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Case Studies

Joe Steffney: One for the Books

Examine Joe Steffney’s early career and a theme starts to emerge. He paid his way through college loading trailers for UPS. His first post-graduation job saw him supervising warehouse staff for Kmart. Then the story takes him to a series of distribution centers—Macmillan Publishing, Koen Books, Harcourt Brace, Houghton Mifflin, and Ingram Book Group. The […]

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Jennifer Hughey: Cleaning Up

Jennifer Hughey wasn’t looking for a career in logistics. But somehow, it sucked her in. In 2003, Hughey was senior finance manager at Whirlpool Corp. when her former boss, Dan Clifford, recruited her to join him at The Eureka Company. Clifford, president of Eureka, now called Electrolux Home Care Products North America, wanted Hughey to […]

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Charles Graffeo, Sr.: Wake Up and Smell the Coffee

Coffee drinkers in certain regions of the South should raise their cups in salute to Charles Graffeo, Sr. At Community Coffee Company in Baton Rouge, La., Graffeo is responsible for the whole process chain—purchasing, logistics, manufacturing, and distribution—that takes coffee from bean to cup. Graffeo joined Community Coffee in 2006 as general manager of manufacturing. […]

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Airfreight Costs Touch Down

Customer service scores big points at Irving, Texas-based Easton-Bell Sports, which manufactures a wide array of sports equipment, including Ridell football and hockey helmets; Easton baseball bats and gloves; Bell bicycle parts and equipment; and a variety of racing, fitness, and yoga products. Easton-Bell’s brand names have been well-known in the sports world for more […]

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Bill Justus: Home Sweet Home

Throughout your industry, sales are down. But the cost of materials keeps going up, and those higher prices sure don’t help you draw in hordes of new customers. What to do? Get all your partners working together to drive costs out of the supply chain, says Bill Justus, vice president, supply chain services at David […]

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