Katrina Arabe, Senior Editor
Katrina is a long-time editor and writer in the B2B space, working on publications such as Facilities, Engineering News-Record, and Architectural Record. In 2015, she joined Inbound Logistics and has served as the platform’s content gatekeeper. From developing feature stories with contributing editors to managing guest bylines and crafting crowdsourced editorial sections, Katrina aims to produce engaging content and is always looking for good responses to the monthly Good Question: www.inboundlogistics.com/good-question.
Articles by Katrina Arabe
Foresight and Flexibility: Winning in a Constrained Semiconductor Market
Amidst a memory chip shortage, maintaining a long-term view on cost versus continuity will not only weather this cycle but gain a competitive advantage in the market that follows.
Deploying Physical AI for Smarter, Safer Inbound Logistics
Physical AI will transform many aspects of the supply chain. Starting with a small, focused inbound logistics use case now can make your warehouse operations more efficient, accurate, and safe, as well as help your organization build the skills needed to extend Physical AI into other areas of your business.
Crises in the Middle East Call for a New Approach in Supply Chain Resilience
By focusing on four key strategic imperatives — identifying risks, understanding their origins, and knowing when and how to activate resilience measures — businesses can transform their Middle East and global supply chains and seek competitive advantage.
How Agentic AI Is Redefining Route Optimization in Last-Mile Delivery
Traditional route optimization generates plans based on the data you give it. Agentic AI takes those plans and manages them through execution, making adjustments as new information arrive.
Unlocking the Potential of Case and Item Picking Systems
Whether refining existing systems or embarking on the automation journey, the secret to optimizing the picking process lies in data. Here’s how to ensure success.
Beyond the Rush: Practical Warehouse Strategies for a Sustainable Peak Season
Sustainability and safety are not seasonal—they’re foundational. But during peak season, warehouse operators must elevate their efforts. Here’s how.
Supplying the Edge of the Map: How Amazon Business Keeps Operations Running on Kodiak Island
Few places are as hard to reach as Kodiak Island, Alaska. Here’s how the Best Western located there established steady operations with the help of Amazon Business.
Tariffs Are Unpredictable – Your Supply Chain Response Doesn’t Have to Be
Tariff management involves a series of tradeoffs. Making the necessary adjustments is rarely simple, but businesses must be proactive.
Bad, Awful, Dreadful: Pointing Out the Negatives So Our Industry Can Move Forward
A lifelong intermodalist reflects on the transportation industry, highlighting the flagrantly flawed and the consistently contentious.
Experience the Future of Supply Chain & Warehousing Technology at IntraLogisteX in Miami Beach
IntraLogisteX, the premier free-to-attend trade show and conference for logistics, supply chain, and warehousing professionals, returns to the Miami Beach Convention Center on September 17–18, 2025. This event brings together the industry’s innovators, thought leaders, and cutting-edge technology under one roof.
The End of Cost-Plus: A Legacy Pricing Model in a High-Performance Supply Chain
A Case for Performance-Based Pricing
Fashion in Flux: How Apparel Brands Are Battling Tariffs, Demand Dips, and Supply Chain Snarls
Leading brands like Gap Inc., Lululemon, and American Eagle prepare for trade uncertainty.
How Year-Round Demand Is Reshaping OTC Supply Chains
Cold and flu season is no longer confined to the winter months. For manufacturers of over-the-counter (OTC) cold and flu products, this unpredictability is forcing a fundamental shift in how, and where, supply chains are built and maintained.
How Businesses Can Adapt and Thrive in a New Tariff Era
Tariff-driven turbulence creates an opportunity to rethink, retool, and reinforce logistics operations. Rather than viewing tariffs as an uncontrollable threat, you can use them as a catalyst for digital transformation.
The Future of Predictive Shipping and the Amazon Advantage
The future of predictive shipping will be defined not by a single end-to-end platform but by the ability to integrate and optimize across a fragmented supply chain ecosystem.
Improving Visibility for Automotive Rail Shippers
Advanced technologies powered by AI and machine learning are being applied to the location, condition, and status data generated by some 1.6 million railcars moving across the North American network every day. Here’s how automotive shippers can now turn rail logistics into a competitive advantage.
Are Your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) Ready for a Tighter Freight Market?
Almost every supply chain professional is leveraging their data for better carrier relationship management and smarter procurement decisions.
The U.S. Got a Tariff Shock. Now Comes the Supply Chain Reckoning.
Sweeping U.S. tariffs—10% on all imports, with significantly higher rates targeting countries like China and Vietnam—have upended decades of global supply chain strategy as well as the stock market.
The Hidden Costs of Freight Inflexibility—and How to Avoid Them
In the high-stakes world of modern supply chains, agility isn’t a luxury — it’s a necessity. Yet many organizations unknowingly operate with rigid freight processes that quietly drain profits.
The Tariff Tangle: How New Trade Barriers Are Reshaping Global Business
Importers are understandably concerned about what tariffs mean for their business, and the bottom line is that the levies will certainly change their business—for better or worse.
Blueprint for Success: 10 Critical Design Tips from Hundreds of WMS Implementations
Here’s how to navigate the design phase of a warehouse management system deployment in your facility.
Tariffs Can Drag Down Your Supply Chain, Unless You’re Prepared
With the United States implementing at least some new tariffs on goods from a number of important export countries, attention across the logistics world is turning, once again, to developing resilient supply chains.
Tariffs Shake Up Global Supply Chains: What Businesses Can Do Next
Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs represent a system shock that will lead to long-term change. Here’s how to start preparing:
The Impending Death of De Minimis: Supply Chains Navigate Cross-Border Shakeup
The impact of ending the de minimis loophole in the United States can hardly be overstated. Will it completely go away? Will ecommerce cross-border shipping become prohibitively expensive as a result? Here’s one expert’s take on what’s next.
DEI Erosion Threatens Safety. Artificial Intelligence May Help Pick Up the Slack.
Rollbacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts will exact a heavy cost on safety, compliance, and productivity on American industrial workforces, which grow more diverse every year. AI might help.
Smart Procurement: Using Technology to Strengthen, Not Substitute, Human Judgment
According to a Gartner study, 50% of procurement contract management will be AI-driven by 2027. While this headline will grab the attention of procurement leaders, it’s essential to pause before diving into technology investments. A deeper analysis is needed to ensure the technology aligns with the organization’s maturity, processes, and people. Procurement leadership needs to […]
Transforming Supplier Risk Management: The Role of AI and Predictive Analytics in Complex Supply Chains
Supply chains globally are growing at a massive scale. This interwoven web has become so complex, that it has become an insurmountable challenge for companies. With this growth, the supplier’s risks have increased exponentially.
Building Supply Chain Resiliency by Changing the Way Work is Done
As analytics and automation continue to grow, the industry will continue changing, including building out specialized roles and strengthening partner relationships. Here’s how to adjust roles for the current supply chain workforce.
Top Supply Chain Management Schools
Here’s a roundup of some of the top programs to consider around the world, whether you’re looking to major in supply chain or supply management at the undergraduate level, obtain an MBA with a supply chain concentration, or find the right executive education or certificate programs to further your career. The next generation of supply […]
Your Top Questions on Tariff and Trade Uncertainty Answered
Here’s what every shipper should consider to stay in front of today’s fast-changing trade and tariff landscape. A customs and compliance director explores some of the top questions from shippers as they plan for what’s next.