Articles | August 2020

Feature Stories

Reshaping Retail

Agile and innovative retailers transformed their operations during COVID-19. Will their new fulfillment options and increased digitization go out of style as stores reopen, or will they become retail staples?

Florida Sets the Future

The Sunshine State is a strategic and economic powerhouse, driving companies' logistics success and setting the stage to play an even more substantial role in the coming years.

Economic Development in High Gear:
Incentives Propel Projects Forward

Incentives play an instrumental part in creating cost savings and cost avoidance for projects, touching on everything from workforce training to energy spending. ElectriCities of North Carolina and Hoosier Energy are examples of regional organizations that help attract companies to their communities with incentives and other advantages.

Shaking Up Subscription Services

During the lockdown, some subscription services unboxed a demand surge while others were forced to close the flaps. Here's how successful services deliver the goods.

16 Transportation Metrics that Matter

Shippers want the right cargo in the right place at the right time. That takes planning, collaboration, and technology. Here are the metrics they monitor and how they do it.

Case Studies

Casebook

Improving Visibility: And Sew It Goes

Timely deliveries are critical for Tacony, a manufacturer and distributor of sewing and floor care products. Learn how the family-owned company cut costs, streamlined transportation, and boosted service levels by collaborating with Sunset Transportation.

Reader Profile

Reading the Room

With great adversity comes great creativity—that’s how Annette Danek-Akey, EVP of supply chain at Penguin Random House, helped quickly convert a new facility into a picking and shipping point to meet the fluctuating demand for books.

Commentary

Online ExclusiveRon Grove, EY Americas Digital Fulfillment Solution Leader

Reopening Fulfillment and Distribution Centers in the Wake of COVID-19

As businesses slowly recover following COVID-19 fulfillment and distribution centers can't simply flip a switch and return to normal operations. Reopening will require a rigorous methodology backed by data and analytics, and creative thinking about how to leverage existing technology in the workplace.

Online ExclusiveChris Wolfe, CEO, Powerfleet

Crying Over Spilled Milk: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic on Food Waste

What the food supply chain community learned from the COVID-19 pandemic crisis was that having the right technologies implemented was the difference between days or weeks to reroute, reschedule, repack, and reorganize goods to ensure delivery at a pre-COVID-19 standard.

Online ExclusiveEdwin Bosso, Founder and CEO, Myrtle Consulting Group

Five Keys for Turning Challenge into Opportunity

To capitalize on what they’ve learned, transform, and thrive in a post-COVID world, supply chain leaders should focus on these five pillars: people, finances, decision-making, infrastructure, and customers.

Online ExclusiveSree Singaraju, Senior Vice President, AI & Cloud Solutions, Mobiquity

3 Ways Retailers Can Get on the Fast Track to Digital Transformation

Retailers can use these three practical tips to successfully execute their digital transformation: Make digital moves your strategy centerpiece, connect systems to please customers, and enable a touchless experience.

Online ExclusiveAndrew Smith, Founder and CEO, Outrider

Yard Automation Addresses Three Weak Spots to Build Supply Chain Resilience

While there aren’t many quick fixes when it comes to mitigating global disruption, leaders can use solutions that directly address the biggest weaknesses in the supply chain that were highlighted as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak: demand, labor, and energy.

Online ExclusiveRoy Anderson, Chief Procurement Officer, Tradeshift

How to Make Supply Chains “Antifragile”

Cost savings has been the number-one priority for heads of procurement and finance across industries. Unfortunately, there is a common misconception that this must be achieved through lean, just-in-time processes and a focus on limited inventory.

Online ExclusiveAndrew Chan, Co-founder, AfterShip

How Small to Mid-Sized Businesses Can Recover Faster

On top of surging e-commerce demand, small and mid-sized businesses are facing increased shipping costs, logistical challenges, and extended shipping times. Here are a few things you can do to recover.

3PL Line: Third-Party Logistics PerspectivesRandy Ofiara

3 M's to Cut Supply Chain Costs

The three M’s are key areas to explore and break down to realize the full potential of your company and help you to get the biggest, fastest savings in your supply chain, today.

Checking InKeith Biondo

Let's Not Forget

Supply chain has the capacity to quickly adopt new technologies, adapt to new working conditions, and remain highly productive. The "new" technologies for collaborative work are not really new, however.

COVID-19David Goldberg

5 Lessons Learned During the Crisis

Key lessons learned and implemented throughout the years that are vital in not only navigating a pandemic but also being able to do so efficiently.

Good QuestionKatrina Arabe

What's the most significant way COVID-19 has changed the supply chain?

The pandemic has reached an unprecedented level of uncertainty in supply chains. Leaders share the most significant way COVID-19 has changed the supply chain.

Logistics ManagementChad Storlie

10 Ways to Leverage Intermodal

A boon to the supply chain for decades, intermodal embraces standardization, which has reduced transport costs and mistakes and improved freight service across the globe. Use these 10 tips to capitalize on the potential of intermodal.