From time to time, at the end of the year, I dig out my crystal ball and try to predict what supply chain developments we might see in the coming year. Sometimes I have been right, and other predictions have fallen flat. For example, I really thought the Cowboys would be in the 2020 Super […]
As almost everyone probably recalls by now, early in his election campaign, President Trump advocated the renegotiation or complete dissolution of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and continued to push the idea after he was elected. First conceived in 1987, NAFTA was finally signed into law in 1994, and has been very instrumental […]
With the increase in global commerce over the past several years, the use of foreign trade zones (FTZs) has become more prevalent with firms importing goods from competitive nations such as China, India, and the European countries. But while many supply chain managers know a little about FTZs, the concept is often misunderstood; and they […]
For fifteen years the trucking industry has been plagued by a shortage of drivers. And for fifteen years, we have seen a continuous flow of information about the driver shortage and how it has affected or will affect the shipping public. Since almost everyone has a different perspective, it is difficult to get a real […]
For years we have heard the old adage that “Information is Power”, the thought being that if one controlled the information, the power would come. A few years ago, a consultant put a damper on that when he said that if information were power, the librarians would own the world. The real power would be […]
There are three significant issues that have moved to the supply chain forefront in the last couple of weeks. Although unrelated, and not final, each of them stands to affect the management of our supply chains. The first and potentially, the most serious is the ongoing tariff skirmish between the U. S. and China. Last […]
The last few weeks have demonstrated that no one of us is totally secure, regardless of where we are or what we are doing. The recent, tragic events in El Paso and Dayton are painful reminders of that. While these were not workplace violence incidents, the killing of two managers of a Walmart store in […]
Or so said Neil Sedaka in his 1962 song by that name. And he was correct. A number of times in the course of my consulting work, I have been asked to testify in cases where outsourcing relationships have gone bad. There are a number of good reasons for ending outsourcing relationships, i.e. mergers, acquisitions, […]
THE STATE OF LOGISTICS – 2019 On June 18, the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) released the “30th Annual State of Logistics Report”. This year’s report was entitled Cresting the Hill. The SOL report was launched in 1988, by the late Bob Delaney, one of the leading supply chain experts of that time; […]
At least FedEx doesn’t seem to think so. Last week, with great fanfare, FedEx announced it would not review its US Express contract, scheduled to expire on June 30. This is only the air contract, and other FedEx/Amazon contracts will remain intact – at least for the time being. In making the announcement, FedEx indicated […]