Articles
Transportation Management
Coordinated Transportation Improves Margins for Wholesalers
Q: What are wholesale distributors hoping to achieve with transportation initiatives? Mulqueen: Transportation initiatives are approved and funded based on their track record of delivering quick ROI through freight spend reduction. However, leading wholesalers understand that siloed transportation planning, while beneficial, has limitations. It does not take into account the impact of transportation on the […]
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Delivering a Slice Of Fresh Supply Chain Solutions
To help manage rapid expansion, Papa John’s orders an inbound/outbound logistics operations solution—with the works.
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Looking Beyond Rates: The Road to Smoother Carrier Contract Negotiations
Carrier-supplied data can provide valuable insight for writing contracts, but shippers who want to pave the way to strong business relationships must dig deeper.
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Colgate Logistics Delivers Smiles
Cutting logistics costs makes management happy. Sharing savings and collaborating to improve efficiency makes customers and suppliers happy. And when it all hits the bottom line, even Colgate’s investors start smiling.
Read More10 Ways to Gain Control Over Parcel Transportation Costs
The amount of effort shippers put into carrier management directly correlates to their success at controlling transportation costs. Incumbent carriers often know more about their client’s shipments than the shipper does. But shippers can tilt the actionable information scales in their favor to achieve lower parcel transportation costs. Here are 10 points shippers should consider […]
Read MoreBenchmarking Data Supports Pricing Decisions
Q: How can shippers and logistics service providers (LSPs) ensure that their business methods and metrics conform to best practices for the industry? Schrader: The best transportation companies identify and measure their key performance indicators and strive for continuous improvement. Most companies have done a good job using their transportation management system or enterprise resource […]
Read MoreEstablishing a Successful Core Carrier Program
It’s easy to assume that the “core” in core carrier is synonymous with “one of just a few.” But the success of a core carrier program has less to do with the number of carriers than it does with ensuring that each provider selected is equal to the task of meeting your company’s needs in […]
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PETCO’s Pet Project
For pet supply retailer PETCO, honoring its commitment to superior customer service meant finding a loyal logistics partner.
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Five Market Concerns Driving Shipper Cost Increases
It has never been more expensive or frustrating to be a shipper. Rates are up, capacity is down, and, while Wall Street analysts are bullish on the transportation sector, many businesses are still struggling. It’s a disparity that contributes to billions of dollars of shipper overspending each year. The following market concerns will have the […]
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Unleashing Logistics Excellence
Dogged pursuit of supply chain and warehousing efficiency led pet food manufacturer WellPet to partner with two 3PLs.
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CSCMP Annual Conference: Can We Talk?
Discussed in general sessions and overhead in the hallways: Shippers are focused on reducing risk and managing volatility, developing supplier relationships, and creating supply chain resilience.
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How to Select Expedited Services
MORE TO THE STORY: 5 Steps to Expediency, Efficiency, Economy Expedited delivery is a necessity for all companies, whether they are meeting unexpected seasonal demand or managing shipments by exception. They use expedited service to move parcel and temperature-sensitive packages, specially packaged product, oversized equipment— and everything in between. Cost is secondary to timeliness and […]
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How to Ship Air Freight in Alaska
MORE TO THE STORY: 4 Air Freight Takeaways Spanning 570,374 square miles of land mass— more than twice that of Texas— Alaska has the third-lowest population in the United States and the lowest population density at approximately one person per square mile. North to south, the state covers 1,400 miles, compared to 2,700 miles side […]
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Trucking Alert: Steep Grade Ahead
A capacity shortage and a driver deficit that’s likely to grow worse are putting the squeeze on companies that ship by truck. Times like these call for shifting gears and trying new tactics.
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Inbound 3.0 at Walmart
During the almost three decades that this publication has been preaching the benefits of matching demand more closely to supply, we’ve published scores of articles on Walmart’s efforts to master inbound logistics. The first major milepost along that road was acknowledging the value of controlling inbound logistics, making it a company-wide mission, and developing the […]
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Your Guide to Routing Guides
They surface after the sale…at the last minute…potentially costing a fortune. They’re the biggest hidden challenge vendors face.
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Flower Power: John Kuehn
NAME: John Kuehn TITLE: Senior vice president of supply chain operations, since 2009 COMPANY: Provide Commerce Inc., San Diego, Calif. PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE: Various operations and supply chain positions, Hewlett Packard; senior director of worldwide logistics, Apple Computer; vice president of planning and logistics, Gateway; senior vice president of planning and logistics, Provide Commerce. EDUCATION: Iowa […]
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What’s Ahead in Transportation Forecasting?
Transportation forecasts enable planners to shift from reacting to orders to proactively managing capacity. By synchronizing transport forecasts with manufacturing and distribution plans, your entire company can respond to the same demand signals. Q: Why isn’t transportation planned with the same level of rigor as finished goods? BYRNE: Transportation cannot be planned with the same […]
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Freight Forwarders: The Vital Link in Logistics Communication
Building a logistics system for today’s sourcing needs requires a quantum leap from past shipping practices, in which companies too often neglected transportation in their strategic planning. A poorly constructed or outdated supply system with inadequate communication can create unnecessary delays and expense caused by information snags, missing or ill-prepared shipping documents, and inappropriate cargo […]
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Getting Off the Bench and Into Benchmarking
While watching the Cubs battle the White Sox last summer at at Wrigley Field, I realized that baseball players and supply chain professionals have a few things in common. For instance, veteran ballplayers might try to get through a game by relying on experience and talent. But, by studying strategies, statistics, and individual players, they […]
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