Viewpoint: Logistics & Supply Chain Analysis
Driver Shortage or Lack of Innovation?
Here are a few ways to think differently about the truck driver shortage to make the industry more efficient and technology friendly.
Why Millennials Deserve Our Attention
How the growing millennial market will transform the supply chain sector.
How to Become a Shipper of Choice
As shippers, carriers and logistics service providers prepare for a busy Q4, here are some ideas for easing the capacity crunch, controlling costs, and becoming a “shipper of choice.”
Tuning Into Supply Chain Orchestration
The trends affecting supply chains require an agile approach.
Will Airbnb for Warehouses Take Off?
On-demand services are becoming so much a part of our daily lives that millennials can't imagine a world before Uber or Postmates. Now, on-demand service is becoming a reality in the logistics real estate sector.
5 Ways to Mitigate High Freight Rates
Here are the main factors impacting the current freight market and strategies for driving overall cost savings during this historic time.
Truck Driver Shortage Solution: Recruit Generation Z
Recruiting Generation Z members is one solution for the truck driver shortage, but companies should gear their recruitment tactics toward this tech-savvy set.
Keeping Order Changes in Check
Advance ship notices (ASNs) can boost the retail supply chain’s ability to deliver what the consumer wants with speed and accuracy.
How to Contain Rising Truckload Prices
Truckload shipping costs are skyrocketing. Here are some strategies to help you contain increasing prices.
Four Ways to Optimize Your Supply Chain
These primary techniques help achieve supply chain optimization.
How to Navigate the Driver Shortage
The industry’s driver shortage is no secret. As carriers get more selective about the freight they haul, shippers need to make themselves more carrier-friendly.
Using KPIs to Optimize Transportation Data
Here are some of the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that companies can use to improve supply chain visibility, cut transportation costs, and improve parcel shipping service.
Reliable Rail Service Hinges on Reform
By letting market forces dictate rates and improving service, we can achieve freight rail competition.
Autonomous Vehicle Revolution Is Upon Us
The advent of autonomous vehicles is nothing short of a revolution. For the logistics world, it could mean a near end to human-caused accidents and could single-handedly eliminate the driver shortage problem.
3 Steps to a Demand-Driven Supply Chain
Customers expect immediate access to goods and services, and convenient delivery options. In short, it’s an on-demand economy. Companies must adapt and start optimizing their supply chains to stay competitive. Here’s how.
Transparency to Efficiency: How IoT Can Increase the Productivity of Your Transportation (Sponsored)
Utilizing technology is key to the future of business and IoT has increased the connectivity of all areas of business.
Walmart’s ShippingPass Has Ended. What Retailers Should Do Next.
The e-commerce race is only heating up. Here's what small to mid-size retailers should do to stay in the game.
Weighing Solutions for All Facets of Warehouse Operations
Tip the scales toward greater efficiency in your warehouse by investing in industrial weighing equipment. Start by weighing the following options.
Evaluate Partners Before You Sign the Contract
Suppliers have to be lean, fast, and innovative to meet their clients’ needs. To ensure they’re capable of being exactly that, OEMs need to bring in expertise across the whole business to ensure they get a strategic supply chain partner.
Optimizing the Product Portfolio
The overall complexity of running the supply chain will drop as the product portfolio becomes more streamlined. Here's how to do just that.
Getting the Goods on Logistics this Holiday Season
In time for the holiday season and other peak periods, retailers are stepping up their game in delivery, fulfillment, and warehousing technology to improve the effectiveness of existing resources.
Four Technologies Set to Change the Future of Logistics
Get ready for a supply chain paradigm shift. These technologies will cause shippers to rethink cost-cutting measures and rewrite logistics strategies.
Trump Presidency Is Reality. Let’s Talk Supply Chain Implications.
Supply chain professionals are concerned: Would the new president implement the protectionist measures he campaigned on, or were those statements made primarily to appeal to an audience? Here are four supply chain predictions.
Why Retailers Need the TPP
Retailers need to come together in support of the trade agreement that will ultimately improve the industry for all. Here are three reasons why they should stand behind the passage of the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Shedding Light on Warehouse Savings
Warehouse owners, operators, and facility managers can reap operational savings by looking up: at warehouse lighting. Switching to LED solutions cuts more than costs.
