Up Front

Staff -- Logistics Management, 7/1/2001

A change of leadership is in store for the American Trucking Associations.The ATA's president and chief executive officer,
Walter B. McCormick, has left the organization to take a similar position at
the U.S. Telecom Association. While a search committee looks for a successor,
ATA Senior Vice President William Canary will take the reins. McCormick led
the ATA during one of its most tumultuous periods, which included staff
reductions and organizational restructuring.
Interested in the potentially decisive role logistics can play in electronic commerce? Then pick up the book The Art of .Combat by Shawn P. McCarthy, former online editor for Logistics Management. In his
book on electronic commerce, McCarthy examines how the principles outlined in
a classic military treatise by Chinese general Sun Tzu can be applied to the
21st century world of global business competition. He offers strategies for
taking full advantage of the Internet, including thoughts on the role of
e-commerce in supply chain management. The book's publisher is John Wiley
& Sons.
Who are the quality leaders in transportation and logistics? The answer will appear in next month's issue of Logistics Management, when we'll announce which
companies scored highest in this year's Quest for Quality survey. For the past
18 years, this magazine (and Distribution, one of its predecessors) has
surveyed readers about which carriers and third-party logistics providers
deserve recognition for service excellence. Look in the August issue for the
complete lineup of honorees.
The House of Representatives has voted to slam the door on access for Mexican truckers. By a vote of 285-143 last month,
lawmakers approved an amendment to the federal transportation budget that
would prohibit the U.S. government from issuing permits for Mexican motor
carriers to operate in the United States outside of the existing "commercial
zone." The House action was a rebuke to the Bush administration, which
supports the NAFTA treaty provision that calls for open access for truckers in
all three NAFTA countries. President Bush has vowed to comply with a NAFTA
arbitration board's ruling that found the United States to be in violation of
the treaty's transportation provisions. All eyes now turn to the Senate, which
has yet to take up the matter. (For more on this issue, see href="index.asp?layout=articleWebzine&stt=000&articleid=CA91644&pubdate=7/1/01">House
clashes with Bush on Mexican truck access)
By a vote of 256-1, the House also approved a $59.1 billion transportation budget for the next fiscal year, which begins on
Oct. 1. The budget includes funds for various transportation agencies,
including the Department of Transportation, the Federal Highway
Administration, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Federal Motor Carrier
Safety Administration, and the Federal Railroad Administration. It also
includes funding for specific transportation-related projects in a number of
states. The legislation now moves on to the Senate.
Talk will turn from paperless to laborless warehouses by mid-century. That prediction comes from George Gecowets, who recently retired after more than three decades as head of the Council of Logistics Management. Writing in the June issue of the Warehousing Forum, a newsletter published by the
Ackerman Co., Gecowets says he expects that robotic materials-handling
equipment and the mechanization of such functions as building and stripping
pallets and packaging will reduce the need for unskilled labor at distribution
centers in the future. The remaining warehousing jobs will require a higher
level of intellect and education because they'll involve repairing and
maintaining highly mechanized systems.
Two top business executives will headline the SupplyChainLink Expo virtual conference and trade show as keynote speakers. Thomas T. Stallkamp, CEO of MSX International (and former president of Chrysler Corp.), and W. James McNerney Jr., CEO of 3M Corp., will speak at the online event, which is sponsored by Cahners Business Information, Logistics Management's parent company. SupplyChainLink Expo, which is scheduled for Oct. 17 and 18, will feature speakers, conference sessions, and digital trade show "booths" where vendors will display their wares. The Expo will be divided into five "pavilions" representing the primary activities in the supply chain: Design, Plan, Source, Make, and Move. Each pavilion will be divided into product aisles. Admission is free, but you must register online at www.supplychainlinkexpo.com.
Companies will rent their warehouse management software online in the future. According to Steve Banker, consulting firm ARC's
director of supply chain research, fewer companies will buy and install WMS
packages in the next few years. Instead, Banker says, they will rent their
applications, paying a periodic fee for access to the program via the Internet
or through a virtual private network. The analyst forecasts that revenues for
the Web application hosting of WMS products will increase from 1 percent now
to 4 percent of the total market by 2005.
North American shippers have a new intermodal option for moving freight throughout North America. The Burlington Northern and
Santa Fe Railway Co. (BNSF) has launched "Mexi-Modal," an intermodal service
that connects major markets in Mexico, the United States, and Canada. BNSF
coordinates the door-to-door cross-border shipping process in cooperation with
the Canadian National Railway Co., Transportación Ferroviaria Mexicana (TFM),
and several Mexican motor carriers. Mexi-Modal offers three different service
options, including all-rail, mid-bridge transfer to truck, and a
warehousing/truck/rail combination through Laredo, Texas. For more
information, contact BNSF or go to bnsf.com/productofferings.
This year's International Roadcheck event inspected about 43,000 trucks and buses in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The
72-hour event, coordinated by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, was held
June 5-7. More than 10,000 inspectors performed CVSA "Level 1" checks—a
37-step procedure that evaluates the safety compliance of both vehicles and
drivers. About three-fourths of all vehicles met required mechanical fitness
standards. (Brake problems accounted for half of the out-of-service
violations.) The drivers themselves did better: 94 percent met safety fitness
standards. Most of those who were pulled off the road had exceeded
hours-of-service limitations.
Charity and reverse logistics can work hand in hand, according to Gifts In Kind International, a large non-profit organization that donates surplus goods to charitable causes. The group has teamed up with Returns Online, a Seattle-based returns-management company. Returns Online's customers now have the option of donating returned goods to Gifts In Kind, which last year distributed more than a half-million dollars worth of merchandise to charities worldwide. For more information about the program and how shippers can participate, contact Gifts In Kind (www.giftsinkind.org or e-mail bzuczek@ giftsinkind.org) or Returns Online (www.returnsonline.com or e-mail info@ returnsonline.com).