Articles

Case Studies

Sandy Chavis: To the Line, Just in Time

In 1995, Sandy Chavis took on a new challenge: creating a logistics department at Toyota Industrial Equipment Manufacturing (TIEM). Until then, purchasing staff who procured parts, raw materials, and supplies for the forklift truck manufacturer also handled the transportation of those goods. But as TIEM started buying more parts in the United States instead of […]

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Richard Jackson: Purchasing Power

From cancer cultures to special valves to dual-engine aircraft, Richard Jackson stood ready to find and deliver almost anything. As manager of export purchasing for chemical company ICI Americas (later Zeneca and AstraZeneca) until his retirement in 1993, Jackson tapped U.S. suppliers for materials and equipment his company’s overseas facilities couldn’t find in their own […]

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Seeing Is Believing

TBI, a non-profit network of eye and tissue donor banks, relies on supply chain management to expedite time- and temperature-sensitive shipments to doctors and hospitals worldwide.

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Galen Erickson: Back to the Sporting Life

After seven years calling balls and strikes in the minor leagues, Galen Erickson was looking for a major change. The former umpire soon found a new career in logistics, rising from receiving dock supervisor to vice president of distribution at Phoenix-based Broadway Southwest Department Stores. Later, he advanced to executive positions with—among other companies—Leslie Fay […]

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Bill Jones: Distribution and the Deep Blue Sea

Twenty-seven years ago, the day school let out, Bill Jones and his father went to buy a pair of boots. The 14-year-old needed them for a summer job with his mother’s employer, Pacific Seafood of Portland, Ore. From then on, summers and weekends, Jones ripped the backs off Dungeness crabs, built boxes, shoveled ice, and […]

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Mike Bates: Location, Lead Time and a Quick Bulkhead Fix

Location might not be everything, but in Mike Bates’ job it counts for a lot. As inbound freight logistics manager for Thurston Foods, Bates wages an endless campaign to find carriers to serve his warehouse in Wallingford, Conn. With few outbound loads available in the area, truckers delivering to the regional food service distributor often […]

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Andy Gustafson: Logistics for the Rich and Famous

To keep the rich and famous cruising in style, someone has to overhaul the engines, install the saunas, and replace the teak railings on the world’s largest yachts. Andy Gustafson’s job is to make sure the technicians who repair and refit these luxury vessels have the materials they need—whether that means sandblasting sand, electronic equipment, […]

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The Power of GC3

DuPont’s TransOval web portal is primed to take globalization to a whole new sphere, with help from G-Log’s GC3.

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