Reshape and Refresh Your Product Portfolio for a Streamlined Supply Chain
Product proliferation can bring supply chain inefficiencies. Here's a comprehensive approach to refreshing your product offerings that can reduce complexity and increase the bottom line.
Amid Hanjin Backlog, Shippers Can Turn to Port Strike Strategies
Shippers will be feeling the ripple effects of Hanjin Shipping’s bankruptcy for weeks or months to come. Here's how looking at a past disruption can inform strategies for this current backlog.
Getting Ready for ACE
The business of importing and exporting with the United States reaches a milestone at the end of 2016 when the Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) is fully implemented. To make its rollout seamless, FedEx developed a contingency approach that can be useful to other organizations as they adapt to this new era in trade.
Five Keys to Selecting the Right Transportation Consultant
For many shippers, choosing the right transportation consultant can become a difficult, time-consuming, and frustrating process. Here are five keys to finding the optimal partner.
Physics of a Customer-Centric Supply Chain
The supply chain strategy shift, from business cost efficiency to customer purchase location flexibility, is similar to the Copernican Revolution. Here’s how supply chain managers can increase product velocity using a customer-centric business model.
Optimizing the Industrial Purchasing Experience
An instant selling and ordering procedure could be a differentiator for industrial companies looking to boost their customers' industrial buying experience.
Finding a Cure for Sweating Slab Syndrome
A sweating warehouse floor slab is not easily eliminated. Here's how DC occupants and building owners can address this perplexing problem.
The EU’s Union Customs Code: New Opportunities for Greater Efficiency, Transparency, and Simplicity
On May 1, 2016, North American companies that trade with the EU and those with operations in the EU witnessed the beginning of the largest change to European customs procedures in the past 20 years. Find out more about the Union Customs Code (UCC).
Social Media Puts Supply Chain Change at Your Fingertips
Texts, tweets, and posts are changing the ways in which the supply chain operates. Large suppliers and warehousing companies should use social media to better communicate with consumers and maximize productivity.
Three Keys to Solving the Dimensional Weight Shipping Problem
Here are three immediate steps shippers can take to build more robust operations in their warehouses, helping them both deal with dimensional weight pricing and grow more efficient overall.
How to Use Pallet Collars to Improve Supply Chain Efficiency
Using pallet collars in the warehouse can increase how efficiently your goods are stored, shipped, and delivered.
How the Hub-and-Spoke Model Can Improve Distribution for Rail Networks
There's no derailing hub-and-spoke networks. Find out why their adoption is arguably as significant an event in shipping efficiency as containerization itself.
Flying High With Electronic Air Waybills
As major airlines implement the eAWB single-process approach in March 2016, industry-wide involvement in the program is encouraged for all participants as paperless air cargo supply chain operations lower costs, increase data accuracy, and improve the customer experience.
Corporate Citizenship Starts With the Supply Chain
Driven by the realization that business and society can no longer intersect at the crossroads of profits first and society second, business is embracing a new order that puts the interests of society on a level that is at par with the interests of business. This has prompted a closer look at the supply chain and an increased emphasis on sustainable sourcing.
Fine-tuning the Modern Distribution Center
Sound strategies for maintaining, optimizing, and modernizing materials handling systems can mitigate risk in today’s DC and go a long way toward ensuring a smooth ride in the supply chain.
Building Strong Supplier Relationships: Procurement Takes the Lead
Procurement professionals should cultivate and maintain good supplier relationships to ensure profitability.
The Perfect Order Has Evolved—Has Your Workforce Management Strategy?
By focusing on the frontline workforce—the biggest component to delivering the perfect order—companies can uncover hidden costs, maximize performance, and manage compliance risk.
Naughty or Nice—Which Retailers and Delivery Services Will Make the Grade this Holiday Season?
The holiday season is well underway, increasing the pressure on companies to address transportation problems and change the outcome before they turn into costly errors.
IT Asset Disposition Is the Future of Reverse Logistics
As the need for the transportation of items with potentially sensitive data increases, companies must assess the data risks and work with an ITAD provider to deliver a secure chain of custody process flow.
