In a business world defined and dictated by change, supply chain management balances challenges and competitive advantage. Companies large and small are leveraging transportation and logistics best practices to act as great equalizers.
Adopting demand-driven logistics can increase visibility, drive supply chain efficiency, and offset any market advantage your competitors might have.
Schwan’s Home Services optimized its distribution network by using a hybrid insourced/outsourced model; and Sun-Maid Growers of California used collaborative distribution to create better economies of scale in its transportation operations.
Innovative technologies are helping companies improve visibility into their supply chains and gain better control over inventory, service, and cost.
The materials handling landscape is shifting to accommodate traditional brick-and-mortar and Internet retailers’ changing needs.
Solid workforce training, appropriate metrics, and well-designed incentive programs give companies an advantage in building their supply chain labor pool.
Choosing the right location for your distribution center can give your business significant edge. Here’s how the pros decide where to go.
Leveraging IT, reconsidering warehouse processes, and conducting periodic network optimization projects are just three of many strategies that enable shippers to not only trim costs, but ensure that transportation spending supports overall business goals.
At the annual RailTrends conference, industry experts shared insight on trends, opportunities, and challenges facing North American railroads.
Visit with three supply chain professionals who were featured in the Reader Profile column in 2007-2009, and find out what they’re up to these days.
Logistics professionals seeking to become supply chain executives can gain insight from the perspectives of four logistics experts, who share their knowledge about the skills and experience needed to climb the logistics career ladder.
Logistics and supply chain professionals are finding a greater need to speak out and educate government officials on key issues affecting transportation, logistics, and supply chain.
The emergence of integrated third-party logistics (3PL) solutions, expanded and improved intermodal service offerings, and creative collaborations to optimize transport resources has prompted many companies to expand operations in Mexico.
The Alternative Site Framework designation is changing the Foreign Trade Zone landscape, allowing shippers a more expedient process for streamlining the supply chain.
Southeast Asian nations – particularly Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand – represent a region of rapid economic growth, thanks to high U.S. import volumes. Infrastructure and regulatory challenges could impede progress, however.
Understanding transportation liability is not just for lawyers any more. Shippers need to pay closer attention to contract language and the details of shipper and carrier insurance policies.
To ensure cargo security in the global supply chain, understanding the challenges, studying best practices, and putting a comprehensive plan in place are critical components.
Shippers, carriers, brokers, and third-party logistics (3PL) providers use electronic loadboards to communicate opportunities, whether it's freight to be shipped or trucks to be filled.
Companies choosing between voice-directed and pick-to-light technology often find that the right choice is a combination of both.
Project logistics requires specialized knowledge, experience, and equipment. Shippers of oversized loads, heavy equipment, and other unusual items rely on service providers to move their project cargo.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Conduct a financial checkup of your potential 3PL partners before you sign the contract.
Whether you want to casually brush up on your supply chain management techniques or drastically reorganize your purchasing processes, you’ll find the knowledge you need in the pages of these supply chain resources.
Casebook
Peruvian supermarket chain drives DC network realignment with a new cloud-based software as a service (SaaS) warehouse management system (WMS).
DC Solutions
A warehouse control system that integrates voice-directed picking technology, a high-speed sortation system, and scanning technology streamlined party goods supplier Oriental Trading Company’s picking, packing, and shipping operations.
I.T. Toolkit
Close-out retailer Tuesday Morning implemented Interlink’s WHSe-LINK warehouse management system to receive, store, and allocate its daily inbound shipments of unique SKUs.
Reader Profile
As global supply chain coordinator at satellite communications technology provider VT iDirect, William Gregory tunes into signals from trading partners in Africa to ensure regulatory compliance.
Ten Tips
Developing an effective supplier compliance program requires planning and communication, writes Peter Wharton of IBM.
Knowledge Base
A well-oiled trading partner network allows one-to-many and many-to-many partners to collaborate and communicate using a single source of truth garnered from real-time information, writes Christopher P. Mazza of IAS.
Knowledge Base
The Lean Supply Chain is a system of interconnected and interdependent forces that operate in unison to accomplish overarching supply chain objectives, writes Robert Martichenko of LeanCor Supply Chain Group.
Knowledge Base
To preserve working capital and promote flexibility, many companies choose to leverage the capabilities of a third-party-logistics (3PL) provider for carrier spend, facility occupancy, and more, writes John Wagner Jr. of Wagner Logistics.
Knowledge Base
Shippers want 3PL partners that not only responsively evolve service networks and capabilities to flex with the market, but also can anticipate and be ready to meet future service requirements, writes Ray Greer of BNSF Logistics.
3PL Line: Third-Party Logistics PerspectivesTom Stricker
Five Signs Your Production Logistics Needs Help
Production logistics can increase an operation’s efficiencies and save companies money by creating the right blend of technology, equipment, and disciplined processes to ensure materials get where the are needed to keep production flowing, writes Tom Stricker of HK Logistics.
Checking InKeith Biondo
Supply Chain Force Multipliers
By providing end-to-end visibility, demand driven logistics practices deliver competitive advantage and solve supply chain challenges for businesses of all sizes, writes Publisher Keith Biondo.
Checking InFelecia Stratton
The Great Equalizer
Supply chain management makes a difference by empowering companies to do more with less, and project a stronger competitive force, writes Editor Felecia Stratton.
EcoDevTim Nowak
St. Louis: New Gateway to Asian Markets
For new businesses or those seeking to grow trade relationships, St. Louis represents a gateway to Asian markets, writes Tim Nowak of the World Trade Center St. Louis.
Green Landscape: Supply Chain SustainabilityEmily P. Davis
Wasting Away to Meet Sustainability Goals
An average distribution center generates or handles anywhere from 100 to 1,000 tons of solid waste each year that could be reduced, reused, or recycled. Emily P. Davis of Exel/DHL Supply Chain Americas outlines five keys for helping waste management and other sustainability programs succeed.
IT Matters: Logistics & Supply Chain TechnologyEric Breen
Yard and Dock Management Tools: An Extra Set of Eyes in Your Facility
Yard and dock management systems use real-time and physical data to assist facilities in efficiently managing operations such as loading dock visibility, live and staged trailer coordination, and turn time management, writes Eric Breen of 4SIGHT.
Smart Moves: Supply Chain Careers & Education AdviceJuan D. Morales
Training Tomorrow’s Logistics and Transportation Executives Today
Education providers are introducing supply chain education programs to prepare students to be the logistics and transportation executives of the future, writes Juan D. Morales of Stanton Chase International.
Online ExclusiveViewpoint: Logistics & Supply Chain AnalysisJeffrey B. Graves
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)
Viewpoint: Logistics & Supply Chain AnalysisFoster Finley
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.