Guest Commentary: Making the Case for Routing and Scheduling Software
For shippers and distributors that operate private fleets, routing and scheduling technology can significantly improve operational cost control and asset productivity. Routing and scheduling solutions...
View ArticleGuest Commentary: The Simplicity of Black Box Integration
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” — Leonardo da Vinci I wonder if Leonardo da Vinci was envisioning the flexibility and capabilities that are inherent in black box technology when he made...
View ArticleGuest Commentary: Transportation Management Wasn’t Always This Easy
Today’s logistics departments have a lot of options for systems that help them plan and execute the shipments that drive their businesses. It wasn’t always this easy though. A brief look in the...
View ArticleGuest Commentary: Keystone Foods Improves Supply Chain Visibility with SaaS TMS
Keystone Foods is a multi-national, multi-protein processor for the world’s leading brands, providing fresh and frozen protein products to customers worldwide. Keystone processes poultry, beef, fish...
View ArticleNext Generation Transportation Management Solutions
I believe that the next generation of transportation management solutions will leverage GPS and telematics technologies in much more robust ways than we are seeing today. For example, I was recently...
View ArticleThis Week in Logistics News (April 15-19, 2013)
As I write this, the greater Boston area (including where I live) is in lockdown as the police hunt for the second suspect of the Boston Marathon bombings (the first suspect was killed overnight). I’m...
View ArticleGuest Commentary: 7 Building Blocks to Prepare for Implementing a Global TMS
Your supply chain is global, yet you lack global visibility, process, and expertise to effectively manage it. This challenge is not uncommon among shippers around the world. With projected increases in...
View ArticleWalmart’s New Solution for Outbound Routing and Load Building
Any time Walmart speaks about what it is doing in logistics, I’ll listen. In March, Steve Simpson, Senior Manager of Transportation Technology at Walmart, participated in a webinar on how Walmart is...
View ArticleGuest Commentary: Can You Blueprint a Logistics Services Operation?
The time was the mid-nineties, and as many aspiring leaders do, I decided to earn an MBA. One class in particular, Service Marketing, left an impression on me. Back then, it was a new and revolutionary...
View ArticleGuest Commentary: Network Analysis – The Lynchpin of Successful...
In my experience working with shippers to create and execute bids, I have yet to present a transportation network and spend to a shipper and have them say, “That’s exactly what I thought it was.” The...
View ArticleGuest Commentary: Algorithms, Optimization and Constraints
I think it’s time we stopped using the word “optimization” in our transportation management conversations. I believe this because when we talk about optimization, we usually apply the term toward...
View ArticleGuest Commentary: Logistics Management Challenges for SMBs
With Memorial Day only a few weeks away, and summer fast approaching, many companies will begin finalizing plans for enhancements or changes to their supply chain to better prepare for the holiday...
View Article4 Questions Before Investing in a Transportation Management Solution
Managing transportation — the ebb and flow of rates, capacity, fuel and regulations — is an ongoing challenge for many companies, especially those still using spreadsheets and fax machines to plan and...
View ArticleGuest Commentary: Global Logistics and the Transportation Management Center:...
In my previous guest commentary on the evolution of transportation management, Driving Value from a Transportation Management Center: Think Global, Act Local, I discussed how transportation best...
View ArticleThis Week in Logistics News (June 3-7, 2013)
Welcome to June. We’re quickly approaching the midpoint of the year, which means it’s time to start planning for 2014 — at least that’s what I heard at my sister’s surprise birthday party last weekend,...
View ArticleAce Hardware Leverages TMS for Freight Procurement
Eight years ago, Ace Hardware began working with LeanLogistics (a Logistics Viewpoints sponsor) to help with inbound freight moves. Scott McLean, Director of Transportation, and Carey Skoglund,...
View ArticleTakeaways from Shipper-Carrier Roundtable at Momentum 2013
What happens when you bring together a large group of shippers and carriers and put them in a conference room? At the Manhattan Associates Momentum 2013 conference last month, the answer was a great...
View ArticleThis Week in Logistics News (June 10-14, 2013)
I’m short on time this morning, so let’s go straight to the news. Transplace Updates, Enhances TMS Freight Allocation Module 2.0 Infor Delivers Automotive Innovation Throughout The Value Chain Wal-Mart...
View ArticleGuest Commentary: 5 Problem Signs in Service and Distribution Fleets
A fleet operation is inefficient whenever vehicle capacity goes unused, when vehicles put on more miles than necessary to accomplish the work at hand and when drivers sit at the wheel instead of...
View ArticleThis Week in Logistics News (June 17-21, 2013)
Summer is finally here, so let’s go right to the news…and then maybe the pool. C.H. Robinson Continues European Expansion with Istanbul Office MercuryGate International Inc. Announces Expanded European...
View Article