Over the last 10 years, I’ve had the chance to work with companies that have turned home delivery into a competitive advantage or reduced their costs by using counterintuitive strategies and tactics. On a recent trip to Europe, I had a chance to catch up with a customer who, for several years, has been using the concept called the “eco-friendly” delivery option to steer its customers’ delivery choices to improve productivity. The results they shared […]
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Archive for Guest Commentary
Analytics, big data, data science, machine learning, artificial intelligence, deep learning, heuristics, optimization – do you feel beaten down playing buzz word bingo on a constantly changing board? It can be hard to understand which new buzzwords bring business value and which are best left in the lab to mature. And yet this barrier hasn’t stopped many companies from adopting corporate initiatives around data science or artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML). To keep it simple, I […]
Read More →Each year, as the holidays approach, logistics companies are in preparation for the anticipated peak season demand surges. Traditionally, to alleviate the pressure during peak periods, these companies have turned to temporary labor to increase outputs. In fact, holiday hiring hit a multiyear high in 2018, and is expected to continue to rise this year as companies like UPS, Target and Macy’s have announced plans to hire up to 130,000 seasonal workers. However, this year, […]
Read More →Historically, governments have focused on the exporter of record when looking for sanction or embargo violations, including of the movement of sensitive dual-use products and technologies across borders. However, all parties to an export transaction, including freight forwarders and carriers, are subject to the same rules, and as such must be aware of what is required of them in the transaction. The scope of their due diligence must include destination controls, export licenses and restricted […]
Read More →By the end of October 2019, with or without an agreement, Brexit will have a major impact on cross-border shipping. Businesses that haven’t already prepared should start by better understanding the specific nature and extent of the looming changes. By proactively addressing potential challenges to shipping operations brought on by Brexit, businesses can work to ensure a smooth transition, provide a seamless customer experience, proficiently manage delays and keep costs in line with expectations. Change […]
Read More →Much of the conversation these days about supply chain centers around the “digital disruption” of the business. The very definition of “disruption” implies a major disturbance; that it’s all changing too rapidly and upending the accepted way of doing things. But in reality, we have been living within the digital transformation of supply chain for quite some time. Consider this, right now at C.H. Robinson, almost 70 percent of our interactions are completely digital. We […]
Read More →Driving operational growth and increasing supply chain efficiency in today’s ever-changing business world is a top priority for many companies. In order to grow in a rapidly evolving marketplace, organizations must possess the ability to use advanced algorithms and data analytics to generate the next wave of supply chain value. With the abundant data available and the advanced technologies now accessible to help harness it, organizations must establish effective strategies to curate data, produce and […]
Read More →Note: Today’s post is part of our “Editor’s Choice” series where we highlight recent posts published by our sponsors that provide supply chain insights and advice. If your home was on fire, would you want firefighters to attempt to douse the flames with an old manual bucket line? Of course not. You would want them to use the most modern, effective equipment available. So why are you asking your supply planners to fight the fires […]
Read More →Note: Today’s post is part of our “Editor’s Choice” series where we highlight recent posts published by our sponsors that provide supply chain insights and advice. Geopolitical uncertainties such as Brexit, the China-U.S. trade war, and the trade conflict between Japan-Korea all impact today’s shipping market. A lot of C.H. Robinson’s coverage of these and other disruptions has focused on what it means for companies shipping into North America. But these same disruptions are also […]
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Supply Chain Brief
To the Point of No E-commerce Returns
As e-commerce returns volume continues to skyrocket alongside continued growth of online shopping, top shippers are challenging the notion of returns as a cost of doing business they must accept. In some cases, in fact, a lot can be done to counter the growth of returns from an operational perspective, and many of the world’s biggest retailers have identified game-changing insights by looking at the returns process more critically. In 2020 and beyond, look for […]
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