Articles

Logistics

Leadership: Fashion Leader

Leadership: Fashion Leader

How does a retail supply chain resemble the infrastructure of a nuclear submarine? We don’t know, but Brent Beabout sure does. He spent 13 years as an active-duty U.S. naval officer, a career that culminated in the role of engineering officer on one of those powerful undersea vessels. Then he moved on to some major […]

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Marianne McDonald: Stand and Deliver

Marianne McDonald: Stand and Deliver

Marianne McDonald is vice president, global transportation for Avnet, a $17.4-billion global technology distributor headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. Responsibilities: Global transportation services, carrier selection, contracts supporting 40 warehouse locations (owned and 3PL), day-to-day global trade compliance operations, and import/export execution. Experience: Global transportation leader, Avnet; director of global logistics for Coca Cola, Toys “R” Us, […]

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Supply Chain Commentary: What Shippers Need to Know About Market Tightness

After a two-year slide in transportation prices, the logistics sector is experiencing capacity constraints and historically high and enduring truckload volumes. As we head into peak shipping season, rates have been rising significantly, particularly in the wake of hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Shippers can expect this trend to continue into 2018. The market isn’t likely […]

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Survey: Customers Place a High Priority on On-Time Holiday Shipping

27 percent of U.S. customers would rather get a root canal than have personal holiday shipments come late, according to a DHL holiday customer survey that reveals on-time shipments are a high priority.   The survey helps to better understands customer trends and challenges this holiday season, and uncovered key business priorities for the holidays, and how they […]

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Dos and Don’ts for Storing Temperature Sensitive Medicines

The UK Medicine and Health Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) identified crucial mistakes in how wholesalers source and handle freezers and fridges used to store medicines. MHRA says the main metrics to measure when sourcing GDP qualified equipment are: The purpose – is it to store cold packs to be used in transit or to host frozen products? Temperature bracket required Capacity […]

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Facts About Friction

The average U.S. business loses $171,340 per year through clunky payment practices causing friction in their supply chain, according to new research by Tungsten Network. This equates to almost 6,500 man hours spent chasing purchase order numbers, processing paper invoices, and responding to supplier inquiries. Businesses estimate they spend an average of 55 hours per […]

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Urban Logistics: You Can’t Fight City Haul

Urban Logistics: You Can’t Fight City Haul

The impact of urbanization—population increases in cities and towns as opposed to rural areas—on business growth and sustainability concerns nearly all companies surveyed in The Road to Sustainable Urban Logistics, a new report by UPS and GreenBiz Group. However, only 47 percent feel prepared to address the associated business challenges, according to the survey. Further, […]

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Why the Rise of the 4PL Is Good News for Your Business

On-demand delivery, trade uncertainties, siloed information…for today’s supply chain managers, the list of concerns is long. Current industry and geopolitical trends are complicating matters further. Companies are juggling more products and suppliers, leaving supply chains increasingly vulnerable to disruption. In the grocery industry alone, the average number of SKUs skyrocketed from 9,000 in the 1970s […]

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Staffing Your Warehouse: Addressing Hidden Risks

The warehousing sector and staffing industry depend on each other. In fact, they are so closely tied that the Department of Labor often considers warehouses and staffing companies “joint employers.” The rules for being a joint employer significantly increase the risks and exposures otherwise thought to be transferred to the staffing agency. Payroll Taxes Did […]

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New IoT Tools Enable Greater Visibility Into Complex Supply Chains

Shipping high-value goods is risky business. Supply chains are complex, and getting more complex by the day. More complexity means more surprises, and most supply chain managers don’t like surprises. Every year, pharmaceutical companies spend $30 billion replacing shipments that have been damaged due to temperature excursions. Cargo loss in other industries accounts for an […]

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U.S.-Cuba Trade: The Intersection of Sanctions, Sourcing, and Compliance

With the changing diplomatic ties between the United States and Cuba, and expectations for the new administration to redraw U.S. policy toward Cuba, many involved in international trade are unclear of the sanctions status of trade with the island nation. The country is still embargoed and, at a practical level, for most all products, normalized […]

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Six Surefire Ways to Build a Logistics Workforce

Indiana ranks second in the United States for manufacturing and logistics employment growth and first in the percentage of Hoosiers employed in these industry sectors. Couple those statistics with Indiana’s “Crossroads of America” logistics reputation and there is a compelling reason to develop a skilled workforce for continued growth. Building tomorrow’s workforce is a team […]

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Supply Chain Commentary: Why Manufacturers Should Adopt an Ecosystem Strategy

Customers have always expected suppliers to quickly respond to their needs, but now they’re more demanding than ever. As the needs of buyers become more unpredictable and complex, and as they begin to demand more frequent product launches and extreme personalization, manufacturers are struggling to keep up, let alone profitably. One of the core challenges […]

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How Supply Chain Managers Can Use
Artificial Intelligence to Their Advantage

Artificial intelligence (AI) now touches almost every industry and walk of life. Driverless cars are chauffeuring themselves through Pittsburgh’s roads, robots dominate the activity within Amazon’s warehouses, and increasingly sophisticated algorithms for demand planning and design have gone digital. Personalization and machine learning continue to improve customers’ experiences and open countless doors for the tech […]

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