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The History of the Shipping Container. 26 April 2016 marks the 60th anniversary of the maiden voyage of the Ideal X and the birth of modern container shipping, a development that played a critical role in spurring the global economy. One visionary, Malcom McLean , features prominently in the industry’s development. But the modern shipping container has changed much more than one industry.
E-commerce and omnichannel solutions are rapidly becoming the next frontier in the use of the Internet of Things and better order fulfillment processes. When the Internet first arrived, the idea of waiting for an extended period to receive a product was great, asserts Gordon Hellberg of Material Handling and Logistics. It opened up doors and gave millions access to products that were never available in local areas, regions, or other countries.
“The No. 1 challenge among manufacturing companies is connecting sales and operations planning (S&OP) to operational plan/execution.” – Gartner Research 1. There are few competencies more core for a company than the ability to coordinate sales with supply chain in order to fill demand. But according to Gartner, today’s Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) isn’t solving the fundamental challenge of translating aggregated decisions into operational details.
At a recent dinner with friends, the topic of our conversation moved to the invincibility of autonomous vehicles and the unfortunate encounter between the bus and the Google car. It was my turn to be ‘the heart of the party’. Score one for rational thinking and mathematics. Fans of autonomous flying vehicles (a.k.a. drones), proponents of self-landing planes, enthusiasts of autonomous driving vehicles, and whatever other sorts of unmanned flying, sailing and flying things of the future – it’s ti
Procurement leaders are at a pivotal moment. With CPOs playing an increasingly strategic role, it’s time to leverage innovation and technology to drive resilience and efficiency. Download The 2025 Annual ProcureCon CPO Report to uncover key insights to thrive in a dynamic procurement landscape. What’s Inside: How CPOs are driving strategic decision-making and technology adoption The top priorities and challenges for procurement in 2025 Why AI, sustainability, and data analytics are essential for
Today’s supply chain is inside-out. Companies wait and process orders. They cannot sense and respond to demand. It is a struggle. The processes are largely batch and out-of-cadence with the markets they serve. Increasingly, business requirements are outside-in. The channels are multi-tier and companies are more dependent on outsourcing. Systems are growing more complex.
by Alexa Cheater The past year has not been kind to our musical idols. Although many have passed, including David Bowie, BB King, Glen Frey and most recently Prince, we’ll always have a phenomenal body of musical works to keep them alive in our hearts and minds. When you hear these names and their music you don’t immediately think supply chain, but for all the supply chain nerds out there we’re always thinking, ‘what’s the impact on the supply chain?
by Alexa Cheater The past year has not been kind to our musical idols. Although many have passed, including David Bowie, BB King, Glen Frey and most recently Prince, we’ll always have a phenomenal body of musical works to keep them alive in our hearts and minds. When you hear these names and their music you don’t immediately think supply chain, but for all the supply chain nerds out there we’re always thinking, ‘what’s the impact on the supply chain?
Organizations continue to look for areas of opportunity and inspiration on the quest to improve the operational efficiency of their supply chain. While technology capabilities are plentiful, for many, it’s not immediately obvious where one should start. What I have attempted to do here is provide a staged view on how I would categorize significant technology enablement, with one category potentially building upon the other.
The average Supply Chain management professional measures their Supply Chain by reviewing cost reduction. Is cost reduction all that there is in measuring Supply Chain performance? Sure, supply chain cost reduction is important in reducing the cost of goods sold (COGS) and increasing profit, but there are other measurements which should not be forgotten. 3 Key Metrics for Measuring Supply Chain Performance Beyond Cost Reduction.
Managing change at the individual level is essential to realize benefits across the organization. Companies pick supply chain planning software based on the benefits to the business. But they install the software successfully—and realize the gains—when they convince users of those benefits. It’s the critical “last mile” of any implementation and can be one the hardest miles to overcome.
We’re huge fans of innovation in the logistics space. Which is why we’re taking our hats off to SpaceX for delivering 7,000 lbs of cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) this week using a reusable rocket – the Falcon 9. As a result, the launch costs “only” $90 million (of which $200,000 went to fuel). Given that the ISS orbits at about 250 miles, that comes out to about $50,000 mile/ton.
