supply chain
120 articles

Dubai: The City of the Future

At Expo 2020 Dubai, a pipeline for innovation, as well as economic and social development, takes center stage.
Mark Vale | UPS

Imagine a world not restricted by borders. This world is connected virtually through information technology and physically through trade lanes and supply chains. In this world, free trade brings people and organizations closer together and allows them to work together to tackle global challenges. Click to hear about UPS’s exciting new role as the Official […]

3D Printing – Evolution Rather than Revolution – Part Two

Here are four different ways to evaluate the future of 3D printing.
Ralf Steck | Engineering Spot

In the first part of this blog series, I explained three concepts that crystallized what 3D printing can and cannot offer. Ultimately, this also dictates the industries and scenarios where 3D printing and rapid prototyping are used in a complementary role. To distinguish between realistic and over-hyped applications for the years ahead, we want to investigate and evaluate […]

Reaching Online Shoppers in Australia

Creating the right partnerships will unlock the Australian e-commerce network.

Retailers looking for their next cross-border, e-commerce opportunity should look down: Down Under to be exact. As early adopters of international online shopping, 77 percent of Australian consumers use a smartphone, 65 percent shop online and 40 percent purchase clothing and footwear from an international merchant, according to the Ecommerce Foundation Australia is a growing force […]

Donate Life

Every 10 minutes, another person joins the waiting list for an organ transplant. Here's how you can help.
Glen A Franklin, M.D. | Kentucky Organ Donor Affiliates

Click here to learn about Sharon Cauthen’s journey as a kidney recipient. Kathy Anderson’s heart was severely damaged by medicine she was prescribed while pregnant with twin girls. The damage wasn’t evident until after her daughters were born. Within a couple of weeks, she was given only a slim chance of survival. Her doctors knew her […]

Podcast: What’s Next for Green Energy?

Here’s why diversity is the best path forward for alternative fuels.

Click here to play podcast Today’s infrastructure, with its aging roads, bridges and ports, is arguably the largest hurdle for alternative fuels and the energy sources of tomorrow. Efficiency, technology and scale are also major barriers to the wider adoption of green energy. So what is the path forward? And how do we take an […]

Nonstop Adaptation

Reinvention is a must for any company looking to get ahead in today’s marketplace.
Jay Collins | WEX

When people ask me where I work, the answer can sound complicated … but it’s really not. I work at a fleet, travel and healthcare company. To put it more clearly, I work in payment solutions – in the fleet and travel and healthcare businesses. It’s actually not all that different from those who work […]

Becoming Cognitive

Understanding cognitive computing versus artificial intelligence, deep learning and machine learning.
Alison Bolen | SAS

Hui Li | SAS


Cognitive computing brings with it a promise of genuine, human-to-machine interaction. When machines become cognitive, they can understand requests, connect data points and draw conclusions. They can reason, observe and plan. Consider: Leaving for a business trip tomorrow? Your cognitive device will automatically offer weather reports and travel alerts for your destination city. Planning a […]

How 3D Printing Could Bend the Cost Curve in Healthcare

Additive manufacturing could provide a real breakthrough in treating patients around the world.
John Menna | UPS

Even as people around the globe enjoy longer, healthier and more productive lives, the rising cost of healthcare threatens to impede such progress. This is particularly troubling in the United States as Baby Boomers approaching retirement place a greater strain on an overburdened healthcare system. Policymakers and medical leaders are scrambling for innovative ways to […]

Seeing Logistics in 3D

From hearing aids to jet engines, 3D printing is revolutionizing the world of manufacturing.
Alan Amling | UPS

Of all the ways 3D printing will change the world, the democratization of manufacturing is perhaps the most important. Think of it as the Uberization of manufacturing, where supply can be accessed anywhere in the world to produce goods at the click of button. This is a once-in-a-generation logistics opportunity, as so-called additive manufacturing will […]

Environmental Sustainability Is Hiding Within Your Business

Here's a road map to unlocking value while reducing your carbon footprint.

For decades, supply chain specialists focused on wringing every ounce of value or saving the most amount of time by optimizing the movement of goods. At the same time, sustainability specialists focused on reducing carbon emissions and environmental impact. In some cases, these two very different goals were aligned. But all too often, the objectives […]

Automating Supply Chain Resilience

To benefit from advanced risk identification tools and keep pace with customer expectations, companies need a new approach to supply chain resilience.
Dr. Luca Urciuoli | Zaragoza Logistics Center

Substantial investments in supply chain resilience have enabled companies to vastly improve their capacity for bouncing back after a disruption. But the digitization of supply chains is introducing new demands on company operations that require a different approach to building supply chain resilience. With the benefit of digital technologies, companies are using big data to […]

What the Gambler’s Fallacy Can Teach Us About Risk

Don't ignore Murphy's Law when making business decisions.

Have you ever heard of the gambler’s fallacy? In essence, it’s a cognitive bias in which one assumes that future probabilities are affected by past events. In other words, it’s the belief that something bad won’t happen in the future because you avoided calamity in the past. There’s a valuable business lesson within this misconception. […]

Assets are Dead … Long Live Assets

We’re overthinking it. Business success is about making lives better.
Alan Amling | UPS

Are assets losing value in this age of platform-based businesses? Conventional wisdom suggests that asset-heavy businesses, which dominated the Fortune 500 list for the last century, are in decline. Uber is on the rise despite not owning any vehicles, Apple is dominating music distribution without owning any record companies and Airbnb is disrupting the lodging […]

3 Ways a New Customs Agreement Makes it Easier to Meet Global Demand

The new TFA is changing the way goods cross borders and move around the world.
Laura Lane | UPS

The newly minted Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) is a game-changer for the way goods cross borders and move around the world. At UPS, the seamless movement of packages is our lifeblood — so we are excited by this World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement, which ushers in a new global framework of rules that make trade […]

How Good Is Your Sustainable Supply Chain Program?

