On March 25, 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory in New York City caught fire, trapping nearly all of the 600 workers inside. Most of the workers were teenaged girls, working 12-hour days for a mere $15 a week. Within 18 minutes, it was all over. Forty-nine workers had burned to death or been suffocated by smoke, 36 were dead in the elevator shaft and 58 died from jumping to the sidewalks. With two more […]
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Archive for Guest Commentary
From distribution to doorstep, a mobile supply chain application provides visibility and many other advantages. We live in a mobile, connected world. Why should your supply chain be any different? A mobility solution can support business plans to optimize workflow capabilities, improve communications, cut unnecessary expense, maximize visibility, and provide a world-class customer experience. It provides organizations the freedom to employ tried-and-true workflows, along with the flexibility to apply unique processes to suit customers. The […]
Read More →If your job is to develop a connector from your business systems to a multi-carrier API, there are some important considerations you should keep in mind. It’s a multi-carrier world. The days of picking a carrier or two to handle all your transportation needs are long gone. Customers are demanding more delivery options. The driver shortage and carrier capacity crunch are creating reliability issues. As a result, costs are only going up with no […]
Read More →Control towers emerged in the 1990s as the logistics industry—specifically 3PLs—needed a mechanism to provide visibility to their clients. Successfully addressing the challenge of accounting for inventory in motion/at rest was a differentiator for all players (3PLs, distributors, retailers, wholesalers and manufacturers). Thus, the foundation was laid for what is known today as digital control towers (DCTs). While the last three decades of supply chain innovation were transformative in many ways, progress has been slow […]
Read More →It’s the era of the new consumer. We must adapt supply chains rapidly to meet customer expectations. Trends like reverse logistics, same-day-delivery and mobility result in new business models, stressed logistics systems and deconsolidating networks. We’re also in the midst of a shrinking talent pool. Competing with rising wages and attractive employment alternatives for this generation is pivotal in landing the top talent. How do we handle this? By evolving our operations with the tools […]
Read More →Final mile logistics is attracting a lot of interest for many reasons, but the most obvious is the growth in e-commerce markets. While companies have opportunities to gain new customers by offering more buying and delivery options, these often same-day home deliveries do not come without challenges. In fact, final mile deliveries can be among the most expensive transportation segments in a supply chain. There are costs associated with scheduling times for appointments. If a […]
Read More →It seems no matter where we look these days, robots and other uses of artificial intelligence are not hard to find. From our cars and smart appliances to Alexa and Siri, the rise of AI technology has permeated our daily lives and is changing the way we operate. Warehouses and distribution centers are no exception. In recent years we’ve seen a dramatic increase in intelligent automation across the supply chain, a necessity to keep up […]
Read More →High demand for flatbed shipping is rolling mightily into the peak periods of summer, continuing to drive historic supply issues across North America. While it’s difficult to predict how long it will last, what is predictable is that unprecedented demand of flatbed shipping will disrupt the typical cycles and seasonal trends we’ve come to expect, and make securing supply even more difficult as the market and carrier demographics remain fragmented. Understanding what’s behind the demand surge […]
Read More →Just this week, forecasters warned that the 2018 hurricane season could be more active than usual, unfortunately as busy as the stormy 2017 season that brought unprecedented damage to many areas. What does this have to do with the supply chain? Shippers know all too well that the strain on truck capacity and supply chain resources continues to have an impact, and the overall capacity issue will remain for the long-haul. A wait-and-see approach by […]
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Supply Chain Brief
More than a TMS: Optimizing with Visibility-Driven Workflows
When we think about visibility and tracking in our daily lives, our consumer mindset probably turns on and we think of online ordering. We’re concerned with questions like, “Where’s my stuff?” or “What time can I expect my order to be delivered?” In a B2C environment, visibility is about tracking. But in B2B, it’s so much more. Visibility covers the technology and tools you use for supply chain management. It’s about amassing data from all […]
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