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News and Insights

Industry News, International

Soaring Trade Deficit Points to Slowing Global Economy

  • March 25, 2019
In 2018, the United States’ trade deficit in goods climbed to an historic high of $891.3 billion, up from $807.5 billion in 2017. During this time, the merchandise deficits with China, Mexico, and the EU all hit record highs, and total containerized exports dropped 0.2 percent. (The overall deficit is $621 billion, offset by the […]
Industry News

What Does Amazon Want?

  • March 1, 2019
Every time Amazon sets its sights on a new industry to disrupt, the response from that industry’s old guard is the same: it can’t happen to us. Everyone thinks theirs is the business that is too complex for Jeff Bezos and company to disrupt, and yet with every passing year, Amazon expands its reach. From […]
Industry News, Trucking

NEMF’s Bankruptcy is a Harsh Wake-Up Call for the LTL/FTL Market

  • February 27, 2019
When longtime LTL titan New England Motor Freight (NEMF) announced it was filing for bankruptcy in February, the news was greeted with shock, sadness, and plenty of blame. For its part, NEMF largely blamed its employees’ union for refusing to make contract concessions. Many industry observers blamed NEMF’s biggest customers, especially Amazon, for forcing the […]
Technology

How to Get A Handle on Your Supply Chain Data (Before it’s Too Late)

  • February 21, 2019
Every cybersecurity expert’s favorite axiom is that security is only as strong as its weakest link. This truth makes supply chains particularly vulnerable, since they frequently involve hundreds or thousands of contracts, stretching over multiple continents. Managing information flow across these systems is a challenge, since a manufacturer may not even know who their second […]
Industry News

A Supply Chain Perspective of the Trump Presidency

  • February 15, 2019
After years of non-stop headlines, it’s possible that the only person on Earth who isn’t tired of hearing about Donald Trump is Donald Trump. Nevertheless, President’s Day at the (probable) midpoint of Trump’s first term is a good time to consider how this presidency has affected the American economy in general and supply chain management […]
Industry News

U.S. Supply Chains Survived the Shutdown, but the Damage is Done

  • February 4, 2019
As of this writing, the United States is still in the midst of the longest government shutdown in national history (Update: on January 25th the shutdown was put on hold for three weeks pending congressional approval of funding for a border wall). Of course, given the erratic state of our current political moment, the partial […]
International, Shipping

Are You Prepared for Chinese New Year?

  • February 1, 2019
Chinese New Year is almost upon us, and despite being one of the most predictably disruptive annual occurrences in logistics, it always seems to sneak up on us. This year’s official festivities will run from February 5-19, kicking off the Year of the Pig. Chinese New Year is the most important holiday for the world’s […]
Industry News, Shipping

Is Your Returns Policy Hurting Your Bottom Line?

  • January 16, 2019
It’s a time-honored tradition in the world of logistics: after the holiday decorations are all taken down and the last of the cookies are eaten, the season of returns begins. Brick and mortar retailers are used to post-holiday returns, but for online retailers, this season increasingly lasts all year. Reverse logistics–the complicated science of feeding […]
International

Want to Compete with Amazon? Start with Your Warehouse

  • January 7, 2019
There’s no denying that Amazon (and e-commerce more generally) has irrevocably changed the science of warehouse management. Warehouses, which were once seen as a  necessary but uninspiring cost center, are now the lynchpin in many companies’ distribution strategies. Order turnaround has been cut from days to hours, so highly-organized warehouse processes are a must to […]
Industry News, International

The Year Behind Us, The Year Ahead for Logistics

  • January 1, 2019
By practically any metric, 2018 was a roller-coaster of a year for anyone in the world of logistics or supply chain management. The economy boomed, but the rumblings of nationalism and isolationism threatened to bring the expansion to a screeching halt. Technological developments promised huge leaps in efficiency, but the bottleneck of the driver shortage […]