Blog
Logistics and Supply Chain news, articles, tips and insights
Manufacturing in China: Still Viable in 2016?
Despite reports of a slowdown in the number of companies outsourcing manufacturing to Chinese factories, and the country's economic downturn, China remains a popular location for contract manufacturing. This is evidenced by the decision of at least two Western...
read more
Should the HR Team Care About MHE Selection in Supply Chain?
Whether you work for a manufacturer or brand owner with its own logistics operation or you are a manager for a 3PL provider, mechanical handling equipment is probably a critical element in your storage and transportation activities. When buying new...
read more
3 Sales and Operations Planning Traps to Avoid
Sales and operations planning (S&OP) is a simple enough process, yet it's one which many organisations struggle to implement and maintain successfully. To some extent this is perfectly understandable, since a successful S&OP process requires unfettered...
read more
Evaluating Logistics Outsourcing Proposals: Look Beyond the Scorecard
Some of my previous posts on this blog have provided tips for developing an RFP/RFT in order to select a logistics outsourcing partner. In this post, I want to focus a little on the next step: evaluating the logistics outsourcing proposals from your RFP...
read more
What Happens When Finance and Supply Chain Teams Collaborate?
Are you a finance manager or leader in a company with supply chain involvement? If so, how well do you understand the role of supply chain functions in your company? More importantly, do you know how well those functional teams understand their impact on company...
read more
An Introduction to CPFR in the Supply Chain
How much do you know about CPFR? If you’ve never heard of it, have a quick read through this post and you’ll understand the basics of CPFR in the supply chain profession. CPFR is the acronym for collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment, a practice...
read more
Marketing and Logistics Teams: Buddy-up For Promotional Profits
While marketing and logistics are both critical components of any commercial enterprise, at first glance they seem to have little direct relationship to one another. However, the two functions are inextricably linked and in fact, the actions of marketing directly...
read more
What Is Supply Chain Management and Why Does it Matter?
In an earlier post on this blog, I addressed the question “what is a supply chain?” As the post was intended to provide the answer in a nutshell, I simply explained that the supply chain starts with some raw materials and ends with a finished product in the hands of a...
read more
Why the Procurement Team Should Understand Inbound Freight Costs
If you work in a procurement or purchasing role, you’re probably involved in purchasing inbound materials. These might be raw materials for a manufacturing facility or perhaps finished goods (if you work for a retail organisation). In any event, you and your team can...
read more
6 Steps Your IT Department Can Take Towards RFID Readiness
Are you an IT guy or girl in a logistics or supply chain organisation? If so, radio frequency identification (RFID) might become a feature of your project activity in the future—that is if your company hasn’t already implemented RFID. The adoption of...
read more
4 Most Important Questions to Ask When Selecting a Freight Forwarder
If your supply chain company is just branching into the business of importing goods, perhaps because of a decision to outsource manufacturing overseas, you might not be used to dealing with a freight forwarder. To help you in selecting a freight forwarder for the...
read more
Lift Truck Maintenance Tips That Matter
In many supply chain organisations, the warehouse workhorse, otherwise known as the lift truck, doesn’t receive the maintenance attention that it deserves. While many logistics companies wouldn’t dream of letting goods-vehicle maintenance schedules slip,...
read more
Some Intelligent Questions to Include in a Logistics Outsourcing RFP
A few blog posts ago, I mentioned that I would follow up my post on “What’s in a Logistics Outsourcing RFP/RFT” with some information about other sections you might wish to add to an RFP which were not listed in that particular post. The one section which stands out...
read more
Top 3 Reasons for Organisational Change Resistance
When you need to implement or change your company’s supply chain strategy, you’ll be lucky not to encounter at least one or two obstacles along the way. One obstacle in particular though, despite its certainty, seems to catch out leaders in supply chain (and other...
read more
Who Should Care About Financial Risks in Your Supply Chain?
Running a supply chain or even running part of one, is a risky business today and there are two main reasons why that’s so. Firstly, the strategic partnerships often brokered to take advantage of raw material access and low-cost labor, distribute modern supply chains...
read more