Articles
Commentary
Is Your Enterprise Flexible Enough To Scale?
Scalability is important. In this annual Third-Party Logistics edition, you will find partners and resources to ensure your enterprise is flexible enough to scale.
Read More
How to Develop an Agile Supply Chain
Businesses need to prioritize building supply chain strategies that can effectively navigate today’s increasingly volatile environment marked by supply chain disruptions, geopolitical tensions, and ever-changing consumer demands. Agility, resilience, and outside-the-box thinking have become critical to protect the customer experience—and the bottom line.
Read More
What Grade Would You Give Brands on Reverse Logistics Operations?
I would give a range of grades from A to F for how brands are handling reverse logistics. There is still a lot of variation in this area—from consumer spending to B2B direct spend. A stellar reverse logistics program can lower the bar to buy. It’s so much easier to make a purchase decision when you know you can send the product back if needed, with no hassle. This is an area for improvement.
–Doug DeLuca
Product Marketing Manager
SAP Business Network, SAP
Tips for Closing the Visibility Gap
With modern supply chains being so intricate and involving numerous stakeholders, maintaining full visibility is becoming increasingly challenging. However, many businesses operate with fragmented and legacy systems where data lives in different silos and across different platforms. This lack of integration makes it difficult to track and monitor the entire supply chain in real time.
Read More
Are We Ready for Fully Digital BoLs?
While the advantages of electronic bills of lading (eBoLs) are clear, several hurdles—complex implementation, legal concerns, and a reluctance to let go of established processes—hamper its adoption.
Read More
What Can Rail Shippers Expect?
The rail industry finds itself at a critical juncture, poised for transformative progress that extends well beyond individual companies. Building on the progress freight rail companies made in 2023, this year holds the promise of a secure future marked by reliability, resilience, and commitment to sustainability.
Read More
Are Supply Chain Managers Running the Company?
Supply chain managers are playing a greater role in directing company operations and creating shared enterprise value as silos between suppliers and customers start to come down. Technology plays a part in opening those pathways because it cuts across company barriers. Third-party logistics (3PL) providers promise to do the same by cutting across inter-company barriers […]
Read More
Revolutionizing Local Delivery: The Future of Multi-Store Order Fulfillment
Implementing new shipper types for business deliveries, optimizing capacity, and adopting an income model based on stops are key strategies in reshaping last-mile delivery services.
Read MoreSupply Chains Stabilize, But Risks Ahead
In 2023, it seemed like the supply chain was finally starting to calm down from the turmoil and instability that the pandemic set in motion. But storm clouds are appearing on the horizon, and manufacturers and distributors should pay close attention to them.
Read More
Artificial Intelligence in Supply Chain Management: What’s One Human Capability AI Can’t Match?
Are there limits to what artificial intelligence can achieve in supply chain management? Readers share the uniquely human skills that AI can’t yet (or ever?) replicate.
Read More
3 Ways to Update Your Hiring Strategy
Lingering and new disruptions to the supply chain make it difficult for employers to determine their staffing needs at any given time. Despite these headwinds, employers can use staffing strategies to better prepare for and respond to supply chain disruptions.
Read More
3 Keys to Strengthen Safety
Safety is a top priority for any supply chain organization, and communication is paramount to safe operations. Here are three ways that effective communication can mitigate operational risks and strengthen safety across the supply chain.
Read More
Reclassifying Marijuana Impacts Road Safety
Rescheduling marijuana without explicit provisions for continued drug testing could compromise road safety. The ATA weighs in on the proposed deregulation.
Read More
How Biden’s Tariff Increases on Chinese Products Will Affect the U.S. Economy
The White House announced on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, that he will raise tariffs on electric vehicles (EVs), from the current 25% to 100% to take effect in 2024.
Read More
The Future of Cargo Measurement Automation
The measurement and weighing of packages and palletized cargo is an ideal target for automation. This is a particularly labor-intensive and time-consuming manual process that is prone to error.
Read More
Strip It Down to the Studs?
Our publisher sounds off on Ancora Holdings’ attempted takeover at Norfolk Southern.
Read More
As Russia Greases Up Oil Exports, Sanctions Need to Get a Grip
As the U.S. Treasury Department refocuses its efforts to stifle Russia’s war in Ukraine, the latest (and certainly not the last) round of ‘blocking’ sanctions has refreshed the focus on Russian energy and startups in the petroleum market who have, despite all the red tape, managed to maintain a steady stream of income for the Kremlin.
Read More
5 Shipper Tips for Surviving DOT Week
Today, May 14, marks the start of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CSVA) International Roadcheck, better known as DOT Week.
Read More
The Waiting Game: Forecasting a Potential Freight Recovery
In contrast to the dramatic spikes of the COVID era, a potential freight recovery is likely to happen in a more measured, gradual fashion and will likely extend into 2025. Eventually, the market will reach an inflection point in which the recovery kicks off in earnest.
Read MoreFour Profitable Strategies in the New Supply Chain Landscape
The realm of supply chain management stands at a crossroads, challenged by recent global disruptions that exposed vulnerabilities.
Read More