Customers’ expectations for delivery excellence continue to climb for faster, error-free delivery, more granular visibility, more convenience, and increased flexibility. Here we discuss specific strategies and capabilities that leading companies are using to try and perfect the customer’s delivery experience, such as via hyperlocal delivery, dynamic dispatch and routing, adaptable workflows, dwell time reduction, real-time visibility, expanding the range of delivery windows, locations, and options, sustainable delivery, last minute rescheduling, and more
Logistics and Global Trade
Parent category for logistics and global trade subtopics
Retails’ Climate Change Responsibility – Part Two: Diverse Strategies for Rapidly Reducing Transportation Emissions
We examine strategies and techniques for making near-term reductions to carbon emissions from transportation, such as improving driving behavior and vehicle performance, minimizing and optimizing returns, increasing first-attempt delivery rates, consolidation and mix-mode strategies, integrating private fleet with purchased transportation, and forecast accuracy and inventory optimization for hyperlocal distribution.
Space-Based Manufacturing and Logistics – Part One: Why Now?
Plummeting launch costs are poised to make manufacturing in space economically feasible for a set of materials and products that can take advantage of unique attributes of space-based production. Here we explore why space-based manufacturing may be on the verge of becoming a reality.
It’s Late. Do You Know Where Your Supply Chain Is?
The Russo-Ukrainian war has put into focus the question of the proper role for responsible enterprises in response to abuses by authoritarian regimes. Here we look at some of the challenges and solutions to managing an ethical supply chain.
Retails’ Climate Change Responsibility – Part One: Reducing Near-term Emissions by Continuous Optimization
The pressure for retailers to lower their carbon emissions dramatically and swiftly has never been greater. Here we explore strategies and tactics for near-term rapid reduction in transportation-related emissions that can be realized in under 12 months, starting with continuous optimization.
AI/Machine Learning Use Cases for Supply Chain – Part One: Pricing and Promotion
We explore the use of AI and machine learning in optimizing pricing and promotions to reduce markdowns, increase sales and profit margins, and maximize various other objectives.
Agile Demand-Supply Alignment – Part 3G: Solution Assessments
Here we assess Mercado’s supply chain network/platform for connecting retailers with suppliers, forwarders and brokers, carriers, and other service providers in the order-to-delivery process for imports. We also cover Zencargo’s solution for mid-sized retailers who are doing significant importing and seek control tower capabilities combined with freight forwarding services.
Agile Demand-Supply Alignment – Part 3E: Solution Assessments
We assess Infor Nexus, an end-to-end multi-party networked platform for global trade, with visibility throughout the purchase-to-pay process.
B2B Communications: Part One – Enabling Global Commerce
Having a robust B2B communications strategy and infrastructure has become critical for B2B business success. The right strategy and infrastructure provide the flexibility to transact business with any and all new customers the way the customer wants it. It provides timely visibility into the supply chain across order-to-cash and purchase-to-pay (P2P) processes while streamlining logistics and global trade.
Analytics Advantage – Part 3B
A ‘self scorecard’ can help shippers improve their own turn-around times, detention metrics, dock door scheduling, load tender timing, and fulfillment of volume commitments. We also examine how trade data can be used for supply chain risk management, supplier discovery, price discovery, total landed cost optimization, and competitive intelligence.
Analytics Advantage – Part 3A
Analytics can be used to improve carrier performance, enabling data-driven negotiations, improving delivery performance, reliability, responsiveness, and information sharing.