Savvy B2B marketers know that a great account-based marketing (ABM) strategy leads to higher ROI and sustainable growth. In this guide, we’ll cover: What makes for a successful ABM strategy? What are the key elements and capabilities of ABM that can make a real difference? How is AI changing workflows and driving functionality? This Martech Intelligence Report on Enterprise Account-Based Marketing examines the state of ABM in 2024 and what to consider when implementing ABM software.
This weekend, I decompressed and turned off my cell phone. The concept of being on and available all the time– 24/7– wears on me. I spent a beautiful, brisk, Saturday afternoon building monsters with my grandson, Jake, at the local children’s museum. (I find that even building blocks hold more possibilities today than when I was a child fifty-five years ago.
by Alexa Cheater There’s no denying Amazon is a Goliath in the online marketplace. Selling more than 480 million products, a mix of its own items and products drop-shipped by others; its supply chain is a force to be reckoned with. I’ve written before about how the company is revolutionizing omni-channel strategies , but a recent post and infographic by MBA@Syracuse, the university’s online MBA program , shines a spotlight on just how customer-centric Amazon’s supply chain really is.
As digitization continues to modify the global supply chain landscape, its unprecedented data sources and solutions will lead to not only the demise of disparate information systems, but to the rise of true, end-to-end, supply chain visibility. For suppliers and mid- to large-sized companies, supply chain visibility serves as the foundation for strategic decisions and tactical improvements across the entire transportation network.
The benefits to the use of warehouse robots, loading, unloading and delivery are evident. Robots do not sleep. They do not drink. They do not complain, and they do not need a paycheck. Robots are rapidly becoming one of the most prevalent enterprises within the logistics industry. As explained by Steve Banker of Forbes magazine , Amazon has unleashed an army of robots in their distribution centers for the purposes of picking and packaging.
Fulfillment is no longer just about getting products from point A to point B – it's about crafting seamless, scalable, customer first experiences. Flexible fulfillment strategies are more important than ever for those aiming to stay ahead and build resilience as retail enters a new era in 2025. Learn how to optimize fulfillment processes, tackle complex, multi-vendor orders, and create seamless customer experiences – from white-glove delivery for high-value items to quick-ship solutions for ever
In last week’s blog we talked about the fundamental challenge of connecting tactical S&OP down to detailed execution. Here we look in the other direction and examine the challenge of connecting tactical S&OP up to the strategic plan. S&OP creates a common framework and view of the business, so different departments with different drivers and measures are able to efficiently communicate.
In ARC‘s recent Supply Chain Visibility & Collaboration Study, we found that the supply chain visibility & collaboration market is the fastest growing supply chain market. Over a year ago, ARC started to come across large corporations investing in supply chain control towers as a way of taking their supply chain program to the next level.
Rwanda is a tiny country in Africa, the fourth smallest to be exact, but one making giant strides in embracing the latest technology. In fact, in some cases it is leapfrogging many first world countries in the race to do business, smarter, cheaper, better. Rwanda is at a distinct disadvantage. It’s small (about the size of Maryland), landlocked, and mountainous.
by Melissa Clow This guest post comes to us from Argentus Supply Chain Recruiting , a boutique recruitment firm specializing in Supply Chain Management. This week, we want to highlight a fascinating survey by global management consultancy Deloitte. Titled Human Capital Trends 2016 , the survey solicited 7000 responses from executives at 130 countries about a vast array of workforce topics including organizational design, hiring, leadership, and other issues, with the goal of assessing how the 21
The Supplier Relationship Management Playbook is your guide to building effective supplier partnerships that drive supply chain excellence. This playbook equips supply chain professionals with strategies for managing compliance, tracking performance, and fostering collaboration to reduce supply chain risks. Inside, you’ll find: Strategies for Compliance: Best practices to help meet regulatory standards.
