The logistics sector follows the lead in process automation, technological innovation, and environmental conservation in a constantly changing terrain. Logistics organizations need to quickly adjust to innovative technologies, cutting-edge procedures, and strategic approaches in order to survive and prosper in this age of intense competition. As logistics technology continues to advance, the sector should anticipate...

This post An Insight Towards the Logistics Trends in 2024 appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

Companies are making their supply chains more cost-efficient, resilient and sustainable in an increasingly uncertain world. Over the last couple of decades, many supply chains have become linear global chains, stretched to their limit in pursuit of efficient, mass production with low-cost countries, just-in-time inventory and limited inherent resilience. These models were geared towards growing...

This post How the great supply chain reset is unfolding appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

Tender rejection data in the FreightWaves SONAR data platform shows that the freight market bottomed on May 14. Since then, conditions for carriers have slowly been improving. SONAR’s outbound tender rejection index (OTRI) tracks the balance of supply and demand in trucking by measuring the percentage of truckload freight that is rejected. In trucking, supply...

This post A freight market turnaround in 2024? appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

Funding for logistics start-ups tightened in 2022. Where are investors focusing their interest now? After surging in 2021, funding for logistics start-ups slowed substantially in 2022. Among the causes of the slowdown: a more challenging macroeconomic environment coupled with a decline in the growth of e-commerce. Investment in logistics start-ups fell by nearly 50 percent year...

This post Start-up funding in logistics: Adjusting to a new reality appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

Summary: Supply chains worldwide will continue to be caught between politics, economics and ecology in the future. Whether there will be more regionalization or nearshoring remains to be seen. The question will linger: Who will win and who will lose in this increasingly tense competition? Then logistics experts discuss the challenges and prospects for global...

This post Global Logistics 2023: Supply chains under pressure appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

Supply chain issues and production bottlenecks brought to the fore by the pandemic presented opportunities to reshape freight operations Introduction In the years that led up to 2019, the twin rise of e-commerce and consumer expectations began placing unprecedented strain on global transportation networks and logistics providers.  Manufacturers and retailers responded by pushing their existing systems—a...

This post The future of freight: Transforming the movement of goods appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

In recent years the supply chain of today has met with unprecedented levels of disruption, from an inexorable and exponential rise in consumer demand, fuel shortages, to a global pandemic. Thankfully, we seem to be emerging out of the latter, yet still, such factors have caused the supply chain to grow ever-increasingly more complex. And,...

This post 9 Trends in the Transportation and Logistics Industry to Look Out for in 2023 appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

The last several years have made a mockery of many predictions. The economy didn’t tank. The mid-term election wasn’t a wipeout. There wasn’t a carrier “Armageddon.”  Those years have also made a mockery of many supply chain and logistics strategies and  services. A number of macroeconomic and geopolitical challenges, as well as significant learnings about...

This post Six Supply Chain and Logistics Trends for 2023 appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

The political events of 2022 have once again demonstrated how important intact logistical supply chains are for the global economy and the population. This is also reflected in the future trends and challenges in logistics. Here, the focus remains primarily on aspects of digitization, but with an increased attention to making supply chains more resilient...

This post Logistics Trends 2023: Securing the Resilience of Supply Chains Digitally and Sustainably appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

When disruption is constant, an organization’s preparation for key supply chain trends can be a significant competitive advantage. Disruptions to supply chain operations are set to stay in 2023, whether they be existing or new geopolitical conflicts, inflationary pressures and the recessionary environment, climate change weather events, or other issues yet to emerge. They can...

This post The supply chain trends shaking up 2023 appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

It’s not even the morning of New Year’s Day and already there’s talk in supply-chain circles of the 2023 hangover. “There’s a reliability hangover,” Bill Seward, the new president of supply-chain solutions at United Parcel Service, said in an interview. He was referring to lingering headaches from more than two years of shipping congestion, delivery disruptions and...

This post Global Supply Chains Face ‘Hangover’ as Excess Demand Softens appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

Shipping strains are on the mend, but a painful spell of weaker demand might be next. Rock guitarist Jack White, who extended his “Supply Chain Issues Tour” into October, might want to name his band’s next road trip after a different villain. That’s because supply strains, while still afflicting many consumers and businesses, are becoming more mundane...

This post Supply Chains Inching Back to Normal Brace for Headwinds of Softer Demand appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

Just-In-Time (JIT) inventory and manufacturing systems are management strategies where replenishment orders of raw materials, assemblies, and finished goods are based on production schedules; which themselves are based on real customer orders that are due at specific dates (even times).  The objective is to increase efficiency and effectiveness by decreasing the waste associated with carrying...

This post Time to rethink Just-In-Time appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

Supply chains are global, and the world is shrinking, meaning a shock to one part is a shock to the whole. And the shocks to supply just keep coming … Just as scientists and public health officials are daring to suggest the Covid pandemic might be entering its end-game, so China announces strict new lockdown measures,...

This post News analysis: Chaos is the new normal for supply chain appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

Amid supply chain woes and inflation, five priorities for companies. Manufacturing companies are going through a fundamental rethink of their supply chain structures and long-term talent development plans as they look toward a post-COVID future. There is also a structural shift in priorities, attitudes and investments related to environmental consciousness. While ongoing inflation pains will...

