Articles
Thought Leaders
What Is the Best Method to Measure Customer Satisfaction?
Q: How is Ruan’s Customer Satisfaction Program structured? A: At Ruan, customer satisfaction is one of our five guiding principles. Ruan believes in developing strong partnerships by understanding our customers’ stories and continuing to improve our service as their needs evolve. And the best way to know if we are achieving that goal is to […]
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Control Tower Capabilities—Redefined
Q: What is a control tower? A: There are many definitions of a control tower in the market today. Some are analytics overlays without a network to get data or application intelligence. Some provide one functional area (e.g. planning) and encompass internal operations and maybe tier 1 providers. These can sound helpful but won’t get […]
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Top Priorities for 3PL Warehouse IT in 2021
Q: When looking ahead to 2021, what’s the number-one priority companies should make to stay competitive? A: Since labor is the most expensive component of the business, we say start there. Smartly planning your resources to best suit the needs of the company and the company’s digital transformation and customer experience goals is paramount. Barcoding […]
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Shining New Light on Dock Operations
The loading dock is a complicated place, with many people and a lot of equipment working together. With better visibility into dock activity, companies can bring significant improvements to their warehouse operations. Q: What important challenges do warehouse operators face because they lack access to crucial real-time and historical data about what’s going on at […]
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Partnering with a Logistics Specialist Brings Major Benefits
Q: What are the customer’s benefits of working with a large, experienced logistics company versus one that is part of a diversified organization? A: The most obvious benefit to the customer is that logistics is their specialty. When you work with a logistics company that is part of a large, diversified business, their focus is […]
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Leveraging the Benefits of New Industrial Printers for Compliance
Q: What are the benefits of investing in the latest industrial printers? A: The latest industrial printers offer a new set of features and advantages, so end users will not be upgrading just to ensure continued performance and support—they will enable new productivity and efficiency benefits. This includes higher image resolutions, improved feeds-and-speeds, and user-replaceable […]
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Why Companies Should Consider Employing Robots
Q: What is robotic process automation? A: Modern robotic process automation (RPA) technology began forming 20 years ago, and has become the transformative tool it is today within the past five years. RPA is a high-tech solution where a process that was previously performed by a human is now performed by a computer. RPA “bots” […]
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Shared Truckload Creates Efficiencies, Reducing Shipment Costs
COVID-19 upended supply chains, increased costs, and tightened capacity, leaving shippers struggling to deliver high-quality service. Shared truckload could be the answer. Q: How has shared truckload alleviated shippers’ issues during the pandemic? A: Capacity challenges and increased costs across supply chains have driven shippers to become more creative and innovative. When faced with substantially […]
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3 Critical Questions About Oversize/Overweight Shipments
Although your supply chain may not require oversize/overweight shipments on a regular basis, there will likely be a time when the need arises. If this level of specialized shipping is not within your comfort zone, you should turn to the expertise of a heavy haul carrier to guide you rather than trying to handle it […]
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Building Resilience With Dedicated Transportation Solutions
In today’s volatile economic environment, shippers need reliable, cost-effective solutions to meet customer demand. Dedicated transportation solutions, which mitigate capacity risk and improve on-time delivery, are often a preferable option. Q: What are the factors driving demand for dedicated transportation solutions? A: First, companies understand, now more than ever, they need reliable partners. Interruptions in […]
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Protecting Health, Safety, and Final-Mile Delivery During a Pandemic
Q: What measures have you implemented to protect health and safety in your warehouses? A: When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, supply chains around the world were impacted. With a robust safety and quality program in place prior to the pandemic, Suddath® was able to respond and adapt immediately to ensure our customers’ supply chains remained […]
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Setting Up a Successful RFP
Managing a Request for Proposal (RFP) process can be daunting. Prequalify respondents, then keep things focused for the best results. Q: How do I extend invitations to the most qualified providers? A: The most qualified providers will reveal themselves through a Request for Information (RFI) process or reference. Preceding the Request for Proposal with an […]
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Supporting Shippers’ COVID-19 Adjustments
Q: How has your company pivoted or adjusted your feature set in response to changing customer needs resulting from the pandemic? A: Airlines in the United States and abroad were forced to quickly respond to diminished demand in all aspects of the business as the COVID-19 pandemic hit. With passengers grounded, airlines saw the opportunity […]
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Finding the Right 3PL Partner Delivers Key Benefits
Q: How important is it to find a good 3PL in today’s transportation marketplace? A: Today, finding a good 3PL company to partner with is more important than ever. Supply chains have been dramatically impacted by the pandemic and businesses need a partner who is both nimble enough to make the proper adjustments on the […]
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Bringing End-2-End Efficiency to Your Logistics Operations
With economic consequences from COVID-19 and other resulting challenges, companies are looking for ways to manage more efficiently with less—while reallocating resources to more productive activities and maximizing freight spend value. Logistics operations are a great place to start, as even the smallest percentage savings could mean triple-digit impact to bottom lines. These operations are […]
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Do You Have Bad Strategies or Bad Data?
Q: Why do most supply chain strategies fail? A: It comes down to data. Most companies have data quality issues. Companies make decisions with no data, partial data or, worse, misleading data. The misleading data is the worst because it looks right, but is inaccurate. Decisions made with incorrect data lead to no cost savings […]
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Battling Through Crisis Together
As society adjusts to the impact of the new coronavirus, COVID-19, many households have stockpiled goods for safety reassurance. With retail stores being one of the few businesses that remain open to the general public, supply chain operations have had to embrace creativity to deliver effectively. Q: What are some of the bigger challenges that […]
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Finding a Strategic Supply Chain Partner
Q: Companies have many choices when looking for transportation solutions today. What are the important factors to consider when selecting a strategic partner? A: In this ever-changing environment marked by varying availability and unpredictable market behavior, you need a partner who can handle these challenges while you focus on growing your business. You need a […]
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Data on Loading Dock Activities Improves Operations, Boosts ROI
Warehouse managers have long been forced to base decisions about their loading docks on assumptions rather than data. That’s starting to change, thanks to new technology that assembles objective information to support well-informed decisions. Q: For shippers in retail, high-volume distribution, and similar industries, what kinds of data about activities at the docks could help […]
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Automated Bidding Tools Benefit Shippers, 3PLs, and Carriers
At the start of a new year, it’s common for shippers striving for an optimized supply chain to review their carrier options to make sure they use the ideal mix of freight transportation providers. In 2019, this bidding business has lasted the entire year, as shippers and 3PLs look to take advantage of a softer […]
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