Articles

Retail

Keith Biondo
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Green Leadership for Lean Times

Current economic conditions are cooling enthusiasm for green initiatives in some quarters. But not in Bentonville, Ark., where Walmart recently released its 2012 Global Responsibility report. Someone once said, "as Walmart goes, so goes the nation." I don’t know if that’s true, but despite lean times, the retailer is providing leadership in supply chain sustainability. […]

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Tod Yazdi
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Dealing With Daily-Deal Sites

New sales channels have enhanced supply chain complexity. Consumers who wish to buy a sweatshirt, for example, can make their purchase from the local mall; a big box retailer such as Walmart or Target; a catalog; a direct-response television ad or shopping network; or a Web site. Shoppers might also receive an email from Groupon, […]

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Karen Bomber and Jim Caudill
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Inventory Intelligence: The Key to Unlocking Omni-channel Retailing

Omni-channel retailing–providing shoppers a seamless experience through all channels–combines the flexibility of cross-channel and mobile shopping with the revenue- and loyalty-building capabilities of a face-to-face retail experience. Because keeping availability promises is vital to omni-channel success, retailers depend on integrated IT systems. Retailers who succeed at integrating their inventory intelligence can cut costs, accelerate turns, […]

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Clyde Mount
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Enjoying the Perks of 3PL Order Management

All too often, the third-party logistics (3PL) sector views order management as an operations tool—a method of capturing and processing customer orders, optimizing them through the distribution network, and, finally, delivering goods to the customer. A more holistic view of this procedure includes client-side order processing, which presents opportunities to add value and profit, and […]

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Trends—March 2011
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Trends—March 2011

Texas Holds ‘em, Amazon Folds In 2005, Amazon.com announced plans to build a new distribution center in Irving, Texas, near the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. The city council cleared the way for the facility by approving an economic development incentive package that provided tax rebates to the company for six years, with options to extend […]

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How to Drive Collaborative Distribution<br />
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How to Drive Collaborative Distribution

MORE TO THE STORY: Playing the Part In the retail space, competition among small and medium manufacturers is fierce. But many are missing out on significant cost savings by failing to recognize and execute shared strategies that consolidate shipments in the interests of all supply chain stakeholders. The collaborative distribution concept leverages freight consolidation as […]

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Mike Marlowe
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Integrate Contract Packaging Into Distribution Operations to Cut Costs by 30%

Specific consumer products look exactly the same when they roll off the manufacturing line. To satisfy retailer requirements, however, these identical products are wrapped, sealed, tied and packed in dozens, even hundreds, of different ways for presentation on the retail shelf. Consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies often outsource final packaging to outside contract packagers, adding […]

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Gemma Fillmore: Supply Chain Advocate<br />
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Gemma Fillmore: Supply Chain Advocate

TITLE: Corporate logistics projects COMPANY: Medco Health Solutions, Franklin Lakes, N.J., since 2009 PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE: Various supply chain and logistics positions, Bonaventure Textiles; warehouse manager, inventory supervisor, Tibbet & Britten (now Exel Logistics); corporate operations supervisor, Reckitt Benckiser; senior transportation manager, operations and other supply chain positions, Nabisco Foods; senior manager procurement—logistics, Kraft Foods; director […]

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Keith Biondo
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Inbound 3.0 at Walmart

During the almost three decades that this publication has been preaching the benefits of matching demand more closely to supply, we’ve published scores of articles on Walmart’s efforts to master inbound logistics. The first major milepost along that road was acknowledging the value of controlling inbound logistics, making it a company-wide mission, and developing the […]

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Flower Power: John Kuehn<br />
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Flower Power: John Kuehn

NAME: John Kuehn TITLE: Senior vice president of supply chain operations, since 2009 COMPANY: Provide Commerce Inc., San Diego, Calif. PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE: Various operations and supply chain positions, Hewlett Packard; senior director of worldwide logistics, Apple Computer; vice president of planning and logistics, Gateway; senior vice president of planning and logistics, Provide Commerce. EDUCATION: Iowa […]

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