Archive for Transportation
Shippers, Time to Learn About CSA 2010
· CommentsYesterday, I moderated a shipper-carrier roundtable discussion at Manhattan Associates’ Momentum 2010 User Conference. In my opening comments, I joked that Manhattan had lied to me when it asked me to moderate the session. “Manhattan told me there would be a steel cage in the room, like an Ultimate Fighting Championship match, and they promised me blood.” In reality, the room set-up was much more civilized and the… Continue reading
An article in the Wall Street Journal last Thursday (“New Ways to Read Economy,” Cari Tuna, April 8, 2010) highlighted several emerging economic indicators, including diesel fuel sales. Improved systems for collecting and disseminating data makes it easier today to track diesel fuel sales. While the profitability of leading trucking firms has long been considered a leading economic indicator, diesel fuel sales has the advantage of being a timelier… Continue reading
From a supply chain perspective, it often makes sense to have the warehouse work harder, so that downstream recipients of shipments don’t have to work as hard. If certain tasks can be done more cost efficiently in the warehouse, then those tasks should be performed there.
However, there are instances where the warehouse can actually work less hard and still provide lower total supply chain costs. A recent article… Continue reading
The big news in the scientific community this week was the successful testing of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) on Tuesday in the Swiss-French countryside. Protons travelling near the speed of light collided together at a record level of 7 teraelectron volts (TeV). “Particle physicists around the world are looking forward to a potentially rich harvest of new physics as the LHC begins its first long run at an… Continue reading
Manufacturers Tackle Inbound Transportation
· CommentsSeveral years ago, many retailers launched initiatives to take greater control of their inbound transportation processes. We published a report back in May 2003 titled “Taking Control of Inbound Transportation“ (available to ARC clients only) that outlined a six-step process for converting from pre-paid to collect transportation based on best practices observed from companies that had already embarked on that journey.
Like retailers before… Continue reading
Company annual reports typically contain a letter from the CEO or Chairman. Many of these letters are boring and filled with half truths. There is one exception: Warren Buffet’s annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders. His letters are eagerly awaited by the financial community because they are funny and insightful.
His most recent letter came out at the end of February. He did not say as much as… Continue reading
This Week in Logistics News (Feb 15-19)
· CommentsI’ve been on the road these past two weeks, so it’s been a bit difficult keeping up with everything that’s been going on. But here are a few items, from this week and last, that escaped my delete button:
- Transplace Provides Retailers Efficient Supply Chain Operations for Fixtures and Displays
- Retail Container Traffic to be Up 25 Percent First Half of 2010
Fuel Taxes: Let’s Insist on Getting Something Back
Posted on Feb 17 2010 | By Tom Sanderson · Comments (3)There is a growing consensus about the need to spend more on highway repair and construction and the reality of needing additional funding (tax collections) to pay for the improvements. James Oberstar, Chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure says, “… we need to begin the transition from the gasoline and diesel user fees to a vehicle miles travelled (VMT) fee system that charges users for each mile… Continue reading