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Keith Biondo

Returning Experience

The war between the retail/e-commerce customer experience and increasing costs is heating up, thanks to the impact that rising transportation prices are having on the retail process. That trend plagues e-commerce players and retailers, both large and small. For example, in July 2018, spot market trucking costs were up 30 percent year-over-year, according to DAT. […]

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Home Depot Builds New Supply Chain

Home Depot Builds New Supply Chain

Home Depot will spend $1.2 billion to overhaul its supply chain to offer faster delivery for consumers and businesses. Walker Sands’ 2018 Future of Retail report offers the home improvement retailer some advice: To compete with Amazon, Home Depot should focus not only on delivery speed, but transparency as well. Only 30 percent of consumers […]

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Michael Gravier

Leveraging Technology: Put Strategy First

With all the hype about technology’s potential, it’s easy to lose track of the basic truth that technology enables strategy. Technology applied to an inappropriate strategy will accelerate a firm’s demise. Tech trends enable strategies that are reshaping global supply chains. These new technologies complement each other; used in combination they create synergies far beyond […]

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Is Asia The New Bermuda Triangle?

Is Asia The New Bermuda Triangle?

Large shipping losses declined by 38 percent globally over the past decade, but losses in Asia rose year-on-year, with incidents in the South China, Indochina, Indonesia, and Philippine maritime regions rising 25 percent. That makes Asia the top area worldwide for major shipping incidents in the past decade, leading it to be dubbed the "new […]

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Doug Collins

5 Tactics for Managing the Unexpected

No supply chain is immune from risk, and the farther a company’s supply chain traverses the globe, the more opportunity for things to go awry. Companies can take proactive steps to ensure they won’t be blindsided by sudden changes to their supply chain. Taking out a credit insurance policy from a credit insurer is just […]

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Big Apple Polishes Freight Transportation System

Big Apple Polishes Freight Transportation System

New York City plans to overhaul its aging freight distribution systems through strategic investments to modernize maritime and rail assets and create new distribution facilities. Freight NYC is a $100-million plan with the ultimate goals of creating nearly 5,000 good-paying jobs for New Yorkers and a more sustainable and resilient supply chain network. New York […]

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Fail Fast, Then Move On

Fail Fast, Then Move On

Jim Barnes did not have a mentor at the start of his career. “No one taught me how to become a leader,” recalls Barnes, chief executive officer of enVista, an Indianapolis-based supply chain consultancy and software firm. MORE TO THE STORY: Getting Advice, Paying it Forward Instead, observation and experience helped Barnes develop his leadership […]

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In Iceland, There’s No Place Like Drone

In Iceland, There’s No Place Like Drone

Consumers in Reykjavik, Iceland, will soon just have to walk out their back door to receive their packages. Drone technology company Flytrex, in partnership with Aha.is—Iceland’s largest online marketplace—launched 13 new routes for an autonomous on-demand urban drone delivery service to serve nearly half of Reykjavik. The upgraded service also includes an advanced “InAir” wire-drop […]

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