The Do's and Don'ts of Sales and Operations Planning
If done right, an effective S&OP process can help you make faster and more profitable decisions, enhancing margins both internally and across the supply chain.
Product Philanthropy: An Efficient Way to Move Unwanted Inventory
Excess inventory is a common problem that contains its own best solution: product philanthropy. Donating unwanted products to charity requires minimal time and labor, yet generates solid returns.
If Yogi Berra Were a Logistics and Supply Chain Manager
Applying Berra-isms to logistics management yields valuable insights. Remembering the beloved Yankees legend Yogi Berra with fondness and celebrating his memorable words of wisdom.
Seven Tips for Finding the Right Chinese Partner
Use these seven tips to find a partner in China that is right for your company.
Driver Shortage Threatens to Slow Intermodal Growth
The shortage of qualified drivers threatens the continued growth of the intermodal industry.
Supply Chain + Marketing = Successful Consumer Promotions
Collaboration is key to having a productive relationship between the supply chain and marketing departments.
Why Ports Need a Master Plan
Having a Master Plan in place at your port makes operations more efficient, and makes the port more attractive to prospective partners.
What Customers Expect in the E-Commerce Age
Online shopping has vastly changed the competitive nature of the retail market.
How to Use Safety Measures to Reduce Lift Truck Accident Damage
Proper safety measures can reduce costs, injuries, and down time caused by forklift impacts.
Five Ways to Mitigate a Truckload Capacity Crunch
These five steps will ensure carriers can provide capacity when you need it most.
7 Ways to Get the Most Out of Your Incentive Program
Employee incentives are a simple and valuable way to increase productivity in your facility.
Communication is Key When Optimizing Logistics Networks
The key to any successful relationship is communication. Your logistics network is no different.
Taking Steps to Embrace ACE
Taking steps to adapt to ACE regulations ahead of final deadlines will save businesses much time, money, and hassle.
Five Customs Compliance Tips for Aerospace Companies
Failure to comply with domestic and international customs regulations can have a huge impact on the bottom line.
Best Practices for Preventing Pallet Rack Damage
It is essential to have damage prevention measures in place for racking systems to avoid employee injury and minimize loss.
Preparing Your Company Today to Hire for Tomorrow
With a skills gap narrowing the options, companies must hire employees that are valuable in the long-term.
Seven Common Shipping Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
By paying close attention to detail, shippers can avoid the following simple mistakes.
How to Make Physical Inventory Counts Less Stressful
Implementing a cycle-counting program makes physical inventory counts a lot less daunting.
Customs Compliance: Small Mistakes Can Lead to Big Problems
Before entering the international trade arena, shippers must understand the stakes involved in regulatory compliance.
Managing the Aerospace Supply Chain
Increases in public and private aircraft demand have aerospace supply chain stakeholders changing the way they get things done.
Contingency Planning Keeps Freight Moving
Carriers need to be ready to keep freight moving no matter what gets in the way.
Steps to Take When Choosing a Bar-Code Scanning System
Managers must carefully consider all factors of their operation before selecting a new bar-coding system.
Four Reasons Retailers Should Pay Attention to Reverse Logistics
A good reverse logistics program saves retailers money, makes customers happy, and serves as a competitive advantage.
Ensuring Business Sustainability During Disasters, Disruptions, and Service Failures
All companies should incorporate a business continuity plan into their operation so they are never unprepared for a disruption.
Why Retailers Put Their Sleighbells on in May
Retailers try to head off peak season surprises by beginning their Christmas lists in the spring.
Intermodal Transportation’s Solution to Our Evolving Supply Chain Demands
Intermodal transport provides cost savings, increased reliability, greater capacity, and green and safety advantages.
Making Hazmat Regulation Compliance Less Hazardous
New technologies simplify hazmat transport regulations to help shippers avoid costly fines and suspended operations.
The Spot Market – And How Not to Use It
Using the spot market correctly can reduce backlogs of shipping and keep costs under control.
How to Determine Whether Your Freight Broker Is Legitimate
Don’t risk entrusting your shipments to a fraudulent freight broker. Check broker credentials to protect your goods.
Six Key Areas Every Purchasing Expert Should Address
Considering six key factors allows purchasing managers to make timed purchasing decisions.
