Order Picking Solutions
PRODecant Solution: This automated solution from DLN Integrated Systems is designed for distribution facilities requiring broken case picking. It consists of a robotic system that utilizes vision technology to identify the unique specifications of a carton to automatically open and empty the contents into a tote. The tote is then routed, typically via conveyor, to […]
Read MoreReading 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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Improving Visibility: And Sew It Goes
Family-owned Tacony Corporation offers sewing and home and commercial floor care products in more than 100 countries. Because of the number of products it sells and the geographic span of its operations, supply chain visibility and efficiency are key. At the same time, providing timely, accurate deliveries has become ever more critical, given rising customer expectations.
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Traffic Control
At some point, urban congestion will again be an issue. To get ready, cities and shippers are exploring options such as alternative vehicles, apps, pricing solutions, and a range of distribution centers.
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Becoming the Next Leading Logistics Hub
More and more consumers turned to e-commerce and online grocery sales for their purchases during the COVID-19 pandemic, adding pressure on the supply chain and making the location of distribution and fulfillment centers even more important.
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Robotics-as-a-Service Automates Order Fulfillment
THE CUSTOMER Ecentria is a technology-enabled e-business platform and the corporate parent of OpticsPlanet, CampSaver, and USIQ—purveyors of high-performance and technical gear and leading destinations for enthusiast customers of the greater outdoor, sporting goods, and tactical consumer markets. THE PROVIDER inVia Robotics is aSouthern Californiarobotics company founded in 2015 that provides next-generation warehouse automation solutions. […]
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Home for the Holidays
To reduce the risk of exposure to COVID-19, consumers plan to do their holiday shopping earlier this year, a Voxware survey reports, which may bring significant challenges for distribution centers. Key survey findings include: 51% of consumers expect to start holiday shopping earlier than normal in 2020. 57% plan to have more gifts shipped directly […]
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True Manufacturing Embraces More Efficient, Visual Load Building
By turning to MagicLogic Optimization and integrating Cube-IQ, its load planning optimization software solution, True Manufacturing reduced work hours and increased efficiency.
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Traditional Retail Supply Chains Tackle Omni Challenges
Distribution centers (DCs) traditionally shipped orders in bulk to retailers or wholesalers. In the early days of e-commerce, most retailers used a small area in an existing DC to fulfill online orders or outsourced the process to a third party. As online demand grew, many retailers opened fulfillment centers dedicated to picking and packing individual orders shipped to individual end users. DCs and fulfillment centers have much different types of operations and cost structures.
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Building a Supply Chain in One Week
When their client pivoted to make a low-cost, readily available bed to quickly serve those on the front lines, SEKO Logistics rapidly set up distribution operations to meet urgent demand.
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Sustaining Operational Excellence
TA Services’ transportation management solutions helped MRC Global, a distributor of pipe, infrastructure products, and valves and fittings, improve visibility and enhance service levels.
Read MoreReopening Fulfillment and Distribution Centers in the Wake of COVID-19
The chaos and disruption from the COVID-19 outbreak is slowly moving toward recovery for businesses. Like most enterprises, fulfillment and distribution centers will not be able to simply “flip a switch” and return to normal operations. The complexity is even greater for networks that span multiple states or countries. Reopening will require a rigorous methodology […]
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Formulating Solutions for Chemical Shippers
With exacting specifications and transportation challenges heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic, shippers are turning to these partners to move chemicals safely and optimize supply chains.
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NACD Program Ensures Seamless Partnerships
Warehouses and carriers are critical elements of the supply chain for the U.S. chemical distribution industry, which has a total economic impact of nearly $20 billion and provides more than 80,000 jobs across all 50 states. Chemical products are used in nearly every industry sector in the U.S. economy, and chemical distributors play an important […]
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Efficiencies and Revenues Skyrocket for Distributor with Digital Order and Logistics Management
MPO’s cloud platform for order and logistics management allowed an agricultural spare parts distributor to streamline fulfillment, obtain full order visibility, and reduce shipping costs for customers.
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