All Columns Entries

Saturday, June 01, 2013

There’s a very good reason that Logistics Management (LM) devotes an article every month to the growing importance warehouse and distribution center (DC) operations are playing in transportation and overall logistics management—especially when you consider the revolution that’s going on inside the four walls of facilities operated by U.S. retailers.

Shippers and third party logistics providers (3PLs) need to pay attention to domestic and major trade lane transportation prices now as the U.S. economy tries to find a higher gear.

Supply chain decision makers are well-positioned to help the world become a more habitable place, and to benefit financially from their efforts.

Wednesday, May 01, 2013

In research conducted by Peerless Research Group (PRG) over the past few years, we’ve found that end-to-end, global supply chain visibility and event management capabilities are considered “must haves.” However, those same respondents struggle to tell you exactly what they need to do in order to achieve this.

The air cargo experts at Boeing provide a bi-annual report on the Air Cargo industry entitled World Air Cargo Forecast, and I recommend it to shippers preparing for discussions with their carriers and forwarders.

This is the final column in our series about dynamic operations, or global supply chains imbued with the ability to alter the function and focus of key processes (manufacturing, transportation, distribution, etc.) in response to changing events.

Seventy-eight percent of former NFL players learn the hard way that bills remain long after incomes have dried up and are broke within five years of retirement. A similar force is at play among the world’s oil exporting nations.

Monday, April 01, 2013

The cover of the April issue of Logistics Management (LM) is once again devoted to the findings of our Annual Salary Survey, a research project conducted by Peerless Research Group (PRG) that acts as the fuel for our best-read editorial feature (page 22) and the foundation of the most highly anticipated webcast that our editorial team produces (April 25).

Should more shippers be looking at the private fleet option for 2013 and beyond? According to the industry tracking web site truckinginfo.com report last June, private fleets represent 47.6 percent of trucking. They operate 75 percent of Class 4 through Class 8 trucks and two-thirds of all Class 8 trucks—including 50 percent of new sales. For truckload shippers, this has to get your attention.

In this column—the fourth in a series of five articles focused on dynamic supply chain operations—we look at the role and importance of “flexible innovation.”