House Members Seek to Set Due Diligence Standards for Motor Carrier Hiring
Federal legislators have taken notice of the issues relating to motor carrier due diligence caused largely by CSA.
Retailers, Watch Your Waste Lines
Partnering with an expert can help retailers ensure they comply with hazardous waste regulations.
Innovation in Business Processes from Northwest Arkansas
Business process innovations have made great leaps thanks to two Northwest Arkansas companies: JB Hunt and Walmart.
Taking a Smarter Approach to WMS RFPs
Create your WMS RFP with the goal of gaining a deeper understanding of potential suppliers.
How to Create a Forklift Safety Culture
New forklift-based technologies can positively impact safety goals in your facility.
Forklift Design Reaches New Heights
Innovation in forklift design has reduced overall warehouse and DC footprints and increased throughput.
Defending Against the Global Recall Threat
Companies must not only mitigate supply chain risk, but also understand the logistics of global recall management.
5 Issues to Consider Before Selecting Your Next Site
Supply chain considerations such as fuel costs, niche products, and sustainability drive many site selection decisions.
Preparing for New Trade Regulations
Changes to trade regulations require importers and exporters to prepare through new licensing and software updates.
How the Hub-and-Spoke Model Transformed the Transportation Industry
Hub-and-spoke transportation models maximize cargo shipping efficiency, delivering better visibility and cost savings.
5 Lift Truck Innovations That Will Change Your Warehouse
New lift trucks feature device mounts, rugged tablets, digital controls, hydrogen fuel cells and auto guided navigation.
How the Changing Chassis Market Affects Your Supply Chain
Rapid changes in the chassis market mean shippers must ensure they are creating value from the chassis they use.
Maximize Nearshoring Value to Minimize Supply Chain Complexity
Shifting production closer to the U.S. can benefit supply chains, but nearshoring also presents obstacles.
Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Tackles Track-and-Trace Challenges
Track-and-trace regulations require pharmaceutical shippers to adapt production and distribution processes to ensure compliance.
Nearshoring in Mexico: The Benefits of Shared Borders
Manufacturing in Mexico gives U.S. companies quality control, lower transportation costs, and faster transit times.
How Will the Affordable Care Act Impact Shippers?
A large seasonal workforce complicates 3PL compliance with healthcare laws and could mean rate increases for shippers.
Automating B2B Payments: The Next Frontier
Automating supplier payments through commercial cards helps companies facilitate their payment process.
When Government Oversight of Motor Carriers Fails, Shippers Pay
Shippers must take steps to supplement inadequate government reviews of motor carrier safety.
New Transatlantic Trade Pact Could Be Favorable “TTIP-ing” Point for Logistics Sector
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreement could help increase trade and create jobs.
Improving America's Ports: A Vital Step in U.S. Economic Recovery
Investing in port infrastructure allows long-term job creation so the U.S. can lead in international trade and commerce.
Sensor-based Logistics: Monitoring Shipment Vital Signs in Real Time
Sensor-based logistics solutions monitor factors like temperature and humidity to protect perishable shipments.
8 Ways to Strengthen Online Retailer Supply Chains
Monitoring contracts, delivery commitments, and contingency plans helps online retailers keep their supply chains running smoothly, writes John Haber of Spend Management Experts.
Bringing Risk Management into the Heart of the Supply Chain
Supply chain management experience is vital to corporate risk management planning, write Carlos Alvarenga of Accenture.
Delivering Procure-To-Pay Success
As e-invoicing and procure-to-pay networks have evolved into broad-based business networks, advancements now enable professionals to finally connect all the dots in the supply chain, writes Shan Haq of Transcepta.
Is Slow Steaming Good for the Supply Chain?
Lars Kloch of SBS Worldwide, looks at the impact of slow steaming containerships on supply chain reliability, speed, and transport costs.
To Rebuild America’s Economy, Keep Products at Home
Rebuilding the U.S. economy through trade requires enabling domestic manufacturers to regain home markets, writes Alan Tonelson of the U.S. Business and Industry Council.
Understanding Warehouseman’s Liens
Parties storing goods in warehouses need to be alert to liens on their goods, writes Ron Leibman of Riker, Danzig, Scherer, Hyland, & Perretti LLP. To avoid unpleasant surprises, both parties to a warehousing agreement must understand their rights and the documents that cover their transactions.
