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Assessing U.S. Shipments and Spend
A tighter truck market, increase in national shipments, and accelerated factory output are among the highlights of the Q3 2017 U.S. Bank Freight Payment Index, which measures quantitative changes in shipment and spend activity (see chart) based on data from transactions the company processes. Highlights include: An 8.3-percent jump in U.S. Bank’s national spend index, […]
Read MoreIndustrial Companies Map Data Gap
Eighty-four percent of industrial companies face a disconnect between data from connected devices and strategic decision making and operations, limiting the Internet of Thing’s (IoT) digital transformation potential, according to a research study conducted by IFS, a global enterprise applications company. Only 16 percent of survey respondents consume IoT data in enterprise resource planning (ERP) […]
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Young Professionals and Supply Chain: So Happy Together
The opportunity for interesting work, as well as development and advancement, top the list of requirements for young professionals, according to the 2018 CSCMP/Penske Young Professionals Survey of 300 supply chain professionals younger than 30. The average young professional responding to the survey has worked in the supply chain sector for about three years and […]
Read MoreFacts About Friction
The average U.S. business loses $171,340 per year through clunky payment practices causing friction in their supply chain, according to new research by Tungsten Network. This equates to almost 6,500 man hours spent chasing purchase order numbers, processing paper invoices, and responding to supplier inquiries. Businesses estimate they spend an average of 55 hours per […]
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Urban Logistics: You Can’t Fight City Haul
The impact of urbanization—population increases in cities and towns as opposed to rural areas—on business growth and sustainability concerns nearly all companies surveyed in The Road to Sustainable Urban Logistics, a new report by UPS and GreenBiz Group. However, only 47 percent feel prepared to address the associated business challenges, according to the survey. Further, […]
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Manufacturers Take to Technology, Automation
Driven by globalization, intensifying competition, and rising customer demand for more options and higher quality products, a connected plant floor has become a necessity. As a result, manufacturers are adopting the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) to enhance visibility and improve quality, with the number of organizations achieving a fully connected factory expected to rise […]
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Engaging Customers Through AI
Retailers will rely heavily on technologies such as live chat, Facebook Messenger, and Amazon Alexa for customer service, according to a new research study from Linc and Brand Garage. How AI Technology Will Transform Customer Engagement highlights the overwhelming emphasis retail executives are placing on automated platforms to improve customer communication, with 87 percent of […]
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Best Practices for the Gift of Successful Holiday Sales
For some retailers, holiday sales can represent up to 27.4 percent of annual sales, and in 2017, overall retail holiday sales are expected to increase from 2016. Debra Glassburn, Partner, Columbus Consulting, offers these tips to help retailers make the most of the 2017 holiday season and leverage every sales opportunity. Understand historical trends. Having […]
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Consumer Behavior: The Missing Link
In today’s highly competitive, omni-channel market, companies are realizing the path to success hinges on their ability to understand consumer behavior. Retailers and manufacturers can unlock significant competitive advantage by leveraging consumer insights to make category decisions and create localized merchandising assortments. Most companies lack the ability to mine and leverage important customer data, and […]
Read MoreFedEx and UPS Set Aside Rivalry to Lobby White House on Infrastructure
An amusing meme that occasionally makes the rounds on social media shows a FedEx truck parked nose-to-nose with a UPS truck, with the caption "it’s about to go down." For the moment, however, the two major rivals have set aside their differences in the interest of the greater good. David Abney, CEO of UPS and […]
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The Calm After the Storms
Among the lasting effects of catastrophic natural disasters such as Hurricanes Harvey and Irma is a positive one: Knowledge. It’s an understanding of what companies need to do in the wake of a disaster, which efforts worked and which failed, and how to be better prepared. How Walmart, FedEx, and other big companies have adapted […]
Read MoreDigital Change: Realizing the Potential
Digital Transformation (DT) is coming of age. Eighty percent of respondents to a recent IFS Digital Change Survey see themselves as “enabled”, “enhanced” or “optimized” to leverage DT. More impressively, 89 percent say they have “advantageous” or “adequate” funding in place for digital projects—a clear acknowledgment that the time of disruptive technologies is here, and […]
Read MoreU.S. Manufacturers Respond to Regulatory Plans
Manufacturers and wholesale distributors are optimistic about the perceived impact of the Trump administration’s plans for trade deregulation on their businesses, according to new research commissioned by business software provider Exact. Sixty-three percent of respondents anticipate that the plans will be beneficial to their businesses. Fifty percent of manufacturing respondents anticipate that the plans will […]
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Low Bridge, Everybody Down!
As the historic Erie Canal celebrates its 200th anniversary, it’s also enjoying another milestone: commercial traffic volume that’s five times higher than in recent years. Built in 1817 to transport goods and people from one side of New York to the other, today the canal is primarily a recreational waterway. Commercial volume on the state’s […]
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Supply Chains Double Down on Climate Change
President Donald Trump pledged to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord, but stakeholders involved with the American supply chain—often supportive of the President’s business-friendly policies—aren’t so ready to fall in line this time. Rather than push American businesses away from sustainable initiatives, many companies seem to have reaffirmed their commitments. A few […]
Read MoreManufacturing, Logistics Grew Dramatically Over Last Generation
Contrary to public perception, U.S. manufacturing and logistics experienced dramatic growth over the past generation, says a study by the Ball State Center for Business and Economic Research (CBER) and Conexus Indiana. U.S. manufacturing production grew 11 percent since the 2000-2003 dot.com bust and ensuing economic turbulence of the 2001 and 2007-2009 recessions, reports Manufacturing […]
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Retailers Struggle to Control Fulfillment Costs
Walmart’s recent announcement that it is testing a delivery system where its associates will deliver online orders to customers’ doors makes sense in light of a new study by Radial, in partnership with EKN Research, which finds the average cost for a company to fulfill an order is 70 percent of the average order value. […]
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Amazon Files Patent To Parachute Packages
Amazon teased consumers with drone delivery during a 2017 Super Bowl commercial, though the ad bore a disclaimer: "Prime Air is not available in some states (or any really). Yet." Back in December 2016, Amazon made its first successful customer delivery in a trial area in the United Kingdom; in March 2017, the online retail […]
Read MoreTop 5 Things to Know About IoT
The Internet of Things is still in its infancy, and can be confusing to supply chain and logistics managers. Greg Braun, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Montreal-based logistics IT company C3 Solutions, shares some advice. 1. IoT technologies promise vastly improved visibility into supply chain operations. The ready availability of connected devices […]
Read MoreTransportation Industry Leads the Way in Preventive Maintenance
Trucks need to keep rolling. Conveyor belts aren’t much good if they don’t convey anything. Cargo planes don’t move freight if they can’t fly. Ships don’t deliver from under the water. Business logistics managers can’t ignore the importance of preventive maintenance because the costs of reactive maintenance can have a heavy impact on the bottom […]
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