Articles
Risk Management
Disruption Reinvents the Supply Chain
As COVID-19 has changed our world, there has been a dramatic shift in how supply chains are viewed within an organization. Today, the supply chain is increasingly recognized as an area where companies have the most to gain or lose.
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3 Underreported Trends That Will Accelerate Reshoring
Thomas research shows an increase in the number of manufacturers that want to bring production back to the United States. These trends will help you capitalize on that opportunity.
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137 Tips for a Fully Charged Supply Chain
Inbound Transportation 1. Dive in with your suppliers. Ask what cost and efficiency benefits your vendors are providing by using their carriers or shipping schedules. The customer pays one way or another, so push for carriers that demonstrate service and reliability, not those who move operational or cost inefficiencies from a vendor’s dock to the […]
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Warehouse Safety Best Practices: Building a Program
To build a safety program that has the strength and support to last, follow these practices and leverage your staff’s experience and expertise.
Read MoreWhat supply chain adjustment would you have made at the start of 2020 if you knew then what you know now?
Focus on agile processes for managing my supply chain with an emphasis on digitization, instrumentation, and end-to-end workflow. It is important to know not only which suppliers I am dependent on, but also to be able to quickly adapt to sudden change. —Sean Chou, CEO, Catalytic Advise shippers to rethink their inventories, create supply chain […]
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How to Prepare Your Warehouse for a Second Wave of COVID-19
Warehouses and fulfillment centers should take these precautions to mitigate COVID-19 risks, keep the workforce safe, and avoid costly downtime.
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Lessons Learned: Risk Mitigation Strategies for the Future
Companies can help avoid at least some of the pitfalls of supply chain risk—including COVID-19—by developing risk mitigation strategies such as supply chain mapping.
Read MorePower Through Logistics Challenges with New, Modern Chassis
When the pandemic rocked the world this spring, many companies were utilizing “pool chassis” in major ports and inland rail locations. However, with many pool chassis ranging in age from 20 to 25 years old, this led to serious problems, including: Breakdowns: This results in lost time on the road, missed appointments, and increased maintenance […]
Read MoreControlling Your Own Destiny: Why Shippers Must Find Ways to Ensure Supply Chain Resiliency
The challenge with today’s supply chain is that one glitch, at any mile, can impact the entire chain.
Read MoreCOVID-19’s Impact on North American Manufacturers
Manufacturer interest in reshoring, hiring, and apprenticeships is increasing during the pandemic, finds Thomas’ latest COVID-19 Manufacturing Survey.
Read MoreThe Great Freight Debate: What’s Next for the Industry?
Several months into the pandemic, trends are emerging across the freight landscape that could shine a light on what the future may hold. The abrupt changes in demand of various items sent supply chains hurdling in different directions, with new, unforeseen consequences emerging from a world sheltering in place. Plans were quickly squashed, and forecasts […]
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Power of Prevention: Compliance Audits
Organizations historically performed supplier contract audits to monitor and manage contracts and ensure all parties meet their agreed-upon terms. This includes finding past billing errors and recouping funds when overbilling is identified.
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Fixing Our Broken Supply Chain
Supply chains are long overdue for a complete overhaul. This was made abundantly clear amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Three Ways to Mitigate Insider Risk in Your Supply Chain
“Insider threat” has long been a familiar security topic for C-suite executives in every industry. In fact, 90% of organizations feel vulnerable to insider attacks, according to IBM. Yet, when creating risk mitigation programs for insider threats, many organizations overlook their nonemployees—the people who work for their third-party vendors, partners, and contractors.
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How Your Freight Agency Can Succeed in an Uncertain Market
Staying engaged with your customers, providing solutions to their new demands, and not losing sight of your business goals can help you improve your business during the tough times.
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5 Ways to Attain Resilience
The pandemic caused unprecedented demand disruptions as lockdowns swept the globe. What could we have done better to prepare for a scenario as unexpected as the one created by COVID-19?
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Thriving Amidst a Competitive Supply Chain Labor Market
Faced with a labor shortage exacerbated by the pandemic, MD Logistics developed a recruitment strategy to attract talent for present-day conditions as well as allow for continued growth.
Read MoreYard Automation Addresses Three Weak Spots to Build Supply Chain Resilience
While there aren’t many quick fixes when it comes to mitigating global supply chain disruption, supply chain leaders will turn to solutions that directly address the biggest weaknesses throughout the supply chain that have been highlighted as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak: demand, labor, and energy. Automation brings resiliency and velocity to areas of […]
Read MoreFive Keys for Turning Challenge into Opportunity
To capitalize on what they’ve learned, transform, and thrive in a post-COVID world, supply chain leaders should focus on the five core pillars: People. Leaders must reassure, clarify, protect, encourage, motivate, recognize, and reward people they manage. Each of these actions can make a fundamental difference in a successful post-COVID-19 transformation. When the crisis hit, […]
Read MoreCrying Over Spilled Milk: Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic on Food Waste
What the food supply chain community learned from the COVID-19 pandemic crisis was that having the right technologies implemented was the difference between days or weeks to reroute, reschedule, repack, and reorganize goods to ensure delivery at a pre-COVID-19 standard.
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