Tracking Tools Protect Food Shipment Freshness
Monitoring the pallet-level temperature of fresh, frozen, and packaged foods allows shippers and transporters to more effectively manage the quality and safety of products as they move through the supply chain, writes Kevin Payne of Intelleflex.
Surveying the Home Delivery Landscape
Retailers and shippers need to find ways to meet consumers’ changing demand for home delivery services, while maintaining adequate margins and finding new avenues for continued growth, writes Foster Finley of AlixPartners.
Maximizing Productivity in E-commerce Warehousing and Distribution Operations
Continuous e-commerce growth has prompted an increasing number of retailers to use third-party logistics (3PL) providers for handling their direct-to-consumer fulfillment. Jeffrey B. Graves of Sedlak Management Consultants explains that for retail logistics executives, assessing 3PL capabilities that best fit their company’s requirements can be a challenge, yet critical for optimum return on investment (ROI)
3PLs Create a Unified Supply Chain Voice
Warehouses, third-party logistics providers, and other supply chain businesses are making an effort to manage their collective public image in the face of union disputes and other issues. Joel Anderson, president and CEO of the International Warehouse Logistics Association (IWLA), explains how IWLA’s Public Policy Center seeks to help them achieve their goals.
Are You in the Dark About Labor Visibility?
Workforce management gives companies the tools they need to improve overall performance – whether they’re looking to cut labor costs, improve productivity, or create better revenue growth and bottom-line profitability, writes Malysa O’Connor of Kronos.
Sorting Out Savings Opportunities in Your E-Commerce Warehouse
Savvy distribution and supply chain managers should be looking at sortation and its related disciplines as a means of addressing problems and achieving savings, writes Jay Moris of Invata Intralogistics.
Mitigating Facilitation Risk
Logistics professionals and companies should adopt and continuously update a risk-based export compliance program to minimize facilitation risk, writes Michael E. Burke of Arnall Golden Gregor.
Crossdocking Streamlines Freight Movement
Inbound raw materials and components and outbound shipments that are centrally crossdocked, then line-hauled to final destination, support Lean manufacturing and ensure just-in-time inventory, writes David J. DiSanto of DiSanto & Associates.
Return to Sender: Managing Reverse Logistics
While many factors influence customer loyalty, a well-run returns process has proven to drive repeat orders and improve consumer satisfaction. Paul Galpin of P2P Mailing outlines three points companies should consider when designing their reverse logistics.
“Second Mouse” Opportunities for Logistics Firms
Logistics providers can become valued partners to both U.S. customers and Chinese suppliers, linking them together with the full power of fast-learner economics, writes George F. Brown Jr., Blue Canyon Partners.
How Supply Chain Executives Can Earn a Place in the C-Suite
By managing supply chain interdependencies and adopting a full view of service and cost, supply chain executives can amplify their organizational scope and heighten their financial contribution to attain the C-designation they deserve, writes Terry Harris, Chicago Consulting.
Logistics Providers Steer Auto Industry on Road to Recovery
As automotive production levels return to pre-recession levels, consistently delivering quality products has become one of the defining characteristics of successful carmakers and logistics service providers, writes J. Scot Sharland, Automotive Industry Action Group.
Helping Truck Drivers Address Job Stress
Providing an avenue to address truck driver problems helps increase productivity and improve driver retention, writes therapist Buck Black of TruckerTherapy.com.
FMCSA Abandons Carrier Oversight
Recent pronouncements by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration signal the agency’s retreat from its statutory and historical oversight of carrier safety in favor of placing more due diligence responsibilities on shippers and brokers.
Ports Can Help Ensure Ship-Shape Supply Chains
Ports must take a proactive role in managing the supply chain so it runs as efficiently as possible, writes Kevin Doherty of Montreal Gateway Terminals Partnership.
Load Boards Evolve Into Social Networking Tools
Trucking load boards have evolved from bulletin boards in truck stops to sophisticated social networking-style tools on handheld computers. Charles Myers of uShip.com outlines the benefits of the evolved load board.
