Archive for February, 2009
In medicine, researchers often study people who don’t get sick after getting exposed to an otherwise deadly virus to understand what enables their immunity, which can accelerate the development of a successful vaccine. Similarly, when it comes to logistics outsourcing, it’s sometimes useful to study the outliers to get a different perspective on what’s happening in the industry.
I use the medicine analogy because the “outlier” I’m focusing on… Continue reading
A “Buy American” Supply Chain
· CommentsCongress passed the $787 billion “stimulus bill” this weekend and President Obama is scheduled to sign it tomorrow. One item that made it into the final version of the bill, despite some opposition, is a “Buy American” provision that reads “None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act may be used for a project for the construction, alteration, maintenance, or repair of a public building or… Continue reading
This Week in Supply Chain and Logistics
· CommentsIt must be like having a term paper hanging over your head every morning. This is the way one of my colleagues described the way I must feel when I sit down to write my daily post. On some days, this is an accurate description, but the challenge is not a lack of topics to write about. On the contrary, the main cause of my occasional bout with writer’s block… Continue reading
Earlier this week, I received an email from a Logistics Viewpoints reader asking if I had any information about 3PLs in Mexico that I could share. I sent back a quick response: What type of information are you looking for? Are there specific 3PL capabilities or services you’re interested in? If I understood his response back to me correctly (we were communicating in Spanish), I believe he was interested in… Continue reading
In a recession, cash is king. What can your supply chain team do to improve cash flow? What processes and technologies can help?
The most obvious action is to lengthen payment terms with key suppliers. Finance may do this without informing supply chain managers, but this works against the mantra of establishing an adaptive, demand-driven supply chain. An adaptive supply chain can efficiently respond to unexpected surges in demand. … Continue reading
Back in November, I commented on an article that appeared in the Financial Times about companies providing financial support to their suppliers (see “Financing: A New Twist on Supply Chain Collaboration“). My key takeaway was that supply chain risk management-especially with regards to avoiding supply disruptions-will become even more important in this economic environment. Some recent news appears to validate my thinking.
According to an article in this… Continue reading
Greener World Media published their second annual “State of Green Business 2009” report last week. The report, written by Joel Makower and the editors of GreenBiz.com, provides a nice overview of the top “green” stories of 2008 (e.g., Water Becomes the New Carbon) and highlights twenty indicators of environmental performance, such as green power use, paper use and recycling, growth of green buildings, and toxics in manufacturing. Although the… Continue reading
After all the recent news of layoffs and disappointing financial results, both in the software and logistics service provider industries, it was refreshing to get some “positive” news this week-i.e., the acquisitions announced by HighJump Software and Descartes Systems Group.
On Wednesday, HighJump announced that it acquired Insight Distribution Software, a provider of enterprise software solutions for the food and beverage distribution industries. Insight has… Continue reading
