Articles
Checking In
Dialing Into Truck Tone
You pick up the phone and get a dial tone. You move to a keyboard and you have Web tone. Many of us take these amazing enablements for granted, rarely considering how they work, just expecting that they will—all the time, every time. We only consider their absence when and if they fail. But what […]
Read MoreShades of Green
Inbound Logistics is green—as a mission and as a magazine. Matching demand to supply, our founding principle, is an evergreen strategy that eliminates waste: energy, money, and time. By embracing demand-driven practices, companies optimize transportation, reduce warehouse inventory and costs, increase transparency, and trigger countless efficiencies elsewhere in the enterprise. Executing on demand, and specifying […]
Read MoreI Love My Customer
If you think your love for a 3PL is an exclusive one-way street, think again. The feelings are mutual. Sure, you appreciate the value a logistics service provider brings to the relationship: the core intelligence, the sense and sensibility, the thoughtfulness when planning on future demand. But don’t be fooled. 3PLs have a vested business […]
Read MoreI Love My 3PL
Based on the 6,000+ responses to our annual survey of the third-party logistics market, readers really love their 3PLs. Despite the economic downturn in 2008, more companies responding to the survey—from small B-to-C startups to large multinationals, from healthy businesses weathering the maelstrom to names in the news suffering through privation detailed in today’s headlines—increased […]
Read MoreWrong Street Journal?
A recent Wall St. Journal article, “Clarity is Missing Link in Supply Chain” (May 18, 2009) wrongly defines just-in-time (a small and strictly defined subset of demand-driven logistics), then concludes that practicing JIT in a recession makes things worse. The article opens with the CEO of chip designer Zoran Corp., Sunnyvale, Calif., wondering why his […]
Read MoreFrom Sow’s Ear to Silk Purse
Turning adversity into opportunity is standard practice for logistics professionals, but it seems everyone is taking that approach in today’s economic climate. Like most businesses, warehouses and third-party logistics providers (3PLs) are feeling the pinch. The part of their business based on creating value for customers, and sharing in that, is doing OK. But for […]
Read MoreSaaS: A Distribution Model For Tough Times?
The lead article in our annual technology issue 15 years ago featured Barbara Barnhill, transportation supervisor for Elizabeth Arden. She excitedly shared the details of her company’s “revolutionary” inbound transportation program, which racked up million-dollar savings by using the latest technology—a fax machine. Times have changed since the fax machine and its dial tone were […]
Read MoreA Speaking Truth to Power
In a monumental case of bait and switch, the current White House administration is set upon a course that will handicap every U.S. worker and business, and give global economic advantage to all who are not lucky enough to live here. Energy policy—specifically, the carbon offset cap and trade plan—will transfer wealth to the government […]
Read MoreA New World of Logistics Enlightenment
Our annual education issue honors the importance and value of logistics education. Acing logistics basics helps practitioners master supply chain complexity. It’s practical to the core and strategic when it needs to be. But it isn’t static. The challenges of globalization continue to present new ways and means to engage learning. In this sense, history […]
Read MoreMeasure for Measure
You don’t have to dissect Shakespeare to understand that what you put into something you redeem in equal measures—and often more. But in these Dickensian times, businesses are tasked with squeezing out costs and cinching their purse strings. Putting together this year’s Logistics Planner issue, we took William’s advice ≠- investing more time, more resources, […]
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