Whitepapers
Trucking
The Journey to Effective Supplier Collaboration
Effective supplier collaboration offers substantial opportunities to improve operational excellence and business growth, but it is imperative for supply chain leaders to lay out a framework for leveraging the partnerships within their networks. This research report, produced by Gartner and presented by Nulogy, outlines key activities that procurement professionals should follow to execute an effective supplier collaboration strategy. Download this report to form your own strategic framework for more effective supplier collaboration.
As E-Commerce Demand Shifts, Omnichannel Brands Take the Lead
The acceleration of online buying behaviors has altered the face of e-commerce logistics. Brands already optimizing their supply chains before the pandemic were more aligned with their omnichannel consumers and have leapt ahead. With the right approach, you can achieve greater flexibility, personalized support, and enhanced visibility to surpass competitors and create a long-standing competitive advantage. Learn how.
The Industrial Port Outlook
Rapidly growing online sales activity that shows no signs of slowing is having a profound effect on imports and port congestion. Retailers and logistics companies are seeking higher transportation efficiency and lower drayage costs as they fight to keep pace. See how CenterPoint Properties has been preparing for this moment for years by strategically assembling a robust portfolio of port-proximate industrial properties coast to coast.
5 Hazmat Shipping Paper Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)
When you ship hazardous materials, accurate and complete shipping papers are critical to prevent logistics delays. Mistakes as minor as a missing word or an incorrect phone number can result in rejected shipments, time-consuming corrections, and delayed deliveries. This guide lays out five of the most frequently penalized mistakes shippers make, and how to avoid them.
Gartner Magic Quadrant for Supply Chain Planning Solutions
It’s time for change. Volatility and uncertainty demand quick action, your teams and your budget are overstretched, and another disruption could threaten the entire business. Turn to a trusted advisor for the solution. The Gartner 2021 Magic Quadrant for Supply Chain Planning Solutions has recognized Kinaxis as a leader and positioned the company furthest on completeness of vision within that quadrant. Read the full report.
A Digital Company with Trucks: Why This Logistics Company Sees Itself as a Technology Company First
When Polaris Transportation Group, a Canadian-based logistics company, made a strategic shift to not just embrace technology but become industry leaders in it, the move was driven by the company’s unique position in the marketplace. Click to read the full whitepaper.
Fixing Failed Deliveries
With high e-commerce growth comes certain challenges, such as late or failed deliveries, which are often caused by inaccurate address information. Download this whitepaper to uncover the true impact failed deliveries are having on your business. Plus, discover top tips to optimize the customer experience and stamp out failed deliveries for good.
Selecting the Right 3PL Partner
You want a capable, experienced, and safe third-party logistics provider (3PL) managing your supply chain. No two 3PLs are the same, and many factors play into your decision. Think beyond the bottom line. Consider how your company and a 3PL partner might align in culture and shared objectives. Explore four questions you should ask when evaluating 3PL partners to manage your supply chain.
E-Commerce Fulfillment Outsourcing Guide: Solutions for Today’s Fulfillment Challenges
Recent e-commerce growth has forced many fulfillment operations into overdrive. To keep customers satisfied, record order volume must be filled quickly, seamlessly and cost-effectively—no easy task. Often, third-party logistics providers can help retailers and brands to navigate the increasing complexity. Read this new e-book to learn about today’s top fulfillment challenges and find outsourcing strategies to help overcome them.
10-Step Guide to Selecting the Perfect WMS
Hyperconnected customers and a fast-paced, post-pandemic world pose various challenges to how businesses manage their warehouses today. Digital brings all the answers with the ever-evolving WMS. But in the sea of vendors and WMS features, what is the correct way to select the best solution for your business? Download this guide to better understand your needs, identify gaps, and formulate a fool-proof selection strategy.
Analyzing U.S. Supply Chain Vulnerability and Mitigating Risk
The Biden Administration recently ordered a review of U.S. supply chains to prevent shortages, which have been exacerbated by COVID-19. This whitepaper analyzes the current situation to offer a perspective into what the Biden Administration’s review could reveal, and provides insights to all companies—not just U.S. businesses—on how to mitigate supply chain risk.
