Articles

Supply Chain Management

Mark Your Calendars: Logistics Events to Watch

MAR 16, 2018 Mexico City, Mexico Supply Chain Leaders Meeting supplychainleaders.mx/   —   APR 9-12, 2018 Atlanta, GA Georgia Center of Innovation for Logistics 2018 Georgia Logistics Summit georgialogistics.com/summit   —   APR 18-19, 2018 Atlanta, GA Terrapinn Home Delivery World 2018 bit.ly/homedelivery2018   —   APR 29 – MAY 1, 2018 Orlando, FL […]

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Plan for Change: How to Make Sure Your Supply Chain Remains Resilient in the Midst of Political Uncertainty

These days, disruption is a big part of the cost of doing business. Many of us feel we’ve got more than our share of uncertainty, thanks to technological advances, globalization, demographic shifts, and natural disasters. But U.S. companies today must also pay attention to political uncertainty in their supply chain and logistics risk profiles. The […]

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Status Grow? Yes.

I often disagree with IL’s publisher, but I can’t argue with his perspective in this edition. There is a great opportunity for growth in many business sectors, and supply chain excellence is fundamentally important in that economic environment. It wasn’t always that way, however. This publication’s mission since its inception in 1981 has been to […]

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Industrial Technology and the Supply Chain: Is 2018 the Year We Turn a Corner?

2017 may be remembered as the year we finally figured it out. After years of spending on the components of industrial technology, professionals in the supply chain and manufacturing disciplines should begin to see the fruits of their investments, as new capabilities and efficiencies begin to surface. 2018 won’t be so much about discovering anything […]

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Supply Chain Collaboration: Myth or Reality?

Today’s supply chains are more complex than ever before—that is one of the surest realities of supply chain collaboration. And, due to a lack of collaboration, the supply chain sector is realizing a negative impact resulting from the increased time it takes to make critical decisions. This is why supply chain collaboration (SCC) is such […]

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Five Reasons to Consider Cloud Services for Your Supply Chain

Supply chain and logistics management uses resources, processes, and technology to create solutions that deliver the right goods to the right place at the right time—as quickly and cost effectively as possible. Managers looking for technology to support those solutions may find that cloud computing offers some compelling options. Lower IT Infrastructure Costs Reducing costs […]

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Building Visibility, Response, Resiliency

Chief supply chain officers (CSCO) are tasked with a range of challenging issues when it comes to managing a company’s product supply chain. To maximize productivity and efficiency, the CSCO should consider visibility, response, and resiliency the most important aspects of supply chain management. Digital transformation is underway in supply chain management and it is […]

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Can Your Supply Chain Keep Up With Technology?

New technology has rapidly impacted our everyday lives. Consumer technology advances are having a profound impact on the art of supply chain management, requiring constant evolution and rethinking of the way products are marketed, sold, produced, and delivered. The Tesla Effect In the automotive industry, customers will soon expect to be able to configure their […]

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Debt: A Rising Risk in Your Supply Chain

Of all the sources of risk supply chain managers face on a daily basis—cargo theft, natural disasters, long lead times, and unpredictable demand—none is currently at an inflection point quite like debt. This topic was addressed in a recent webinar by two leading authorities on corporate financial health: Dr. Edward Altman, Professor of Finance, Emeritus, […]

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Sometimes It’s Better Not to Be So Pushy

Supply chain processes fall into one of two categories: pull systems, where a company initiates execution in response to a customer order (reactive) and push systems, where execution is initiated in anticipation of customer orders (speculative). The boundary that separates push processes from pull processes is one measure of a supply chain’s “lean-ness”—the farther upstream […]

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Is Supply Chain Planning Right for the Cloud?

The explosive growth of data that today’s supply chain teams must manage creates challenges even for the most seasoned professionals. Manufacturers, retailers, and distributors need agile systems that help manage and simplify complexity. However, one of the biggest hurdles today’s organizations face is gaining executive approval to implement an advanced supply chain planning system. Is […]

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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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Masters of the Future

I have a secret: I can see the future. Anyone who reads business media can tell you that many professionals in my generation fear for the future of the workforce. Doomsayers claim that all millennials are lazy, and Generation Z is needy and co-dependent on Google and their devices. I’m lucky, however. I get an […]

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Tim O’Brien: Exuding Star Power

Tim O’Brien: Exuding Star Power

Tim O’Brien is senior director, supply chain, with Purchasing Power, a specialty e-commerce retailer that provides goods and services to customers who make payments through payroll deductions. He has held this position since October 2012. Responsibilities: Transportation and logistics, including carrier and 3PL relationships, vendor compliance, and onboarding. Experience: Director, e-commerce shipping strategies and vendor […]

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Yone Dewberry: Engineering the Supply Chain

Yone Dewberry: Engineering the Supply Chain

Yone Dewberry is chief supply chain officer with Land O’Lakes, Inc., a member-owned cooperative with operations ranging from agricultural production to consumer foods. Based in Arden Hills, Minnesota, Land O’Lakes had 2016 sales of $13 billion. Responsibilities Supply chain strategy, operations, and talent management. Experience Executive positions in supply chain with Land O’Lakes; managing director, […]

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