Editor’s Choice for “Must Reads” From 2023

Taking the changing logistics and freight transportation landscape into consideration, here are seven feature stories that the editorial team of Logistics Management believes deserve a second look. These “must reads” from the past year will help you prepare your logistics operation for what’s ahead in 2024.

E-commerce & Freight: Balancing new patterns of demand

We speak with a number of logistics experts to capture their views on the overall impact that e-commerce is having on moving the nation’s freight. One thing is for certain: The current level and speed of churn has irrevocably altered the pattern so many had become accustomed to managing. Read More

Logistics Labor: Increasing retention

To better manage through the constrained labor market, logistics operations are courting more women and other diverse job candidates; ramping up their training programs; investing in automation; and ensuring that positions offer the work-life balance that many new recruits are seeking. 
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32nd Annual Study of Logistics and Transportation Trends: Navigating a shallow pool of resources

Logistics operations are facing a human capital crisis that poses a threat to both performance and competitiveness. In this year’s study, our authors explore how organizations can compete for talent in an increasingly limited talent pool; how organizations are competing in an increasingly dynamic business environment; and examine the technologies that shippers now need to use to stay ahead of the curve.
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2023 State of Logistics Report: Great logistics reset

The latest report says that the era of building supply chains solely around cost-reduction considerations is over. Rather, a new value has taken hold—resilience.
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2023 Truckload Roundtable: Stuck in neutral

Even though shippers are still benefiting from a low-rate environment, challenges are plentiful. Should demand levels head up and inventories continue to trend down, that could present a scenario that truckload carriers would welcome—and trigger a return to pricing power in tandem with tighter capacity.
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Kimberly-Clark streamlines order fulfillment & optimizes transportation

As part of a larger effort to digitize its global supply chain, Kimberly- Clark is putting a combination of machine learning and optimization algorithms to work to optimize its transportation networks—and the savings are up into the multi-million dollars per year.
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Six Digital Supply Chain Trends That Are Happening Now

Here are some of the top digital supply chain trends that shippers need to understand and leverage as they continue along the path of transformation.
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Software helps robots play nice

The latest robotics software trend is platforms that specialize in orchestrating interactions between different robotic systems and other “agents.” This multi-agent orchestration niche involves multiple players with varied approaches—but they all promise to smooth handoffs and speed up automation onboarding.
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Global Labor Rates: China is no longer a low-cost country

With worldwide shortages and supply chain disruptions, companies have changed how they source and manufacture parts and finished products. The Reshoring Institute studied and compared global labor rates around the world—and what follows are the high-level results of a study comparing labor rates in 13 different countries.
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The reconfiguration of global supply chains

Global shippers are now implementing a “China plus” strategy that includes more than 40 countries in Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America. Our analyst team takes a look at the contenders that are most relevant to logistics and supply chain managers in the United States.
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2023 State of Robotics: Measurable performance and integration come into focus

There were hordes of robots at ProMat 2023, but what are they doing for operations in terms of high-value applications, and how do they integrate to help material flow? To find out, we asked a few exhibitors about the top warehouse robotic apps and trends.
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2023 Warehouse/DC Operations Survey: Automating while upping performance

This year’s survey found increasing levels of use for various automation and software technologies, while technology budgets held fairly steady. However, operations face continued challenges around labor scarcity, inadequate warehouse space, and the pressure to perform in line with customer expectations.
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