E-commerce Logistics
As e-commerce has accelerated, so have customers’ expectations. Many shoppers now expect the service they receive online to rival, or exceed, the in-store experience. To meet these growing demands, and to build a flourishing omnichannel e-commerce business, organizations must learn to master five main logistics capabilities.
Fact or Fiction: Temperature-Controlled Shipping
A recent study says that supply chain mishaps cause 40% of food waste in North America. Much of this waste can be avoided by understanding the intricacies of temperature-controlled shipping. Learn about the many misconceptions to set the record straight—after all, an informed supply chain is a successful supply chain. Download this e-book to take control of your operations.
Navigating a World Transformed by COVID-19
This third-party research study of logistics professionals, commissioned by Odyssey Logistics & Technology, examines the future of a world transformed due to COVID-19. Insights include: understanding visibility is crucial to vitality, discovering new ways to automate cost management, closing the communications gap, and more.
Finder Files: Mystery Materials
An unmarked cardboard box gets delivered to a business. It looks like nothing special until the box is opened and chemical containers are found. Now what? Logistics and environmental professionals submit this scenario to Lion Technology’s Finder Q&A more than you might think. Download this guide for tips to gather information that can help you properly reship or dispose of the package in compliance with regulations for hazardous materials and waste.
Toronto Area Trucking Company | Cargo Carrier Montreal
President Dave Cox and chief technology officer Dave Brajkovich talk about Polaris Transportation’s technology investments and how employees have embraced change. "Being comfortable with being uncomfortable" is the new norm as technology advances and continues to make a positive impact on the company’s employees and customer experience
Fixing Failed Deliveries
US eCommerce sales were up 44% in 2020– the highest annual growth in at least two decades. With that growth comes certain challenges – most notably, the issue of late or failed deliveries. 62% of consumers say they’ve experienced a late or failed delivery, likely caused by inaccurate address information. To get to the root of the issue, we surveyed 3,000 global shoppers and 300 retail executives to bring you our latest report: Fixing Failed Deliveries. Download a copy to uncover the true impact failed deliveries are having on your business. Plus, discover our top tips to optimize the customer experience and stamp out failed deliveries for good.
Why enterprise shippers everywhere are demanding Instant Prebate for truckload RFPs
Every year, North American shippers spend an estimated $7 billion on truckload freight that ships with empty space. Is your business one of them? If your organization uses traditional TL RFPs, it might be. Because the standard TL RFP process bases freight rates on a fixed-cost model (rather than load size), shippers pay for more space than their freight needs and trucks move half-empty. This makes no sense, especially when there’s another option. Flock Freight’s alternative to TL RFPs is Instant Prebate. Flock Freight’s Instant Prebate program accounts for load size and gives you a discount on your TL rate every time your freight doesn’t fill a trailer all the way. Download this white paper to see why Instant Prebate is a more efficient, affordable, and sustainable choice than the common TL RFP process.
Plan ahead with transportation market forecasts
With vaccine distribution underway, shippers are now planning for the slow return to normal life, anticipating the transportation trends in 2021.The report includes data from the Freight Market Intelligence Consortium, a group of leading shippers who use DAT iQ insights to benchmark and inform their transportation operations. Forecasts from the report anticipate a slower rise in contract rates for Q1, and it will likely take a few months for the markets to digest the increases experienced in late Q4. See what this might mean for Q2 in the Pulse Signal Report from DAT iQ.
A Practical Approach to Robotics Implementation
Supply chains have warmed up to the idea that robotic solutions make real business sense for warehouse and manufacturing operations—especially in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and growing labor challenges. But implementation still comes with numerous questions, from ROI and safety to IT, integration, and planning. This whitepaper provides answers to those and more to put you on a practical path to robotics.
