Balancing on the Rim
Like gravity, the lure of Asia’s rock-bottom costs and abundant labor force has a powerful pull. But companies need to closely examine potential pitfalls of sourcing halfway around the globe. Taking that first step into the Pacific Rim means walking a tightrope between the benefits and risks.
Read MoreMinimize Total Landed Cost: Strategize, Model, Act
Total landed cost is the sum of all costs associated with making and delivering products to the point where they produce revenue—usually your customer’s door. So, if you employ tactics to reduce costs in all discrete functions from manufacturing through delivery, you’ll have a lower total landed cost, right? Theoretically, yes. But in the real […]
Read MoreInjecting Zoom Into Distribution
Kawasaki shifts to a ‘multi-enterprise’ SCM system to rev up product flow and keep dealers and customers humming.
Read MoreManaging the Supply Chain in Reverse
Those of us who enjoy changing gears manually when we drive don’t hesitate when we have to shift into reverse. But not all reverse actions are comfortable. Taking in, sorting, and repairing or redistributing returned goods is an onerous task for many manufacturers and retailers. Unlike goods moving out of the factory, goods coming back […]
Read MoreHeather Fryar: Life on the Strategic Side
Airplane components, laundry detergent additives, offset printing equipment, and men’s formal wear have one thing in common: Heather Fryar. As logistics manager for St. Louis-based Sequa Corp., Fryar oversees inbound and outbound transportation strategy for the parent company’s seven business units. That means improving transportation processes and cutting costs among operations that manufacture a diverse […]
Read MoreGlobal Trade Management: Redefining the Successful Execution of International Logistics
With nearly 30% of the world’s gross domestic product currently crossing borders, it is clear that global trade is an integral and growing part of business that is here to stay. As a result of this globalization, businesses have created a new concept to define the challenges and opportunities unique to the new highly globalized […]
Read MoreOperations Network Design: A New Solution for an Old Problem
Tools for optimizing distribution networks have long been available, yet most of these applications still have an important limitation: they can’t fully model network requirements at the operations level. This limitation often leads to recommendations that cannot be implemented. What is needed is a new approach that enhances the current process by incorporating site-level detail […]
Read MoreGlobal Logistics—January 2006
"China’s emergence as a global economic power is having a seismic impact on the global logistics market." This statement, from New Zealand-based international property adviser DTZ’s recent Global Logistics Markets report, is not surprising. What is surprising is just how far China’s impact reaches when it comes to the international industrial landscape. "The negative impact […]
Read MoreBullseye! Finding the Right Site
The economic development stars are aligned. As U.S. companies reassess their distribution networks to combat rising transportation costs and meet customer demands, business development entities now realize the logistics and transportation industry offers an opportunity to add jobs and vitality to local economies, expand and develop transportation infrastructure, and create a new economic livelihood for the future of U.S. industry. The result is a renewed focus on site selection.
Read MoreMexico on the Move: Building New Opportunities
New investments in Mexican transportation and logistics infrastructure create opportunities for U.S. manufacturers and logistics companies.
Read MoreMatchmaking
MORE TO THE STORY: The Load Matcher’s Little Black Book Scoping Out Potential Shippers, like love-scorned romantics, are willing to try almost anything to find a bigger pool of suitors and more capacity. Carriers, by contrast, are continually looking for ways to get the most out of their freight dates while avoiding costly deadhead rendezvous. […]
Read MoreBulk Logistics: Hefty Freight, Hefty Issues
As transportation costs, congestion, and capacity threaten to derail global supply chains, bulk freight shippers are collaborating with their logistics partners to streamline plant operations and rethink how they align stateside distribution networks to better match supply to demand.
Read MoreCarrier Partnerships: A Matter of Trust
Building trusting relationships with your transportation partners makes the best sort of business sense.
Read MoreSupply Chain Security: Tapping Into C-TPAT
Many companies embrace C-TPAT in the fight against supply chain security threats, but just as many shun it. What is C-TPAT? How does it work? What benefits—if any—does it bring shippers and carriers? Here’s a closer look.
Read MoreInnovation: Insider Insights
In April 2005, at a Princeton, N.J., conference of trucking technology suppliers and users, Alain Kornhauser declared the just-in-time era dead. “Just-in-time logistics is inherently deterministic,” said Kornhauser, a Princeton University professor, and founder and chairman of mobile transportation solutions provider ALK Technologies. He then held up a mobile phone. “This is the new paradigm,” […]
Read MoreInnovation: The 3PL Connection/The Creativity Factor
Third-party logistics providers (3PLs) are often powerful enablers of logistics and supply chain innovation. “Due to their exposure to ample transportation and fulfillment challenges, 3PLs have developed creative ways to get product to the shelf,” says Accenture’s Bill Read. “3PLs have multiple customers with problems and opportunities across industry verticals, and can provide insight into […]
Read MoreInnovation: Igniting New Ideas
Transforming a supply chain through innovation and ingenuity starts with understanding what you’re trying to accomplish. “Setting clear, aggressive goals in a collaborative way is the best thing organizations can do to foster innovation,” says Judith Anderson, partner and founder of consulting firm Anderson & Rust, Allendale, N.J. Critical success factors that enable companies to […]
Read MoreInnovation: From Vision to Execution
Innovation is in. Just ask Bill Ford, star of the Ford Motor Company commercials touting the company’s “new mission—innovation.” Innovation is also at the core of IBM, which invests billions of dollars in research and development every year and has been the leading patent-generating company in the United States for more than a decade. “Innovation […]
Read MoreInnovation: A Fresh Eye on the Supply Chain
Innovation is in. Just ask Bill Ford, star of the Ford Motor Company commercials touting the company’s “new mission—innovation.” Innovation is also at the core of IBM, which invests billions of dollars in research and development every year and has been the leading patent-generating company in the United States for more than a decade. “Innovation […]
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