Blogs

Given that ‘compliance’ is a broad topic which covers all aspects of your business, we’ll put it in context of the warehouse receiving dock and where in the process of unloading a container or trailer, you need to capture shipment errors.

The value of scorecarding is in the quality of the data being captured and the visibility of the reports to the business and its partners.

The nation’s top freight carriers record an annual empty miles percentage of roughly 12.5 percent. That is to say that trucks are forced to make the return trip to their point of origin empty, because no additional conveyances are available along the route. And the figure is much higher – as much as 25 percent – for private carriers that only carry loads for a single shipper, and thus have fewer reloading opportunities.

The supply chain arena is a place where there are a lot of existing problems - women are problem-solvers - traditionally, women deal with family budgets and evaluating risk, when it comes to bringing value to employers, women draw from that discipline and experience.

What I witnessed at MODEX is a discernible explosion in interest in the more advanced, goods-to-person technologies largely pioneered and perfected by European companies.

A recent study and several news articles surrounding it are reporting some interesting news for our industry. The report, done by Smithers Pira, reports that by 2018, the sustainable packaging market will reach $244 billion.

It would be a fundamental mistake for companies to assume that the recent wave of economic growth means they can relax the efforts to maximize efficiency and reduce operating costs they may have adopted in the wake of the Great Recession.

It's clear that any company not aggressively doing something about e-commerce, and how they handle material handling, is going to be at a disadvantage competitively moving forward and not just in the holiday season.

Shippers need to be sharing these types of articles with their Senior Executives, so they have a better understanding of the transportation marketplace and how it could impact the bottom line for their companies.

The lines between the warehouse management system (WMS) and warehouse control system (WCS) are blurring as they encroach upon each other's previously defined roles in the warehouse.

Thoughts regarding business trends that will affect not just how you do your job but also how the supply chain is managed - not surprisingly analytics have a profound impact and remains at the top of the list.

The exiting train had a line sufficient for a couple hundred people, and really no “start”. Once you have built a system simulation one can easily run “worst case scenarios” and plan for pain points.

Shipping starts weeks before the holiday and the best flowers arrive early. But how does a flower that makes the two-week journey arrive with the splendor to light up a Valentine’s bouquet?

Anyone who has talked to a motor carrier knows that it costs a lot more to operate a truck today that it did three years ago. Despite the increased operating expense, shippers have been able to avoid significant rate increases to this point.

To improve the logistics of tracking and tracing members of Team USA, a new Team USA Guide app (developed by AT&T) helps athletes, coaches and delegation members communicate with each other.

If your company hasn’t considered going mobile, then you’re not taking future growth seriously. The industry studies are easy to find and they all suggest the same trend—mobile is exponentially becoming the forefront of technology with billions owning a mobile device.

The underlying economic premise for importing and exporting is “specialization and trade.” Simply put, specialization means some region, country, or people have a “comparable advantage” for making certain products over another region, country, or people.

I recently read a roundup of all the research Gartner Group has published around S&OP. I’m struck by the fact the research points to 70% of companies are at a maturity level of 2 or lower even after 30 years of S&OP chest beating by the supply chain industry.

Many people know FORTE as a leading firm for warehouse automation solutions. What they may not know is the reason, which is FORTE’s Smart Warehouse Suite™ software that makes every system work. As is often the case, it’s what’s behind the scenes that matters most.

Supply chain management is the hot new MBA, according to the Wall Street Journal, or why it was the leading topic of discussion at all four of the Material Handling & U.S. Logistics Roadmap round table meetings last summer.