Trends

Trends—March 2014

Is the Jones Act Worth its Salt? A briny tale about a man named Jones, complete with international intrigue, American protectionism, twisted truths, and misplaced blame unfolded recently when a 40,000-ton shipment of road salt bound for New Jersey got waylaid in Searsport, Maine. The man in question is Wesley Jones, the U.S. senator from […]

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Trends—February 2014

Canadian Pacific: All Aboard the Profit Train Canadian Pacific Railway‘s renaissance under the tutelage of CEO Hunter Harrison continues unabated. After the veteran railroader’s first full year in charge, the Calgary, Alberta-based railroad posted high-water marks in 2013—despite disruptive spring floods . Canadian Pacific reported total record revenue of $6.1 billion in 2013, with net […]

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Trends—January 2014

Getting Demand Forecasting in Hand In the demand-driven logistics domain, forecasting is king. Companies that are best able to predict sputters and spikes, then react and execute against those signals, will gain a competitive advantage. But given today’s market uncertainty—the economy, consumer purchasing power and appetite for new products, sliding holiday seasonality, and emerging omni-channel […]

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Trends—December 2013

Predictive Analytics: A Sure Thing Here’s a forecast you can count on: Cloud-based predictive analytics offerings are increasingly available to more companies of all sizes. More than 90 percent of the 350 companies polled in a new survey conducted by California-based research firm Decision Management Solutions say they expect to deploy predictive analytics functionalities within […]

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Trends—November 2013

Healthcare Execs Target Logistics Pain Points Regulatory compliance is the chief supply chain challenge facing global healthcare logistics executives, closely followed by product security and cost management, according to UPS’s annual survey of the top supply chain and business challenges and investment plans of global healthcare logistics executives in the pharmaceutical, biotech, and medical device […]

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Trends—October 2013 

Warehousing 2018: Rise of the Adaptive DC As supply chains shift their moorings and settle into new realities—the permanence of e-commerce, sustainability, risk management, total landed cost sensitivity, and demand-driven strategies—distribution centers are evolving in kind. Stock characterizations of warehousing are falling to the wayside. DCs are becoming more complex and sophisticated; so are their […]

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Trends—September 2013

Hours-of-Service: A Question of Time Trying to wrap your head around the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) Hours-of-Service (HOS) regulations that went into effect July 1, 2013, is a numbers game. Put simply: "You almost have to be a math major to understand the new Hours-of-Service rules," says Don Jerrell, associate vice president, risk […]

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Trends—August 2013

The Government is ‘Helping’ Again… Transportation and logistics companies have a hard enough time navigating the twists and turns in today’s economic landscape without facing inertia from the executive branch. But states are strapped for cash, and lawmakers are trapped by special interests. Many are acting on impulse, then ducking for cover. The Minnesota State […]

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Trends—July 2013

The 24th Annual State of Logistics Report: ‘Business Unusual’ Defines New Normal A long and winding path toward recovery has arrived at a seminal question: "Is this the new normal?" That was the topic and title of the annual State of Logistics presentation at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., in June 2013. That […]

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Trends—June 2013

Is American-Made on the Mend? Rumors abound that U.S. manufacturing is making a comeback. The promise of cheaper domestic energy sources—and rising labor costs elsewhere around the world—are tipping the total landed cost balance off its Far Eastern axis. Does this portend a domestic manufacturing renaissance? A recent report by AlixPartners suggests companies are open […]

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