Topic: Other

In Logistics Management’s April 2010 issue, we introduced Profit, Sales, and Operations Planning (PS&OP), a way to align supply chain decision-making with high-level financial goals and long-range strategic planning. Since that time, more companies have begun implementing PS&OP-like approaches—using financial data, scenario modeling, and analytics to concurrently optimize sales, balance demand and supply, and maximize profits.

The retailer’s transformational best practice just so happens to be a move back to the rails in order to cope with growing truck capacity concerns—and it did so with the help of its trucking partner.

Most companies’ manufacturing strategies involve decisions relating to landed cost per unit, cost/quality balance, and various SKUs’ compatibility with supply chain parameters—transportability, packaging, serviceability. However, one thing is often missing: insights for connecting manufacturing operations with business results. Few companies excel at understanding and optimizing the business value of their manufacturing decisions.

While Mexico and Canada remain our primary international opportunity, LM’s analyst panel tell us that bolder players will be exploring more distant markets once the Panama Canal expansion is complete.

Mobile and wireless technology is making a measurable impact on today’s warehouse & DC operations. Savvy users are going multi-modal, pulling multiple technologies and software capabilities together to increase productivity, cut pick-rate errors, and increase inventory accuracy.

Top supply chain software analysts break down the drivers that will keep the transportation management systems market on a steady upswing for years to come.

When it comes to the oil and fuel markets, it’s been quite a year. On the supply side, the biggest story was the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region uprising epitomized by the Libyan revolt that led to the death of Muammar Gadaffi and the shuttering of 1.6 million barrels of daily oil production.

From a business standpoint, the first 10 years of the 21st Century have been anything but normal. Economic turmoil is almost constant, currency valuations shift with the wind, and bank lending vacillates between lenient and tight-fisted.

A flurry of new trade agreements should signal greater opportunity for U.S. importers and exporters. But this means that another layer of compliance complexity has been introduced. How will today’s global shippers deal with the new risk/reward scenario?

Our distinguished panel tells shippers to expect to pay more for parcel services, be on the lookout for competition among existing carriers, and keep your eyes open for new regional entrants.

When executed properly, supply chain visibility will come into play on a day-to-day basis. But how do logistics managers get there? Our technology correspondent shows you the way.

The foremost specialty chemicals and materials company brought on a transformational logistics leader, shed its transportation and warehouse assets, and ramped up a rapid worldwide expansion. Here’s how it happened.

Our warehouse/DC engineer dives into the best practices and tools that the retailer put to work in order to expand its distribution network after it became the exclusive provider of beauty products for JCPenney stores.

In the future, companies’ physical end-to-end supply chains will work in concert with equally comprehensive and far reaching “digital supply networks”—from systems that support initial design and development work, all the way to those that help manage delivery and post-sale service.

Logistics Management’s 6th Annual Warehouse and Distribution Center (DC) Operations Survey findings reveal that inventory turns are not improving, more DCs are closing rather than opening, and many companies are remaining cautious with equipment investment.

Our 2011 findings reveal that inventory turns are not improving, more DCs are closing rather than opening, and many companies are remaining cautious with equipment investment.

Taking a holistic, integrated approach to fleet management can make a significant and continuous contribution to higher, company-wide productivity and lower costs. Our team sets out to help managers overcome current fleet-optimization issues and offers ways to create value in private fleet management.

What is the country doing to ensure the efficiency and effectiveness of those global supply chain networks that have tapped its resources and fueled its rise to power?

Today’s lift trucks offer more in the way of technology, power, and performance than ever before. Here’s a look at the latest innovations available in today’s trucks.