It’s rare that a shipper or third party logistics (3PL) provider has the luxury to sit back and roll out perfect operations and systems strategies, perfect improvement programs or perfect projects. Yet, many improvement approaches focus on that green field. Ideal transportation operations are difficult to achieve, but an ideal approach to improving transportation in the real world — finding real savings and adding value to other functional areas in the supply chain, or business more broadl
This month China's Chang’an Automobile Engineering & Research Institute conducted a 2,000-kilometer test run of two driverless cars, The Hindu reported. The cars performed well under simple road conditions on urban driveways and highways but still needed human assistance to navigate situations such as pulling into gas stations and going through toll booths.
As world affairs go, the most recent Global Liner Shipping conference in London did not stir up much interest in the global news cycle. The Panama papers were still hogging the headlines and competing hard against dissections of mishaps in the private lives of British politicians. And let’s not forget the endless discussions on the subject of Brexit.
When it comes to bulk shipments of commodities, strategic planning is even more important than day to day operations. Without careful advance planning, logistics personnel can never hope to effectively manage logistics operations when they are stuck with a suboptimal supply chain network.
Speaker: Eric Berdinis, Ran Sun, & Chris Chmielewski
Procuring freight can be cumbersome, time-consuming, and error-prone. If you’re frustrated with the complex and manual processes for obtaining bids for your contract and spot freight, you’re not alone. In today’s fast-moving supply chain environment, optimizing these processes is critical to staying competitive and cutting costs. Join this exclusive webinar with experts from Uber Freight to learn how the latest digital tools and automation can transform your freight procurement strategy by strea
Congratulations to Walmart’s Carriers of the Year for 2015. Walmart selected the carriers based on their “dedication to customer service and a commitment to creating innovative solutions in an evolving, yet extremely important, business.”. I think it’s no surprise that all of Walmart’s selected carriers are on One Network’s Real Time Value Network , the consumer-driven platform for supply chain and logistics leaders.
by Jonathan Matthews When talking about exciting new advancements that are coming to the supply chain, the discussion will always usually end up focused around 3D printing. Rightly so, as the 3D printer has opened up new opportunities never before possible in the supply chain. Rather than having to wait for a specialized part, companies can now print the part they need right on site.
One of my supply chain and logistics predictions for this year was that the transportation management system (TMS) market will become more barbell-shaped ( mirroring what is happening in the third-party logistics industry ). “We’re seeing the TMS market move in two opposite directions,” I wrote back in December. “Some solutions are becoming broader, more integrated, and feature-rich (multi-mode, multi-geography, complex optimization), while others are offering more limited capabilities, but with
Bluetooth technologies seem to predate the use of the Internet of things (IoT) in society. We can all remember when the first flip phones could send short media files to friends for use as ringtones. However, Bluetooth technologies are creating a subset of the IoT, expanding its benefits and use among shipping and logistics providers. Before deciding to forgo the use Bluetooth-enabled technologies, logistics providers need to think about the driving forces behind them and how they will further b
Innovation varies widely across sectors and organizations, creating value in diverse forms. Understanding different types is crucial for R&D teams to foster creativity and uncover missed opportunities. This guide explores 25 key types of innovation in management frameworks.
“The potential for the Internet of Things is huge,” writes Thomas Wadlow. “From water sensors that remind you to water … Continued. The post The Internet of Things will Change the World Once Devices Start Communicating appeared first on Enterra Solutions.
As supply chain consultants, we often help clients navigate complex change–from adjusting to cost or competitive pressures to unique challenges like an M&A. These challenges all demand careful analysis of multiple financial and operational outcomes. There’s often a lot hanging in the balance, so it’s rarely a good time to “map out” supply chain changes or cost reduction goals on the back of a napkin.
As every year, Emerald has recently announced the winners of the Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence 2016. Several SCM-related articles have been awarded this year: A set of awarded articles falls into the area of sustainability, including articles by Tseng et al. , Tachizawa et al. , Signori et al. , Touboulic & Walker and Jaggernath & Khan.
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