Articles
Supply Chain Management
Continuing Education: What’s on the Menu?
No matter how skilled or credentialed, today’s supply chain managers are hungry to learn—and want a variety of options to choose from. With the marketplace growing more complex, continuing education professionals are cooking up new programs and remaking old standbys.
Read MoreA New Combined Approach to Labeling and Artwork Management
Companies have struggled for many years to manage the growing complexities of their supply chains and go-to-market packaging content. Labeling has become more complicated as data requirements continue to expand, and Artwork Management has been challenged to meet an increasing number of demands on a global basis. Additionally, labeling and Artwork Management both face challenges […]
Read MorePlastics Supply Chain Turns Off the Tap
HP Inc. and IKEA are joining the NextWave Plastics global consortium—a collaborative initiative that brings together leading companies to "turn off the tap" of plastic entering the ocean. The goal is not only to scale their own ocean-bound plastics supply chain efforts, but to also extend across industries to make it commercially viable for all, […]
Read MoreInflation Making Waves for Supply Management
New study identifies five areas that can help procurement navigate uncharted waters.
Read MoreSupply Chain Remains the “Next Big Thing”
Symphony RetailAI, a global provider of Artificial Intelligence-enabled decision platforms, solutions and customer-centric insights that drive validated growth for retailers and CPG manufacturers, announced the findings of a benchmark report, “Supply Chain Management 2018: In Service of the Customer.” The fourth annual study, conducted by Retail Systems Research (RSR) and sponsored by Symphony RetailAI, shows […]
Read MoreMeet Your Match
Supply chain management is increasingly recognized as critical to an organization’s success. As a result, it’s harder to come by top-tier talent through traditional methods. Enter SCTalentMatch, a new service launched by veteran supply chain recruiters Don Jacobson and Adam Lenhart that anonymously connects supply chain professionals with employers. Candidates who are actively seeking jobs […]
Read MoreHow Shippers Can Achieve Peace of Mind Through Shopping Season
Imagine it is Christmas morning. A family is just waking up and starting to open presents. It is time for the teenager to open her big gift—a new laptop. This was just what she needed, and her parents are glad all their research paid off. Immediately, the teenager takes the computer out of the box, […]
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Committing Head and Heart to Health
Chris Cassidy was eight years old when healthcare became a major theme in his life. Playing with friends, Cassidy was accidentally struck in the head with a golf club. At first, his doctor didn’t realize how serious the injury was, and had Cassidy’s mother not pressed for a CT scan, the boy might have died. […]
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Going Straight to the Sourcing
Strategic sourcing, which consultants popularized in the late 1980s/early 1990s, is a supply chain management approach that formalizes the way organizations gather and use information to leverage consolidated purchasing power and find the best values in the marketplace. Strategic sourcing involves developing supply channels at the lowest total cost, as opposed to the lowest purchase […]
Read MoreSupply Chain Scorecards: A Tool for the Times
Advanced technologies like blockchain and AI have captured widespread interest with the benefits they promise to bring to logistics operations. But, for all the promise these appear to hold, there are proven enhancement-focused tools already available – in particular, scorecards – that supply chain managers should take full advantage right now to ensure optimized performance […]
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How to Make Your Holiday Shipping Less Frightful – Ascent Global Logistics
A month before Christmas, a major snowstorm blankets the Northeast. Traffic is snarled for weeks and truckloads of gifts are stuck in distribution centers and trailers. The Christmas buying rush could be in jeopardy for a large part of the country. Even Santa and his red-nosed reindeer friend are unable to save the day. MORE […]
Read MoreIN BRIEF: New Services & Solutions-November 2018
Transportation The Belgium-to-UK lane gains a new dedicated short-sea service with Samskip‘s latest offering. The service connecting Antwerp and Hull is operated by a 508-TEU capacity vessel, sailing from Associated Terminal Operators’ multimodal terminal in Antwerp on Tuesday and Saturday and ABP Port of Hull on Thursday and Monday. Airfreight shippers can take advantage of a […]
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Talent Gap or Training Gap?
In the past, workforce training and development for blue- and gray-collar jobs took a back seat at many businesses and academic institutions. Schools often steered students toward white-collar career paths, while businesses put cutting costs, staying globally competitive, and turning a profit above training workers—a short-sighted focus on the next quarter rather than the next […]
Read More6 Post-M&A Supply Chain Strategies for Success
The high-tech industry has experienced a season of acquisitions, and now it’s time to start thinking about supply chain optimization. According to the 2017 M&A Report, high-tech mergers and acquisitions totaled more than $700 billion in 2016, about 30 percent of the overall M&A market. This reflects a growth rate of 9 percent per year […]
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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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Thinking Beyond Home Delivery – SEKO Logistics
Consumer expectations are becoming increasingly demanding, and matching supply to demand is crucial for any successful supply chain. Speed is where it’s at—if you are not moving forward, you are moving backward. As consumers become increasingly savvy online, companies are quickly learning the importance of being at the forefront of change. Providing consumers with all […]
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Pork Processor Brings Home the Bacon
To ensure the path from pigs to people is the shortest possible, Smithfield Foods cooks up a sizzling supply chain.
Read MoreIt’s Supposed to Be, But ACE Isn’t Simple
Importing will always and forever be complex. Efforts to simplify some of the processes have, unfortunately, not always borne fruit. The aftermath of the overhaul of U.S. customs admissibility program – Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) – has created a heavier administrative burden on importers, not a lighter one. One has to believe the agencies see […]
Read MoreWhat Does World-Class Supply Chain Planning Look Like?
Omnichannel customers, increased product customization, and the emergence of non-traditional competitors all demonstrate that the old methods of brute force execution and elbow grease will no longer suffice when creating a supply chain. Relying on a “can-do” spirit is not enough—businesses must excel at operational planning across multiple dimensions to not just win, but to […]
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