Thinking Differently About Supply Chain Planning: The Case for Concurrency
2020 has brought with it unprecedented challenges. Whether you’re dealing with the fallout from COVID-19, an extreme weather event, or any of the other disruptions that compromise your supply chain daily, one thing is for sure. Excel and traditional planning tools are no match for today’s disruptions.Concurrent planning drives end-to-end supply chain visibility, connectivity and alignment to give everyone across your supply chain a single source of truth. The result? No more functional silos and no more ‘I didn’t know’ – just more time to respond to the unexpected. Innovative companies like P&G, Unilever and Ford have seen the difference concurrency makes. Learn more about concurrent planning and how it can drive benefits for your company by reading our comprehensive guide:
Procurement Without the Guesswork
Meeting complex shipping needs in a freight market defined by unrelenting instability ushers in a lot of uncertainty, especially when it comes to your transportation budgets. Historically, most shippers use a few different methods, attempting to crack the code and stay current with freight market trends. Unfortunately, today’s pandemic driven climate has exposed drawbacks in most commonly used strategies. Fortunately, DAT recently acquired FMIC—formerly part of Chainalytics—and created a new service that solves for all the shortcomings of previous tactics, giving you a current 360° view of today’s freight market, as well as a look at tomorrow’s.
How Technology, Data and Technical Expertise Are Redefining Cold Chain Logistics
Global demand for temperature-sensitive pharma products is increasing, especially in the wake of COVID-19. Ensuring the integrity and reliability of time- and temperature-sensitive products is more important than ever. For biopharma clients, keeping products safe and regulated during cold chain distribution is vital. Customers turn to leading temperature control packaging innovators. With a deep understanding of the challenges associated with shipping temperature-sensitive pharma products, Softbox Systems tops the list. Read this free whitepaper to learn how technology, data, and technical expertise are redefining cold chain logistics
How Resilient Is Your Manufacturing Network After COVID-19?
For years, global manufacturing organizations have been lulled into a sense of complacency, prioritizing cost containment and efficiency. This report, produced by Gartner and presented by Nulogy, helps supply chain leaders responsible for operations to build greater resilience in their insourcing and outsourcing strategy to respond to disruptions.
The Railway Forward
In a competitive business environment, transportation speed, efficiency, and cost-savings have never been more critical. CenterPoint’s rail-proximate properties can make a world of difference. Tenants in our intermodal centers can save 25% to 45% in drayage costs alone, which can add up to millions of dollars saved each year.
Operator Dependency Is Fast-Tracking the Robotics Revolution
Yale surveyed 500 supply chain professionals to understand what’s important to them when it comes to robotics. What did it find? Labor shortages, high employee turnover, and absenteeism leave them struggling to keep up with changing customer behavior and surges in demand. How do businesses keep up? Robots to the rescue. Robotic lift trucks can help businesses overcome challenges like labor costs, operator turnover, and volatile demand. Read this whitepaper to learn how.
How to Reduce Supply Chain Complexity Even as the Industry Becomes More Complicated
As everything in the retail climate continues to evolve, one thing stays the same, and that is change. Discover the latest industry data and find out a few practical steps you can start implementing today to better position your retail supply chain to withstand future challenges. Download Now.
Navigating A Changing Material Handling Industry
A month after the pandemic hit, e-commerce saw a 74 percent rise in demand. Without a doubt, the coronavirus put the logistics industry to the test. But there are advances in intelligent material handling that can help you navigate the new normal.
Top ways freight technology will cut costs in 2021
In the face of growing e-commerce activity and an uncertain economy, shippers are turning to advanced technology to guarantee a smooth customer experience and reduce costs. This white paper outlines technologies and services that will have a big impact on shipping businesses in 2021 and beyond.
Four Ways Digital Freight Networks Improve Shipping
From fluctuating demand to uncertain capacity, 2020 has been a doozy of a year for shippers. Small and midsize businesses have been hit especially hard, with transportation teams scrambling to find new ways to streamline operations, reduce costs, and improve customer experience in the ‘new normal’. Download the whitepaper to learn the four ways that digital freight networks are helping small and midsize businesses weather market volatility and improve freight logistics.
