Articles
Supply Chain
Optimizing Your Supply Chain: A Model Approach
A wide array of technological tools are just the do-it-yourself kit companies can use to model, then optimize, their supply chains.
Read MoreChoreographing the New Supply Chain
Connecting customers, distributors, manufacturers and suppliers to allow real-time workflow requires they all dance to the same music.
Read MoreDelivering the Goods: The Art of Managing Your Supply Chain
Master the recipe and you achieve efficiencies and savings. Becoming a better global competitor is just the icing on the cake.
Read MoreWhere the Supply Chain Meets the Value Chain
By taking a different approach to the way we look at certain objects and processes, we gain the benefit of objectivity. A similar method holds true when looking at the supply chain. It is the nature of systems, especially complex ones such as in the supply chain, to evolve and change. Part of the pressure […]
Read MoreReducing Supply Chain Costs: Spend More to Save More
Managers who want to reduce supply chain costs need to spend more on transportation. The key to lower supply chain costs is holding less inventory. Buying more transportation lets you reduce inventory safely. The greatest mistake that manufacturers make today is equating transportation cost reductions with total available supply chain savings. In fact, transportation savings […]
Read MoreSuper-Charging Your Supply Chain
Companies use different options to fight the never-ending battle of optimizing their supply chains.
Read MoreThe Supply Chain: A Canary in the Corporate Coal Mine
To avoid the fate of companies that collaborated with WorldCom, Enron, Vivendi and others, you must learn to read supply chain performance as a gauge of corporate financial fitness. SCM performance is a leading—not a lagging—indicator of a suppy chain partner’s true economic situation.
Read MoreBuilding a High-Velocity Supply Chain Network
Managing an extended supply chain network effectively requires coordination among many geographically dispersed partners. Done well, you can reduce operational costs and increase bottom-line profitability and customer loyalty. Done poorly, you can face increased personnel, as well as higher inventory and rush charges, all incurred in an attempt to avoid dissatisfied customers. With increasing decentralization […]
Read MoreThe Name of the Game? Branding!
‘A new broom sweeps well,’ says an Italian proverb—and companies today are no strangers to cleaning house and reinventing themselves with modern, global names. Find out how three logistics companies rebranded their corporate assets and the challenges they faced finding the perfect name.
Read MoreTransformers!
Transforming the supply chain requires vision, execution…and a strong constitution.
Read MoreEconomic Recovery: Grains of Sand
It is as if grains of sand had been sprinkled in the mechanism of the American economy in the aftermath of Sept. 11, a skilled writer in Business Week wrote recently. But sand eventually grinds machinery to a halt, so perhaps that was a little overstated. While the costs of 9/11 are great, there is […]
Read MoreYesterday, Today & Tomorrow
Logistics innovations take courage, resources, and time—but the payback can be great. Here’s a look at key logistics developments over the years, what companies are doing today, and how to become a logistics innovator.
Read MoreMergers & Acquisitions: Disparate Measures
Integrating disparate supply chains demands a holistic approach, with careful detail to every core function. From IT compatibility to corporate culture clashes, this article sorts out complicated pieces of supply chain integration to find out where they fit in today’s M&A puzzle.
Read More9-11: A Supply Chain Call to Action
Amid tighter security restrictions, businesses in all sectors are struggling to find the proper balance between speeding product flow and ensuring security compliance. Here’s how three industry sectors integrate safety and security concerns to ensure a smoother, safer supply chain.
Read MoreCreating a High-Velocity Supply Chain
Performance improvement over the past 10 years has been largely based on internally focused enterprise systems that integrate functional processes and promote internal efficiencies. With ERP and various flavors of supply chain planning and transportation management tools, manufacturers and distributors have been successful at achieving a first level of benefit, but often at the expense […]
Read MoreDrilling Down to Core Competencies
With increased competition in a sluggish economy, many companies are getting back to basics by re-focusing on critical operational elements and recommitting themselves to the principles on which their businesses were built. Have you taken a step back to examine your company and determine what truly makes it better than the competition? Not in terms […]
Read MoreA 2001 Supply Chain Odyssey
Had science-fiction guru Stanley Kubrick been a logistician, even he would have been hard-pressed to envision or even script an odyssey as surreal and unimaginable as 2001. Californians spent the beginning of the year in the dark—literally—as gas and oil prices skyrocketed and fuel surcharges became an added burden. If ever there was a doubt […]
Read More2001: Year-End Roundup
Terrorist attacks. War. An uncertain economy. Despite these challenges, 2001 also will be remembered for innovative logistics strategies, significant gains in logistics collaboration, and a new respect for the critical role supply chain management plays in U.S. competitiveness.
Read MoreOn the Economy: Good Thing Johnny Can’t Read
It’s back to school time, when some folks’ thoughts turn to the lack of educational excellence in America: “Why Johnny can’t read.” But there could be a side benefit: “Johnny” is not reading the bad press about the economy. He and Mrs. Johnny keep right on going to the mall. While it’s true certain segments […]
Read MoreA Fresh Look at the Supply Chain
If you’ve ever received a gift basket of prized comice pears, you can appreciate the attention to detail that defines a homegrown supply chain.
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