Warning: The power dynamic is shifting as agile, tech-savvy and well-funded small businesses come flooding into the supply chain, often displacing large and aging legacy suppliers. This is an exciting time for small businesses, driven by millennials and Generation Z, who look at entrepreneurship as a less risky proposition than their parents and friends who […]

A hyper-connected network of logistics clusters could play a key role in achieving the European Union’s goal of creating a sustainable, more efficient freight transportation system. An EU-backed research initiative called Clusters 2.0 is laying the groundwork for such a network by developing ways to link freight hubs via the physical internet. Clusters 2.0 comprises […]

A common problem with supply chains is they become unwieldy beasts. Each individual element and component within the network knows what they are doing, but the big picture often becomes obscure. This leaves success in the supply chain down to luck and inevitable inefficiencies. You simply can’t operate a successful supply chain blindly. More and […]

There are nearly 46 million people in 167 countries living in some form of slavery today, and women and girls in developing nations make up more than 70 percent of those exposed to constant abuse and extreme poverty. They can’t live freely or earn enough to meet basic needs for themselves or their families. Let’s […]

It was not many years ago when the countdown to the death of the bookstore was nearing zero. The print book was on the edge of extinction as seemingly everyone was in the process of converting to e-readers. But a funny thing happened. Some readers liked print, and some liked digital. Some actually liked both. […]

Every child knows the North Pole is the geographic epicenter of Christmas – home to Santa Claus and his fabled workshop. So, here’s a quick quiz for adults: What’s the geographic epicenter of Valentine’s Day? If fresh-cut flowers are what you’re planning to give to your beloved this Feb. 14, the answer is Latin America. […]

Nobody ever said, Curbsides are cool. Perhaps that’s why we so often overlook curbs – one of a city’s most valuable assets. Everyone wants to work on expanding small business districts, improving health and education outcomes and leveraging data and technology to transform cities (because that’s all the rage these days). But curbs? Curbs don’t […]

For the last 30 years, trade has been one of the stabilizing pillars of the global community – creating jobs, supporting the development and spreading of technology and ideas, raising productivity, expanding consumer choice and enabling cross-border communications channels and supply chains. In material terms, our global economy has never been more prosperous. Yet open trade […]

Today’s consumers have been trained to expect enjoyable, efficient and personalized shopping experiences – all at a bargain price. But this no longer just applies to the front-end purchasing experience. Now consumers expect to be delighted even when returning goods to retailers. Because of standards set by  customer-centric companies, more and more retailers are offering flexible […]

Transportation is the second biggest global emitter of greenhouse gases (GHG), yet the logistics sector is often left out of the climate conversation. The 23rd Conference of Parties (COP23), a major annual forum for climate policy dialogue, recently moved transportation into the spotlight, paving the way for more proactive emissions reduction measures. Suzanne Greene, manager […]

Managing supply chains more than ever is about managing technology. The rise of tools such as predictive analytics, the Internet of Things and blockchain places greater demand on supply chain professionals for the technical skills to understand and apply the dizzying array of new technologies in modern business. In the rush to keep up with […]

Supply chains are facing the perfect storm of disruption – from radical transformations of industry to disasters like the extreme weather events recently felt across the world. For large and complex supply chains like HPE, digital technologies offer an opportunity to predict and manage this risk by future-proofing operations with increased visibility, agility and efficiency. At […]

The future is a popular place these days. Everybody wants to know what it looks like. Everybody wants to know the best way to prepare for it. Everybody wants to know how to get there first and with the right stuff. But getting it right has never been more difficult. Or as Yoda told Luke […]

Talking about Apple’s approach to innovation and technology, Steve Jobs once said: “You have to start with the customer experience and work backwards.” More than ever, that is true for companies like UPS. We know that our future is closely linked with the experience our customers have with our brand. That belief is behind recent […]

There’s an idea gaining credence in some circles that we’ve reached “peak globalization.” If the advocates of this view are right, worldwide trade volumes – which enjoyed unprecedented growth but then stalled out somewhere around 2012, according to the IMF – are heading for a period of long-term structural decline. The retreat, these trade pessimists […]

Last month, Dutch authorities learned that 20 percent of the eggs coming from the Netherlands were not safe. European authorities are now in a dash to pull the bad food from the shelves. Earlier this year, 3,000 school children in Egypt became ill in the early afternoon. Ambulances were dispatched to elementary schools, as authorities […]

Groceries need to be stored and transported at different temperatures depending on the nature of each product – so why not rationalize the distribution of these items by accommodating different temperature zones in the same truck? This is the basic rationale of multi-compartment vehicle (MCV) distribution, which is gaining ground in Europe. But adding complexity […]

When I write about supply chains, I think readers naturally envision product or material supply chains. In a physical supply chain, raw materials are processed or refined and made into other things that have to be moved from here to there. This all naturally involves trucks, air and ocean freight, warehouses, assemblies and inventory – […]

High tech is changing the logistics industry, forcing supply chains to adapt quickly. A UPS executive and an MIT professor share their views on how analytics is affecting the supply chains of technology firms. A UPS perspective by David Andries, Vice President, Customer Solutions, UPS In a recent survey of manufacturing and supply chain leaders, […]

The serenity of a normal Sunday morning gives me time to catch up on the business journals and blogs that have accumulated in my inbox throughout the week. As I comb through the articles, my serendipity turns into anxiety as I read article after article on the vast number of innovative ideas put forward by […]

It’s a common phrase: “Don’t rest on your laurels.” In other words, don’t be satisfied with your past successes. Go out and strive for more. In today’s culture of “hustle” and entrepreneurship (for better or worse), where you are expected to be available to your business or boss 24/7, this phrase seems obvious. However, we […]

At the Consumer Goods Forum Global Summit in Berlin last month, I spoke alongside Frank Yiannas from Walmart about how blockchain is a collaborative solution that can help increase the traceability and transparency of food across the supply chain. In our digitized world, consumers are demanding accurate, real-time inventory information, faster service and low or […]

When you need to remember a phone number, a shopping list or a set of instructions, you rely on what psychologists and neuroscientists refer to as working memory. It’s the ability to hold and manipulate information in mind, over brief intervals. It’s for things that are important to you in the present moment but not […]

The way we move goods has never been static. In the 1940s, innovation meant streamlining processes with forklifts and ocean-bound shipping containers. Then computers brought ones and zeros into the mix, and suddenly we could make better, faster decisions to modernize our supply chains. Our systems are getting smarter every day, with decades of progress […]

Those of us operating in the supply chain world are likely used to thinking of transport as synonymous with logistics. However, in doing so, we’re missing a vital area for improvement in our overall supply chain. If we can see transportation as one facet of logistics, we can home in on it as a distinct […]

To save costs and decrease turnaround time, manufacturers typically turn to the supply chain. They break it down so individual product parts are made in different areas of the world during each stage of production. From the pen in my pocket to the shirt in which it sits to the coffee I’m drinking, it’s all […]