Command Center–The Logistics Grandmaster
Are you struggling with an information overload and don’t know how to best use the wealth of data to derive insights? Read this whitepaper to learn how a command center in your logistics ERP can access multiple sources of real-time data (operational, historical, transient, ecosystem), collates and processes relevant data, and through a forecasting engine provides effective options after scanning all influencers (from weather, driver safety rating, and statutory regulations to route traffic, load, and stakeholder impact)! The Ramco Command Center keeps the suppliers, partners, and customers informed up to the minute with timely and accurate data about the vehicle and shipment as they move through each stage of the supply chain. Sounds too good to be true? Read on to see how you can make it happen!
Can you leverage your external manufacturing network to manage disruption?
For years, global manufacturing organizations have been lulled into a sense of complacency, prioritizing cost containment and efficiency. This research report, produced by Gartner and presented by Nulogy, helps supply chain leaders responsible for operations to build greater resilience in their insourcing and outsourcing strategy to respond to disruptions.
Why Scalability Is So Critical
The Direct to Consumer model is undergoing a period of unprecedented growth. More merchants are beginning to cut out the middlemen, setting the stage for major disruption to traditional in-store retailing practices. New businesses are increasingly opting for a digital-first approach to avoid high overheads, leaving a lasting effect on consumer habits. Is your brand ready to scale? Download this free case study on why scalability is so critical.
Multi-Shipper Management Tools Help Logistics Solutions Providers
Facing rising B2C shipping volumes, capacity constraints, and costs, shippers are reengineering their fulfillment processes to accommodate last-mile parcel delivery. In turn, many enterprise logistics solution providers offer Multi-Carrier Parcel Management Solutions (MCPMS). An MCPMS with multi-shipper management tools offers more complete and independent control over end-to-end MCPMS deployment, configuration, and support. Learn how the right multi-shipper management solution helps you help shippers ship better.
Selecting a Cloud Warehouse Management System
The right cloud-based warehouse management system (WMS) can enable your distribution center to meet today’s order complexities while enabling swift connectivity and collaboration. Download the IDC Analyst Connection evaluation for tips on driving operational excellence in the warehouse, features to look for, key questions to ask potential vendors, and pitfalls to avoid during your WMS selection process.
Gartner ROI Toolkit for Real-Time Visibility Platforms
The new 2020 report from Gartner is clear. Real-Time Transportation Visibility Platforms (RTTVPs) are growing rapidly in popularity and driving real results. This guide is a valuable tool for supply chain leaders who are evaluating the benefits of visibility solutions and want to develop a business case for their company.
The Railway Forward
Intermodal solutions improve efficiency and cut costs. In a competitive business environment, transportation speed, efficiency, and cost-savings have never been more critical. CenterPoint’s rail-proximate properties can make a world of difference. Tenants in our intermodal centers can save 25% – 45% in drayage costs alone, which can add up to millions of dollars saved each year!
Planet-Friendly, Temperature Control Packaging That’s Shrinking BioPharma’s Environmental Footprint.
Often drivers of change, the world’s leading pharma, diagnostic, and med-tech companies have set their sights on finding new ways to protect the planet’s health while protecting our own. These sustainability initiatives are generating a ripple effect, influencing partners, suppliers, and vendors to pursue greener initiatives. With a 25-year track record of helping leading pharmaceutical companies solve complex challenges in record time, Softbox Systems is on a mission to design and produce superior, high performance passive temperature control packaging solutions that protect both product and planet. Discover how the sustainability movement is impacting temperature control packaging and how current TCP solutions stack up when it comes to performance, customer expectations, and practical recyclability.
2020 Hurricane Prepardeness Guide: It is Hurricane Season, is Your Supply Chain Ready?
Experts warn that 2020 will be the worst hurricane season in years. Every company has contingency plans for when things don’t go as expected. Whether it’s a backup supplier or a different carrier for when capacity gets tight. When the weather picks up, will your supply chain be ready to weather the storm? Be Prepared.
