Articles
Technology
Using Analytics to Differentiate Your Customer Service
Differentiated service is about making your company easier to do business with, anticipating the needs of your customers, and having products available when needed. For example, when I travel last minute, I expect my preferred rental car provider to have a vehicle available for me when I arrive. I don’t think about their current demand, […]
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Leveraged Platforms: The More Efficient Road Ahead
Q: What is a leveraged platform? A: A logistics services provider leverages its platform to employ the same best practices to manage its own supply chain needs as it does for its own client base of direct shippers. By augmenting their global scale with a vast network of local stations, these service providers are better […]
Read MoreImproving Fleet Safety with On-Board Video
Transportation is vital to a supply chain that efficiently manages the flow of goods—physically connecting manufacturers to their customers to provide them access to their favorite products. A break in that link—such as late deliveries, or damaged or stolen goods—can be detrimental to the success of a business, negatively impacting supply chain relationships and, in […]
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Just Another Brick in the Mall
Travel around the world, and you see up-and-coming economies sporting many shiny new buildings, airports, ports, and factories, while more mature economies display aging legacy infrastructure. It’s the nature of progress. You see the same parallel in retail operations, where newer e-commerce models seem to overcome legacy brick-and-mortar models. But not entirely. Yes, e-commerce is […]
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Trends—August 2015
Warehouse Performance: It’s a Whole New Game One new way to save money on warehouse labor costs is to turn work into a game. No, we don’t mean a chucking-things-across-the-warehouse-floor kind of game, but creating competition through gamification. It’s a way to drive down warehouse labor costs by increasing employee performance and morale. The process […]
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Be a Logistics Superhero
In recent months, there has been a steady stream of articles bemoaning the increasing costs and challenges within the logistics industry. You hear about driver shortages, rising labor costs, lack of available real estate, oversize package regulations, increased shipping rates, and additional governmental regulations. CSCMP’s annual logistics study charted a 3.1 percent increase in 2014 […]
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A Fresh Route for Latin American Produce
More than 21 million metric tons of fruits and vegetables were imported into the United States in 2013, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Approximately 35 percent of that produce comes from Central and South America. While Latin American perishable exports have grown dramatically in recent years, some logistical shortcomings prevent maximum cold […]
Read MoreHow to Wirelessly Enable Your Supply Chain
Just in time is challenging enough. It’s even more so when it involves high-value assets such as construction, forestry, and agricultural equipment. That was the case at one major U.S. manufacturer who supplied those kinds of equipment. For years, the company’s supply chain used specialized containers to shuttle work-in-process inventory between multiple suppliers and manufacturing […]
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Turning Back the Pages: 20 Years of Top 100 3PLs
Where were you in 1996? Working your way up the transportation ladder? Starting a career in the logistics field? On the outside looking in? Still in high school? Grade school? Every once in a while it’s fun to throw it back—to an earlier time and reflect on where we come from, where we’ve been, cause […]
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Trends—July 2015
ShippingPass vs. Prime: The Fight for Last-Mile Rights Walmart and Amazon are a study in contrasts, from corporate culture to omni-channel strategy. One promises everyday low prices; the other prioritizes selection and speed. But all things being different, they are chasing the same thing—customer satisfaction. Both retail leaders have found a common battleground when it […]
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Working With the Right Enterprise Logistics Provider Makes Good Companies Significantly Better
In any economy, the key for manufacturers, distributors or retailers is competitive advantage. When companies lack competitive advantage—or worse yet, experience competitive disadvantage—a difficult economic environment amplifies the pain. Principal reasons many good companies have struggled with this issue are limited exposure to best practices, technology, tools, training and internal resource capacity. Companies are increasingly […]
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Cloud Inspections: Improving Productivity, Safety, and Reducing Costs
How important are inspections to your business? Does your business need to track the condition of materials moving through a process to avoid disputes over who might have damaged what? Do you have a private fleet that requires vehicle inspections? Or do you need to inspect finished products, either at the factory, or when they […]
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What “Digital Business” Means for your Business
Q: You recently attended your 11th Gartner Supply Chain Executive Summit. This year the key theme was Digital Business, a core ingredient for supply chain transformation success. What is Digital Business? A: Digital Business is a concept that encompasses the people, processes, and enabling technologies of the supply chain of the future. It all starts […]
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The Shape of ‘Things’ to Come
What the Internet of Things means for the supply chain—now and in the future.
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Supply Chain Visibility: Chasing the Big Picture
As technology brings supply chain data into focus, the ability to access and interpret business information moves from nice-to-have to must-have.
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Trends—June 2015
Highway Trust Funding: Déjà vu All Over Again? News that U.S. Congress and President Obama are about to finalize a two-month extension to the lame duck Highway Trust Fund has elicited mixed reaction from industry. Some are optimistic because legislators were able to push through a bill without undue delay, especially as summer construction work […]
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Connected Vehicles & Smart Infrastructure
While the future of transportation may not include the flying cars from "The Jetsons" or "Back to the Future," it is still light-years beyond our current travel methods. We are all familiar with the litany of concerns regarding our land-based transportation system, including inadequate infrastructure, traffic congestion, energy usage, pollution, and safety. On a recent […]
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Gamification: A New Way of Tracking and Improving KPIs
Harnessing and optimizing new technology has always been a cornerstone of the logistics sector. Dating back to 1781, when James Watt patented the first continuously rotating steam combustion engine, logistics has evolved by capitalizing on technological breakthroughs and innovations. So, perhaps it is only appropriate that an industry initially built on the back of the […]
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The Kings of ACE
When it came time to face the ACE, HW St. John bet on an automated solution that streamlines processes and deals customers a winning hand.
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Traditional Supply Chain Models Will Be Extinct in 2025, Thanks to These 10 Disruptors
When 2025 rolls around, traditional supply chain models will be extinct, according to the 100-plus thought leaders and partners behind the U.S. Roadmap for Material Handling & Logistics. This open community spearheaded by MHI includes material handling and logistics practitioners, suppliers, academia, associations, publications and government. Each has a stake in the future of the […]
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