3PLs: Going Beyond Savings to True Value
Third-party logistics (3PL) providers offer shippers a variety of beneficial supply chain services, writes Dan Lockwood of Unishippers Global.
The Truth Behind “Made in the USA”
The time is right to bring overseas manufacturing back to the United States. U.S. entrepreneurs - and entrepreneurial companies - can domestically manufacture quality products, bring them to market as the low-cost producers, and yield a sustainable profitable business model, writes Elisha Tropper of Cambridge Security Seals.
Four Simple Questions for Improved Picking Performance
Slotting is the concept of using data analysis to assign every part a location based on its specific attributes. Determining the best type of storage equipment, stock quantity, and location for each stock keeping unit (SKU) yields more efficient picking operations, writes Christian Rueckerl.
VMS Lifts Warehouse Labor Productivity
Vehicle management systems allow lift truck operators to complete pre-operation checklists electronically, saving valuable production time, writes Joe LaFergola of The Raymond Corporation.
Shipper’s Choice: One Freight Forwarder or Many?
Shippers should consider the advantages of placing their supply chain needs in the hands of a single freight forwarder or multiple agents, writes Julian Keeling, Consolidators International Inc.
Is Intermodal Right For You?
ChemLogix’s Stephen Hamilton explains why limited truck capacity and fuel costs make intermodal an attractive transportation alternative.
Refrigerated Trucks Haul More Than Just Perishables
No longer hauling just fresh produce and other groceries, today’s truck and trailer refrigeration systems also keep other high-value loads at ideal temperatures and humidity levels so they arrive safely at their final destinations, writes Thermo King’s Tom Kampf.
Managing the Three V’s of Logistics
A combination of factors such as increased competition and global security threats have increased the pressure on companies to improve logistics efficiencies. Page Siplon, executive director, Georgia Center of Innovation for Logistics, addresses these factors and offers strategies for handling them.
Embracing Interstate 2.0: A Rail-based Transportation Vision
Gil Carmichael, founding chairman of the Intermodal Transportation Institute at the University of Denver, explains how the United States can create new economic vitality by producing a safe, energy efficient, and environmentally friendly multimodal transportation policy in which rail once again plays a dominant role.
The Surprising Upside to CSA 2010
CSA 2010 guidelines can benefit shippers by increasing carrier attention to driver safety, writes David Strand, Wholesale Truck & Finance.
10 Ways to Gain Control Over Parcel Transportation Costs
The amount of effort top-tier shippers put into carrier management directly affects the results they achieve in controlling parcel transportation costs, writes Harold Friedman of Data2Logistics.
Five Market Concerns Driving Shipper Cost Increases
John Haber, NPI, outlines five market concerns that will have the biggest impact on shipper spending in the near future.
How the Driver Shortage Impacts Capacity
Although a driver shortage is imminent, many supply chain professionals have yet to grasp how it will affect capacity. Here's a guide.
Driven to Succeed: Building a Safer Fleet
Dan Steere of GreenRoad offers tips for encouraging truck driver safety.
Supplier Disruptions: Preparing for the Unpredictable
Chandler Hall of BravoSolution explains how to reduce the frequency and severity of disruptions by fostering collaborative relationships with your suppliers.
Digitizing the Global Supply Chain
Global supply chain visibility and detail can only be achieved by modern electronic data transmissions that are already available and can reduce the costs of international cargo movement.
Strengthening Your China Operations
Learn five strategies for keeping your Far East concerns running smoothly.
Why You Should Vest With Your Outsourcing Partners, Now!
Vested outsourcing yields innovative logistics relationships that deliver results, writes Kate Vitasek of the University of Tennessee's Center for Executive Education.
Reducing Risk with Trade Disruption Insurance
Robert L. Sobel of Cook, Hall, and Hyde outlines how shippers can benefit from trade disruption insurance.
Building Better 3PL Relationships
Third-party logistics providers can provide capacity, expertise, technology, and buying power. Chip Smith, president of CS Advisory Group, discusses how to ensure you're getting the most from your 3PL.
Using Distribution and Fulfillment as Strategic Weapons
Smart companies carefully select and intelligently apply automation not only to boost productivity, but also to turn the distribution center into a competitive weapon, writes Mick Mountz of Kiva Systems Inc.
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