Articles

Supply Chain Management

Global Logistics—October 2012

Global Logistics—October 2012

China Opens Door-to-Door Delivery to FedEx, UPS Federal Express officially contracted its name to FedEx in 2000 to facilitate an easier translation as it expanded the brand globally. United Parcel Service (UPS) has built similar acronym appeal and currency in the countries where it operates. So China’s recent decision to grant both couriers authority to […]

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J. Anthony Hardenburgh

Understanding the Implications of Related Party Transactions and Transfer Pricing

Many multinational organizations are embracing tax-effective supply chain management to reduce costs and increase margins. Supply chain managers need to understand the ramifications of these tax-based strategies when it involves the transfer of tangible goods to their own foreign subsidiaries or parent companies. Reducing taxes is a desirable outcome, but not when it runs afoul […]

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Paul Galpin

Return to Sender: Managing Reverse Logistics

Most e-commerce businesses focus time and money on providing customers with efficient and flexible delivery options. Many companies, however, neglect to extend this attention to the return of unwanted goods. While many factors influence customer loyalty, a well-run returns process drives repeat orders and improves consumer satisfaction. Eighty-five percent of consumers surveyed by research firm […]

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Paul A. Myerson

Eliminating Wasted Motion

At some point in our careers, most of us have felt we’ve wasted time or effort accomplishing a job that should have been easier, more efficient, and possibly safer to do. One way to help workers make better use of their time and effort is to identify and eliminate sources of wasted motion. In a […]

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Krishna Rallabhandi

Shared Technology Resources Hold the Key to Supply Chain Optimization

Q: How can value chain partners cooperate to create and share efficiencies? A: While it is understandable for each supply chain partner to maintain its own information technology, many companies rely on more than one IT system—along with spreadsheets and email—to manage supply chain operations. To further complicate matters, every transaction in the complex global […]

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Terry Harris

How Supply Chain Executives Can Earn a Place in the C-Suite

First there was Chief Executive Officer, then Chief Operating, Chief Financial, and Chief Marketing Officers joined the "C-suite." Isn’t it time Chief Supply Chain Officers took their place at the top? Despite supply chain’s functional cachet in business circles, many top supply chain executives don’t even report to the CEO. Why is that? Service and […]

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Felecia Stratton

Supply Chain Therapy Strikes a Balance

There’s nothing like a spur-of-the-moment urge, then splurge, to improve temperament. Retailers today are all too willing to facilitate “retail therapy” and oblige customers by making it easier than ever to satisfy their random impulses. Advertising—subliminal or overt—is quick to connect happiness with material possession, regardless of what kind. Then the supply chain takes over. […]

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Nathan Pieri

Supply Chain Control Towers Offer a Bird’s-Eye View

Q: How can companies better manage their supply chains to gain competitive advantage? A: Over the past year, the concept of a supply chain control tower has been gaining momentum. A control tower is a single command center for visibility, decision-making, and action, based on real-time data. “A supply chain control tower is a central […]

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Trends—June 2012

Trends—June 2012

4 Supply Chain Predictions For the Next 4 Years Four trends are expected to impact global logistics organizations over the next four years, according to Gartner, a consultancy based in Stamford, Conn. The predictions come as 60 percent of companies surveyed as a primer for Gartner’s July 2012 Supply Chain Executive Conference in Sydney, Australia, […]

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Trends—May 2012

Trends—May 2012

Seeding the Cloud, Harvesting Supply Chain Intelligence The rise of "the cloud" and the proliferation of social media networks—both public and private—offer companies new avenues toward better analytical insight about their supply chains, says Siddharth Taparia, senior director, solution marketing for SAP. Inbound Logistics sat in on his recent presentation at the Supply Chain World […]

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Wendy Buxton

Proper Care and Nurturing of a Supply Chain

Supply chain can be complicated, but managing it effectively doesn’t have to be. Creating a superior supply chain is like parenting a baby through adulthood. It requires continual focus, monitoring, and care. Taking your eyes off your baby can be costly! But with proper care and nurturing, you can grow something that performs beautifully—even in […]

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Steven Shoemaker

Hey! Your Numbers are Trying to Talk to You!

I run across many companies in my travels. For a while, I’ve been centering a bit on different companies’ methodologies for the continuous quest of supply chain network optimization, amongst other things. Some do quite a bit of planning and research, even hiring consultants, while others, it appears, do not. Particularly, the methodology for the […]

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Angela Yang

5 Ways to Excel in China

China and the wider Asia-Pacific market present an incredible opportunity for businesses seeking to manufacture products, source suppliers, or tap into end markets and sell products to consumers. But a strategic business shift into China takes careful consideration, especially when it comes to supply chain, warehousing, and distribution decisions. Here are five strategies for successfully […]

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J. Anthony Hardenburgh

Understanding INCOTERMS 2010

An Inbound Logistics article in October 2003, “Understanding Incoterms,” does an excellent job of explaining the concept of Incoterms, why they are necessary and how they work. We’d like to bring this article up-to-date with a discussion of the changes to Incoterms that began in January 2011. To recap, Incoterms are an internationally accepted set […]

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Keith Biondo

The Fifth P of Marketing

Why are the four Ps of marketing—Product, Price, Promotion, Place—important to logistics practitioners? Collaborating with suppliers and being tightly wired to customers and their demand signals helps craft the right Product. Reducing inventory, touches, and supporting infrastructure helps keep any Product’s Price lower. And when your Promotion materials arrive where they need to be, and […]

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