Articles
Risk Management
Leveraging 3PLs to Ease COVID Business Growing Pains
As the COVID-19 pandemic swept the nation, a second and unexpected problem emerged along with it: A shortage of toilet paper. Panic-buying and hoarding left store shelves empty. New deliveries routinely were sold out within minutes. And toilet paper manufacturers, who had long ago leaned out their operations in an effort to maximize profit, found […]
Read MoreHow to Avoid Fragile Supply Chains
Supply chains breakdown in different ways, and each type of risk needs its own mitigation strategy. External shocks Supply and demand shocks and shifts are one reason why supply chains break down. One example of a supply shock would be a supplier delivering late or not at all, which frequently happened in 2020. A demand […]
Read MoreEnabling Supply Chain Agility
The world is in the midst of mass disruption due to the global spread of the COVID-19. Entire industries face new challenges as a result of this pandemic. Workers are finding themselves having to perform jobs remotely, suppliers looking for new ways to connect, and logistics solutions are being put to the test. Unfortunately, it […]
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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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10 Ways to Improve Your Supply Contract
Brexit, COVID-19, and the Suez Canal congestion brought Force Majeure clauses in supply chain contracts into sharp focus. Force Majeure clauses seek to limit the liability of a party whose performance is affected by an unforeseen event beyond that party’s control.
Read MoreFor Beyond Meat and QSR Brands, Asking “What if?” Will Prevent “What Now?”
The supply chain disruptions of 2020 resulted in a highly challenging year for the quick-service restaurant (QSR) industry. Wendy’s, for instance, ran out of menu items containing beef in almost one-fifth of its restaurants. As a result of the beef shortage, Wendy’s, along with McDonald’s and Burger King, resorted to importing beef during the earlier […]
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Acing Your Stress Test
Facing more frequent disruptions—from natural disasters to the pandemic—supply chain professionals are shifting their focus to mitigate risk and assess resilience. Post-pandemic, 93% of executives responding to a McKinsey survey say they expect to increase resilience by rebalancing their supply chains, an increase from 70% before the pandemic. A supply chain resilience stress test is […]
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Change Is Here to Stay in the Supply Chain: Here’s How to Manage It
The peaks and valleys we’re experiencing in the transportation market are not for the faint of heart, but there are moves you can make to regain some control.
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7 Critical Questions You Need to Ask
With a huge number of constantly shifting variables, suppliers, and other factors to consider, it’s easy to feel that managing supply chain risk is an unending battle that you’ll never win.
Read MoreBuild 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 […]
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8 Surefire Ways to Navigate Global Supply Chain Upheaval
Demand volatility coupled with capacity shortages. Lead times stretching out weeks, even months. Congestion at ports worldwide. What can shippers do to keep their supply chains moving? Plenty.
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Flexing Labor Practices to Respond to Supply Chain Disruptions
Responding to e-commerce surges without compromising service levels, MD Logistics flexed labor across its business by emphasizing four core elements.
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Supply Chain Continuous Improvement Requires Collaboration, Trust, and Tolerance for Failure
Q: How can a 3PL affect continuous improvement of their partners’ supply chains? A: Ruan’s approach to effective continuous improvement (CI) is centered around creating value within our partners’ businesses. CI begins with a clear understanding of each unique supply chain and baseline performance measures. Although tools and techniques vary, the first steps involve analyzing […]
Read MoreNavigating Demand Spikes: Automating Your Way to Successful Peak Seasons
As many countries grapple with another wave of the pandemic, retailers are continually challenged to adjust to shifting consumer habits, anticipate spikes in demand for specific items and meet delivery expectations. For many retailers, 2020 emphasized that there may no longer be just one peak shopping season, but rather peaks and/or ‘micro peaks’ can strike […]
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Getting a Grasp on Transport Spend
Shipping has been inexorably changed in light of COVID-19. Changes that have been slowly building for a decade are being infinitely compounded as consumers shift to e-commerce versus standard brick-and-mortar shopping. With demand for direct-to-consumer business increasing, delivering shipments to consumers quickly, at the cheapest cost, is now a necessity for companies.
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Technology Must Be a Theme in 2021
The supply chain sector has always been one of tradition. Unfortunately, that has often meant that it has been slow to adopt the technology evolving around it. With a fear of the unknown, the supply chain and logistics sector has stuck to the status quo for too long, slowing the ability to evolve and reach true potential.
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Supply Chain: An Engine of Post-Pandemic Growth
Growth has been hard to find for consumer goods companies in recent years. The majority of food and beverage businesses, for instance, are seeing growth of less than 3% according to Accenture’s analysis. And across industry segments, growth has been trending downward for five years now, culminating in the unprecedented disruption of 2020.
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A Supply Chain for the Next Normal
The fluctuating economy over the past year impacted how companies across industries responded in a pinch. Now that crisis responses have passed and the pandemic settled into a new normal, many companies are looking for ways to adapt their long-term supply chain strategy for the unexpected.
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The Art of the Steal
With pandemic-induced lockdowns, e-commerce surges, and transportation restrictions in 2020, cargo theft shifted to new commodities and locations (see chart), says a BSI and TT Club report. New trends include the food and beverage sector experiencing the most theft, as well as an uptick in theft from facilities compared to 2019. In the year ahead, […]
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Can Your Supply Chain Withstand the Unexpected?
Today’s supply chain is vast, expanding to every corner of the globe. With this expansion, the threat has increased significantly due to the larger attack surface. Add to that a global pandemic and the need to protect the supply chain has never been more important.
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