Articles
Technology

How to Meet Global Shipment Compliance Challenges
Q: What role does technology play in meeting today’s challenges of global shipment compliance? A: Today’s complexities in managing export and import shipments are evident. When U.S. Customs announced the requirement of Sea AMS filing, which is also known as the 24-Hour Rule, it started a wave of technology enhancements throughout the globe requiring all […]
Read More
The Whole Industry Is Struggling to Define TMS. Here’s My Take.
I’ve been in the transportation sector for more than 30 years and wrote the first transportation management system (TMS) as a developer back in the ’80s. Since then, the term “TMS” has come to mean many different things. Today, it covers different product classes; many transportation software vendors refer to themselves as a TMS provider […]
Read MoreDownload the Inbound Logistics Planner App Today
Find the right solutions, carriers and partners to drive efficiency in your supply chain operations and enable your enterprise to navigate the twists and turns, ups and downs of the coming year. The Logistics Planner, 25 years strong, is updated this month with profiles of leaders in transportation, technology, logistics, supply chain management, education and […]
Read More
Flight of Fancy (Revisited)
[This was originally published in June 2003, but with Amazon’s recent drone patent filing, we thought you’d enjoy the look back.] Back in 2023 Paul MacCready’s famous company, Aerovironment Corp., brought to market an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) that revolutionized expedited and emergency transport services in America. That was seven years ago. Since then, the […]
Read MoreChoosing a Yard Management System
A yard management system (YMS) can provide significant benefits to your operation. Despite this, the yard is often the last area to automate and many operations still manage their yards with radios and clipboards. Greg Braun, senior vice president of sales and marketing with C3 Solutions, provides these pointers to help you select a YMS. […]
Read More
7 Ways to Digitally Transform Your Supply Chain
To keep the supply chain working at top efficiency, companies need not only a flexible and adaptable culture, but also a highly adaptable underlying IT infrastructure. Companies invest a lot of time, effort, and money in developing systems to power the supply chain. The amount of data can be overwhelming. However, by connecting data and […]
Read MoreLeveraging Your Routing Guide
A routing guide plays an important role in setting the strategy for carrier selection. It is essentially a shipper’s guide to choosing a carrier to move a particular shipment. While there are many forms of routing guides, an increasing number of companies switched from paper to online portals and beyond to enhanced transportation management system […]
Read More
Shaking Up the Brown Box: Big Winners in Supply Chain Evolution
With the infusion of multi-modal, multi-channel platforms, e-commerce is shaking the supply chain industry upside down. The consumer is now able to outrun the industry, and shippers are questioning their competency to continuously evolve their supply chains. To implement transformational strategies, operations teams are facing broad and deep investments in diversified technology and human resources […]
Read More
Industry 4.0 is the X Factor that Will Transform Today’s Supply Chains
The enigmatic X Factor—that unknown element that will take supply chains to the next level. As is so often the case in our industry, there’s not just one transformative technology that will produce revolutionary change within our field, but rather many. The MHI Annual Industry Report examined the concept of the digital, always-on supply chain, […]
Read More
Cloud Collaboration Increases Supply Chain Efficiency
Defined as the art of working together to produce or create something, collaboration has become a focal point for organizations that want to work smarter, better, and more efficiently in today’s competitive business world. Enabled by technology, companies and individuals are working together to achieve common goals, open new lines of communication, and foster both […]
Read More
What supply chain resolutions are you making this year?
Another year is upon us and with it comes a new opportunity to do things differently; to do things better. No doubt you have things you didn’t get to last year, have ideas about what needs to change and maybe even have problems that keep you up at night. If you have been managing your […]
Read MoreHow the Right Shipping Software Impacts Your Bottom Line
Choosing the right shipping software is critical because it impacts your company’s bottom line. Here are eight steps to take to ensure you choose the right solution for your company’s individual needs. Guarantee that you’re paying the lowest freight costs possible on all your shipments. Combined with the costs and/or business rules that have been […]
Read More
Using Network Optimization Technology To Enable Your Lean Supply Chain
From a lean and agile supply chain perspective, an optimally designed supply chain can significantly improve margins, support expansion into new markets, enhance the customer experience, and reduce operating costs. Optimizing your supply chain network helps achieve more value and less waste through keeping lower inventories, maintaining the right stock levels, and choosing the right […]
Read More
How to Find Value in Big Data
There’s an endless amount of big data, but only storing it isn’t useful. The value is in what you find in the data. Instead of aggregating all the data you’re getting, you need to define the problem that you’re trying to solve and then gather data specific to that problem. Today we have the capability […]
Read More
The Who, What, When, and Why of Warehouse Wearables
Major technological gains in wearables and apps create intriguing new ways for workers to navigate the warehouse.
Read More
Winter Reading Guide 2017
Don’t let winter put a deep freeze on your logistics learning. Keep your knowledge evergreen by cozying up to books on wide-ranging topics, from food logistics to procurement practices.
Read More
Routing Software Separates Losers from Weiners
Kowalski Sausage implements a new in-house routing and dispatching system to improve how the piggies get to market.
Read More
Joanne Wright: Turning Data Into Insight
Joanne Wright is IBM’s vice president of supply chain. She has held this position since 2013. Responsibilities: Strategy, execution, and business results for IBM’s manufacturing, engineering, procurement, logistics, fulfillment, and client solutions across more than 170 countries. Leveraging big data, analytics, and social media to create a world-class supply network. Experience: Numerous senior leadership positions […]
Read More
How Driverless Trucks Will Change Supply Chain Strategy
In the popular 1985 movie "Back to the Future", it was predicted that by the year 2015, we would have the ability to fly our cars in the friendly skies. While that version of the future never became reality, we do have a major change to the state of transportation on the horizon with driverless […]
Read More
Four Technologies Set to Change the Future of Logistics
Technology historically plays the role of a disruptor, the means to newer and better things, and the destruction of old ways of life. The following four technologies are sure to disrupt the business of logistics. 3-D Printing The technology of 3-D printing makes it possible for manufacturers, other businesses, and even individuals to print exact […]
Read More