Omnichannel Retailers Delivering from the Endless Aisle
In an effort to improve delivery and control the cost of “free shipping,” logistics professionals are implementing omnichannel shipping strategies that deliver from inventory sources in close proximity to their customers, creating an endless aisle. This means a boon for local delivery service providers, and more to manage for shippers. There are more than 500,000 companies in the courier & delivery services industry worldwide employing 2.8 million people. That’s a lot of carriers for shippers to manage as they try to keep costs down and customers happy. Fill out the form to download our latest eBook, “Omnichannel Retailers Delivering from the Endless Aisle,” for the ins-and-outs of delivering from the endless aisle
How to Leverage Technology and Your Team to Achieve the Perfect Order
In today’s market, distributors and 3PLs that are implementing advanced technology and deploying it at a rapid pace are winning loyalty from their customers and becoming market leaders.The Tecsys warehouse management system at Delmar International Inc. forms an integral part of the technology platform that empowers its pickers to make quick and accurate decisions, attain flawless execution and deliver excellent customer service.
Lift Truck Sanitization Best Practices
From daily operation to service calls, personnel interact with lift trucks in several ways, all of which can risk virus transmission without proper sanitization. We’ve compiled a guide, drawing on guidance from the CDC and applying it to lift truck operation, including best practices for equipping personnel with the right supplies, sanitizing lift truck equipment, incorporating sanitization as part of daily routines and managing risk with vendor consolidation. Download now.
6 Reasons Top-performing 3PLs Embrace Technology to Win
Demands for faster, more accurate fulfillment of rapidly changing order mixes requires more resources than people on their own can address. Flexible technology is assisting distributors by moving goods and information with an untiring speed and accuracy that people can’t match. Leading 3PLs attract and retain clients by actively evaluating and implementing multi-client technology as part of reengineered flexible processes.
How a Transportation Spend & Revenue Diagram Can Help
Leaders in transportation look for ways to reduce costs while improving service levels as they conduct strategic assessments or design solutions. Using the Spend & Revenue Diagram to document freight flows and costs on a single page is the best way for a transportation team to collect data and focus their efforts; this will help to keep it simple, communicate the operation and costs to the executives, and prioritize efforts.
Creating a Dynamic Supply Chain
Managing and optimizing the supply chain of today is more challenging than ever. The “Future of Fulfillment” educational series continues with “Creating a Dynamic Supply Chain: How Distribution Management Continues to Lead the Way.” Learn how, through a combination of strategic site expansion and optimization, automation, and demand planning, Distribution Management has designed a dynamic supply chain that delivers a best-in-class customer experience and defines DM as an industry leader in deploying new technologies.
Key Differentiators of the Supply Chain Control Tower for Orchestration
There is no shortage of Control Tower options, but in today’s demanding, disruptive, and evolving climate, businesses require a supply chain platform that enables systems unification, network-wide collaboration, and process convergence. This paper describes the key differentiators of the Control Tower for Supply Chain Orchestration, which helps businesses dynamically and intelligently partner with their network to stay resilient, adaptive, and better mitigate risk and impact.
Carrier Sourcing Strategies and Best Practices
Cash preservation is critical amid current market turbulence. As parcel volumes surge and major carriers block shippers from filing for service refunds, companies must proactively manage their parcel contracts. Download this free whitepaper to learn about carrier sourcing best practices and how to achieve cost savings across every transportation mode. Download now.
Business Continuity in the Age of COVID-19 Requires an Enterprise Approach to Home Office Shipping
The COVID-19 crisis has businesses struggling as employees transition to working from home. Instead of managing four offices, companies must now manage 4,000. Lacking a centralized mailroom, employees are forced to improvise when sending materials to customers, prospects, and other employees. This e-ook shows how a cloud-based multi-carrier management solution maintains centralized control while giving employees tools to ship efficiently, cost-effectively, and safely from home offices. Download now.
5 Signs You Need a New Training Provider
Training to handle, manage, and ship dangerous chemicals is not a rote exercise intended to “check a box.” When a mistake can lead to serious injury, death, evacuations, hospitalizations, highway closures, and lasting environmental contamination, training for personnel must meet higher standards for quality, accuracy, and knowledge retention. Download now.
Food & Beverage Ecommerce Fulfillment Guide
The coronavirus crisis is driving food and beverage shoppers online. The trend is likely to continue as consumers find their “new normal” in the wake of the pandemic. How will this impact order fulfillment operations? What can retailers and food and beverage companies do to accommodate increased e-commerce volume? This free e-book details effective fulfillment strategies to implement now. Download now.