Melanie Foster: Raisin to Believe
Although Melanie Foster has lived in California’s Sacramento Valley all her life, her influence reaches around the globe. As distribution and transportation manager for Sunsweet Growers Inc., she is one of the people responsible for making sure that much of the world’s supply of prunes and other dried tree fruits reaches customers. “I handle all […]
Read MoreHow to Outsource Retail Logistics
MORE TO THE STORY: SHOPPING FOR SOLUTIONS Retailers are well attuned to the changing dynamics of consumer buying habits and the strategies necessary to ensure their supply chain can match inventory to demand. But ensuring product is staged in the right places at the right times is only part of the challenge; engaging the eye […]
Read MoreHow to Use Transportation Metrics to Drive Profit and Service
MORE TO THE STORY: WHAT TO DO IF YOUR COMPANY IS… How do you measure efficiency when you are already doing the best job possible? Talk to any over-the-road shipper that finds itself increasingly handcuffed by institutionalized transportation and fuel-related costs and it would likely tell you the "best job possible" doesn’t cut it anymore. […]
Read MoreHow to Streamline Import Documentation
MORE TO THE STORY: THE 411 ON AMS AND 10+2 Businesses continue to turn to offshore manufacturing locations and strategic global outsourcing partnerships to exploit cheaper production and labor costs. Often lost in the process, however, is the value global businesses can extract by capturing data deeper in the supply chain to scale inventory demands […]
Read MoreHow to Select an Ocean Carrier
MORE TO THE STORY: BEFORE YOU CHANGE COURSE Ocean freight buyers are often limited by the geography of their offshore suppliers/manufacturers and stateside customers and the urgency of the shipping season when they consider making changes to their carrier networks. But there is always room for optimization. Shrewd logistics professionals periodically research and take advantage […]
Read MoreHow to Find The Right Outsourcing Solution
MORE TO THE STORY: PICKING YOUR PARTNER As the rules of engagement for operating in a global world continue to shift and expand, businesses increasingly find that the myriad pressures of running a core business do not lend themselves to doing all things well. In the interest of doing what they do best and providing […]
Read MoreHow to Locate a Contingency Port
MORE TO THE STORY: 4 STEPS IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION Shippers and consignees on the u.s. west coast are well aware of the challenges they face when capacity is squeezed and time parameters are tight. As a result, many have begun managing their supply lines from point of origin, controlling the inbound shipment process to […]
Read MoreHow to Tackle Mission-Critical Logistics in an Emerging Market
MORE TO THE STORY: FOUR STEPS TO FOLLOW Mission-critical logistics in the United States is manageable; acceptable in Western Europe; and nearing acceptability in maturing Asian markets, yet still manageable. In emerging markets such as Latin America, service parts logistics is incredibly immature. Businesses looking to grow in these areas must balance the risk/reward of […]
Read MoreCo-Sourcing: Two Companies Acting As One
You might worry about outsourcing your company’s entire supply chain—not enough control, too many unknowns, not worth the risk. But you can focus 100 percent of your attention on your core business functions and still keep a close connection with your supply chain through co-sourcing, a custom-tailored system designed to provide the logistics and supply […]
Read MoreMaking the Right Connection
Bon-Ton gets extra mileage from its transportation management system by linking it to a vendor compliance system.
Read MoreNASCO: NorthAmerica’s SuperCorridor Coalition
The multimodal transportation network known as NASCO runs through the heart of trade in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Find out what makes this corridor unique and why companies are banding together to support it.
Read MoreRetail Channel Convergence: Stock ‘Til It Drops
Changing consumer buying habits compel retailers to integrate in-store, catalog, and online channels to keep inventory on hand and shoppers coming back for more.
Read MoreExpedited Shipping: ”We Need It Yesterday!”
Business is a blur for expedited carriers, and that’s just the way shippers like it.
Read MoreGiving Pharmacists a Voice
A new voice-directed picking system administers a dose of distribution improvements to Smith Drug Company.
Read MoreChanging Directions Involves Tough Choices
Imagine walking into a board meeting in one of the largest companies in the world and telling your management peers you can streamline the company’s global operations from 87 vertical-silo supply chains into a horizontally integrated network of five—then doing it. That’s the story Carly Fiorina shared with Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) […]
Read MoreConverting Performance to Profitability
A workplace culture can be productive or disruptive, profitable or unprofitable. It is up to management to decide—or allow someone else to define a company’s culture. The United Nations defines culture as a “set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual, and emotional features of society or a social group. It encompasses ways of living together, value […]
Read MoreTechnology Collaboration Enables Visibility and Security
Complete Document and Shipment Visibility (CDSV) is a concept that enables trading partners to have 100-percent visibility to the condition, status, and location of international shipments in a paperless environment. The concept allows shipment stakeholders to know the exact status of inventory and finished goods in the pipeline. CDSV also contributes to eliminating supply chain […]
Read MoreManaging Warehouse Labor Costs
Ask any warehouse manager, “what is the most difficult cost to control?” and the answer will invariably be labor. Labor costs comprise the largest part of a warehouse’s operating expenses. The ongoing challenge is managing those costs without jeopardizing customer service and reducing productivity. Tim Wills, vice president of PEAK Technologies, Columbia, Md., offers these […]
Read MoreTrends-November 2007
Traffic at the nation’s major retail container ports dropped below last year’s levels late this summer, and the peak monthly volume for 2007 is now expected to fall slightly below last year’s peak, according to the National Retail Federation and Global Insight’s recent Port Tracker report. “These figures reflect the weakened U.S. economy and retailers’ cautious outlook […]
Read MoreGlobal Logistics-November 2007
European contract logistics providers are signing more contracts. The market in western Europe grew by 6.7 percent in 2006 to reach EUR 49 billion, according to Transport Intelligence’s most recent report, European Transport and Logistics Markets 2007. Some of the highest growth rates were in the Nordic region, where Finland in particular has benefited from increasing […]
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