Archive for November, 2009
“Oil is becoming increasingly difficult and costly to recover, and the problem of managing the supply chain and profits has become more complex than ever. After weathering the economic downturn, the industry must boost capacity for future demand, and keep a close eye on the economics of oil and gas production.”
So wrote my colleague Allen Avery, in a recent ARC Insight report titled “In an Uncertain
Supply Chain Poem: What We Remember
· CommentsEvery once in a while, I check to see what search engine terms are driving traffic to the Logistics Viewpoints website. Not surprising, terms like “logistics blog” and “supply chain trends” are high on the list. Earlier this year, I wrote about how people searching for “shippers needing carriers” were landing at our site. On any given week, if you scan down the list of search terms, they… Continue reading
Last year, I interviewed several warehouse managers in the chemical industry to learn more about their operations and how they are using supply chain execution (SCE) technology. Chemical manufacturers, distributors, and logistics service providers (LSPs) all operate chemical warehouses which differ in complexity. At one end of the spectrum are distributors (or LSPs that handle chemicals on behalf of manufacturing clients) who receive containers, usually drums, from suppliers… Continue reading
TMS for iPhone: There’s an App for That!
· CommentsLast week, I participated in a conference call MercuryGate organized for clients interested in learning more about its TMS Mobile (aka iPhone Portal) solution. If you’re a longtime reader of Logistics Viewpoints, you know I’m a big fan of the iPhone, and that I view iPhone-like apps as the next frontier for software-as-a-service TMS solutions (see “An App Store for Logistics Software”). So, needless to say, I was… Continue reading
Dow’s RFID Journey
· CommentsThree years ago, Dow Chemical, the largest chemical company in the world, began a journey to explore the usefulness of RFID to enhance security, improve customer satisfaction, and reduce costs.
When Dow began to explore this new and still maturing technology, it put together a thorough set of processes to facilitate the analysis and adoption of RFID. Additionally, the company decided that RFID and GPS would work well… Continue reading
Earlier this week, I met with the top sales executive at a leading supply chain software company. We talked about many things, but one topic interested me the most. He mentioned that after neglecting sales training for some time, the company is now investing in this area again. Why? Here are some paraphrased comments:
The buying audience today is very different than years ago, and much more educated… Continue reading
In my “What Causes Shelf Out-of-Stocks?” posting last week, I reviewed some research conducted by Walmart on the major causes of shelf-level out-of-stocks. One reason, occurring about 20 percent of the time, is phantom inventory. Phantom inventory occurs when the store system shows inventory available but none really exists. It also occurs when the system shows more inventory than what is actually available in the store; this can be… Continue reading
Has the recession tossed a wet towel on the green movement? Recent developments suggest this is the case. Last month, for example, the Pew Research Center published the results of its latest survey on this topic (see “Fewer Americans See Solid Evidence of Global Warming”). Here are some excerpts:
The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted Sept. 30-Oct… Continue reading
