Archive: Sep 2002

Choosing the Right Logistics Consultant

Choosing a logistics consultant should not be a search for the lowest-cost solution, but rather a search for experience and success based on definitive criteria. Dr. Dick Powers, CEO and president of the Bend, Ore., and Manassas, Va.-based consulting firm INSIGHT, which solves logistics and supply chain issues with optimization-based solutions, offers these tips for […]

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Container Carriers: Why Can’t We Make Red Tape a Thing of the Past?

Container shipping is one of the world’s youngest industries—younger, in fact, than the computer industry. When Malcolm McLean drove the first container onto a ship less than 50 years ago, Big Blue was already churning out early computing and communication systems. Despite the rapid evolution of computer technology, container shipping companies still fail to grasp […]

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Building a High-Velocity Supply Chain Network

Managing an extended supply chain network effectively requires coordination among many geographically dispersed partners. Done well, you can reduce operational costs and increase bottom-line profitability and customer loyalty. Done poorly, you can face increased personnel, as well as higher inventory and rush charges, all incurred in an attempt to avoid dissatisfied customers. With increasing decentralization […]

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Proactive Returns Management Yields Hard ROI

Multi-channel product distribution and stiff competition for more demanding and discerning customers require creative strategies for managing and maintaining customer relationships. As companies search for areas of opportunity to meet these needs, returns management tops the list.Product returns and their impact on a company’s bottom line is an age-old problem. The complexities of reverse product […]

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CF Bankruptcy: Labor Day

Consolidated Freightways files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Labor Day. Coincidence? I don’t think so. Can part of the reason for the demise of this once great carrier be laid at organized labor’s door? I remember meeting with two highly-placed CF executives six years ago. They were making the rounds, explaining to the press […]

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Becoming a Better Trucking Customer

Put yourself in your motor carriers’ place for a moment. This past year brought more than a few bumps in the road. Union battles, driver shortages, rising insurance premiums, fluctuating fuel prices and surcharges, and increased safety and security costs have deflated profits and forced shippers, carriers, and supply chain partners to plug expectation gaps […]

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Michael Trotter: Striking a Balance

Loading pallets with electrical supplies bound for factories and construction sites, “you learn quickly that you can’t set light bulbs on the bottom and put wire on the top,” laughs Michael Trotter, director of logistics at Van Meter Industrial in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. But for a distributor with 29,000 SKUs of all sizes and shapes—from […]

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What’s Behind mySAP’s Technology?

The technology behind mySAP’s Supply Chain Management module—which spans planning, execution, networking, and coordination processes—bears closer review. mySAP SCM is built upon industry standards such as HTML, XML, and WAP (Wireless Application Protocol). These tools ensure interoperability and flexibility. Part of SAP’s flexible optimization strategy is the use of user-specific heuristics. “Within SAP, heuristics are […]

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