This post Manufacturing’s Big Rethink: A Shift in Approaches, Attitudes, Investments appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

With a long period of price increases possible, a proactive approach can help procurement professionals weather the storm. A growing economy. A tight labor market. Two of the biggest telltale signs of inflation have been evident in recent months, and concerns have been further fueled by two factors: tariffs and trade turbulence stemming from the Trump administration’s...

This post High inflation: uncharted waters for supply management appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

India, Turkey and Mexico are among the new sourcing destinations emerging as companies seek to mitigate risks. Last year — amid port backups, container shortages and other supply chain nightmares — retailers and brands turned to the skies, sending demand for air cargo in 2021 up nearly 7% compared to 2019 by one estimate. Shipping shirts and...

This post Furniture retailers forge new supply chain practices as backlogs, risks prevail appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

Supply chain challenges are real, but they’re not new, says global trade expert Dustin Burke. In the face of disruptions ranging from natural disasters to pandemics, how do we make sure supply chains can keep up? Burke offers a combination of solutions — from companies sharing risk to better forecasting disruptions — to help create...

This post How to fix broken supply chains appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

Concerns are rising that Shanghai’s lockdown is only the beginning of months-long challenges. After just over two years of a largely successful “zero-COVID” policy, China is facing its biggest test to date in the metropolis of Shanghai and the supply chain headaches that come with a massive lockdown. On Monday morning, the city reported a...

This post With Shanghai at a standstill, supply chain problems are compounding appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

The issues loom as cargo volumes are rising at the port, with more imports on the way. LOS ANGELES — Rail issues, rising container dwell times and a backlog of ships in China pose threats to continuing supply chain improvements at the Port of Los Angeles. Still, port and union leaders expressed confidence on Tuesday...

This post China backlog, rising dwell times pose threat to Port of Los Angeles rebound appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

The US is likely past the worst of its supply-chain nightmare. But recent improvements haven’t been enough to cool inflation, and the latest data suggests prices will keep soaring for the rest of the year. The country’s inflation problem is a two-pronged issue. The shipping delays and port bottlenecks of late 2021 left businesses with...

This post Retail Import Growth Levels Out But Volume Remains High appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

Supply Lines is a daily newsletter that tracks Covid-19’s impact on trade. Sign up here, and subscribe to our Covid-19 podcast for the latest news and analysis on the pandemic. Citigroup, New York Fed economists zoom in on supply headwinds Gauges should help economists better measure speed of recovery Global supply chains are nearing a...

This post Global Supply Chains Near Make-or-Break Point for Easing in 2022 appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

Precautionism; The quest for resilience involves reaching for facts, friends and fortification When covid-19 led to a scramble for face masks, Lloyd Armbrust saw America’s shortage as “a really dumb problem to have”. But after his company’s first face mask came off the production line in Austin, Texas, he faced problems of his own. A...

This post In search of resilience appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

In this episode, Ron and Joseph discuss the supply chain and logistical challenges that are supposedly global in nature. Certainly, the news reports coming from the United States and as witnessed from producer to consumer indicate there is severe strain. But the news coming from other parts of the world and accompanying experiences tell quite...

This post Are Global Challenges Really Global? appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

With Southern California seaports overburdened by commercial ships and pandemic and supply-driven delays in moving cargo, the Navy agreed to allow cargo-carrying vessels to use one of its military wharves at Port Hueneme, Calif. Port Hueneme is the only deep-water port sited between San Francisco and Los Angeles that can support the heavy, large commercial...

This post Navy Opens Up Military Deep-water Pier to Merchant Ships to Ease California Cargo Crisis appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

Easing the chokepoint is a “balancing act” of labor, warehouse space and goods movement… As shipping containers clog the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, many importers are running into similar problems: There isn’t enough warehouse space to store incoming freight. This lack of capacity prevents many containers from advancing through an already congested supply chain....

This post 7 charts show Southern California’s warehouse crunch appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

In this episode of The Outliers Inn, Mule, JP, and guests discuss reported challenges and disruptions in Supply Chains and Logistics. After all, we have seen it in all the media; ships parked for as far as the eye can see off or Los Angeles (and to a lesser extent, Newark), trains that are 25...

This post The Outliers Inn; Supply Chain Woes appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

How Do We Move Forward? Food retail supply chains are undergoing shocks and logjams that are raising prices and disrupting fill rates. Last week we took a deep dive into one aspect of this, what is behind the hesitancy of workers to fill the many job openings in the retail and wholesale food sector. This week we...

This post The Supply Chain Is In Crisis. appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

A family friend called me the other day asking why it felt like she was paying twice as much for groceries as last year and why she couldn’t always find some of her favorite items. I’ve also noticed some local grocery chains are raising prices, but they are also running 5-10% out of stocks on...

This post Why Is The Supply Chain All Jacked Up? appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.

The Biden administration today announced a series of new steps that will be taken by companies and organizations in the private and public sectors to help address the continuing supply chain crisis in the U.S. The White House said the actions are designed “to move more goods faster, and strengthen the resiliency of our supply chains, by...

This post White House Announces New Steps To Tackle U.S. Supply Chain Crisis appeared first on Operational Excellence Society.