Filed in August 2012

Wednesday, August 01, 2012

Our technology correspondent takes a closer look at what wireless technology is being adopted, how it’s being used, and what benefits logistics professionals are deriving from their mobile investments either inside the four walls or on the road.

While adoption remains low, savvy managers are putting engineered labor standards and related labor management systems to work to jumpstart productivity and gain a new level of operational visibility. Here’s how they’re getting it done.

Analysts agree: One of the greatest challenges facing both shippers and carriers over the next year will be rebuilding relationships on the high seas.

With pricing power back in the hands of the rejuvenated LTL sector, carriers are now laser focused on margins while concentrating on profitable freight.

It’s my honor to present the logistics and transportation community with the results of the 29th Annual Quest for Quality Survey. This is the culmination of a six-month research project conducted by Peerless Research Group (PRG) that’s become known as the most important measure of customer satisfaction and service performance excellence available in our industry.

Shippers are increasingly telling me that the number of options in the less-than-500-pound shipment market confuses them. The one thing that many can understand is that costs continue to climb despite the deregulation of rates. However, enormous savings can be achieved by knowing your shipment weight and distance, direction, and cube as well as the capabilities of your carrier.

In last month’s column, we presented some dramatic research insights about emerging markets. By 2020, 57 percent of the world’s economic growth could come from emerging markets. Emerging market household incomes are expected to increase by a total of $8.5 trillion between 2010 and 2020. And if emerging-market-to-emerging-market (E2E) exports continue to increase at their current rate, they will outpace developed-country-to-developed-country (D2D) volumes by 2013.

The average truck consumes roughly 11,000 gallons of diesel per year. Consequently, even minor shifts in fuel prices have a significant impact on operating costs. For instance, when applied to a fleet of 100 trucks, a price drop of 25 cents per gallon generates annual savings exceeding a quarter of a million dollars.

It dawned on me the other day that some of the practices we employ in the planning and management of our logistics operations are similar to how farmers plan and harvest crops and how baseball managers select their team and deal with the variety of performance issues and injuries throughout the long season.