Why climbing up the supply chain ladder can only benefit your company.
Meghan Ryan | BSR

Tara Norton | BSR

Many blogs in 2017 are going to start with some play on this obvious theme: We are living in uncertain times. For supply chains, you could argue that this is nothing new, as the complexities of global supply chains have always incorporated a high degree of uncertainty. BSR member companies know they need to manage […]

From Latin America With Love: The Valentine’s Day Challenge

There are remarkable similarities in how fresh flowers and fruit get to your doorstep.

Every February, shoppers depend on farmers in Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica for a universal token of love and affection – fresh cut flowers. These temperate countries provide a significant amount of the delicate floras that are given during the Valentine’s Day season. For everyone preparing to take their loved ones […]

Breaking Through Borders

How implementing certain strategies can help SMEs overcome exporting challenges.

As unbelievable as it may sound, the only source of economic growth in Europe between 2008 and 2013 came from exporting goods and services. Today, exports are still the most important – but fortunately not the only – engines for growth, according to the European Commission. Making up over 99 percent of all businesses, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) […]

Breaking Down Supply Chain and Logistics Trends in 2017

In a society surrounded by digital innovations, companies must stay ahead of the trends to survive.
Ludger Schuh | INFORM GmbH

“The digital transformation is no longer just a buzzword.” This was a fitting conclusion from Prof. Dr. Raimund Klinker at last year’s international logistics congress in Berlin. For several years now, processes (especially in logistics, but also in many other economic areas) have become more and more digitalized. This trend will continue for the next […]

Can E-Commerce and Sustainability Co-Exist?

A successful company is a sustainable company, which also allows it to keep up with the e-commerce boom.
Greg Brown | UPS

Technology is transforming the retail landscape as we know it. According to Forrester, U.S. online retail sales are anticipated to exceed $520 billion by 2020. Globally, online sales are growing three times faster than GDP. Increasingly, online shopping is being combined with traditional shopping trips to brick-and-mortar stores. According to the 2016 UPS Pulse of the […]

Closing the MRO Gaps

Companies that sell spare parts, chemicals and other maintenance, repair and operating (MRO) supplies are scrambling to adapt to evolving customer expectations.

Manufacturing long-lasting equipment — think industrial machinery — can be a profitable business, especially for those who understand their markets and customers best. But the real profit opportunity comes after the machinery is sold. That’s because equipment owners typically spend many times the original purchase price on spare parts, chemicals and other materials required to […]

Improving Traceability for Better Supply Chain Performance

Choosing a solution to track and trace products can impact supply chains in multiple ways.

Many companies are striving to improve supply chain traceability in response to increasing demand from customers and government regulators for more information on product flows. The ability to accurately track the movement of products also helps companies increase the efficiency of supply chains. Researchers at the Malaysia Institute for Supply Chain Innovation (MISI), Shah Alam, Malaysia, […]

The Public Policies Needed to Make IoT a Reality

How governmental action can create a more connected world.
Todd Wasserman | HPE Matter

Enterprise use of IoT has become a reality, but governments in the U.S. and Europe are still catching up to regulate the fledgling industry. In the U.S., federal and state legislators aren’t known for being proactive about regulating technology. For instance, around 23 percent of Americans were already on the internet in 1996 when the federal […]

How to Help Combat Malaria: Supply Chain Remedies

Saving millions of lives starts with better supply chains.
Lauren McKown | MIT-D Lab

The World Health Organization estimates that nearly half of the world’s population is at risk for malaria, a life-threatening, but ultimately curable and preventable disease spread by mosquitoes.  Malaria rapid diagnostic tests are an important part of the fight against the disease, but according to new research from MIT, supply chain challenges keep these tests […]

A Manufacturing Metamorphosis

It’s Manufacturing Week on Longitudes. Here’s why we’re so excited about innovations already at work and on the horizon.

Of all the ways the world is changing, how we make things is perhaps changing most of all. The traditional manufacturing model, defined by cheaper labor, rigid supply chains and larger inventories, is evolving before our eyes. A nimbler, dare I say, smarter, strategy is emerging. Manufacturers need speed, efficiency and the ability to ramp […]

Brexit, Stage Left

Here are eight ways Brexit might affect your European supply chain.
Penny Naas | UPS

When it comes to the U.K.’s monumental decision to leave the European Union, the only thing that is certain is complete uncertainty about how this separation will impact individuals and businesses for years to come.  New U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May recently indicated that the British government would invoke Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon […]

A Fresh Take on Supply Chain Innovation

How big ideas can redesign your supply chain.
James B. Rice Jr. | Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Tim Rowell | PepsiCo

Companies are presented with many opportunities when they decide to enter a new market. Venturing into unfamiliar territory offers a unique chance to innovate and make changes that benefit the business as a whole. One of PepsiCo’s growth strategies is to proactively adapt to emerging market trends for natural, healthy and nutritious beverages. The strategy […]

Still Pushing Your Customers Around?

Stakeholders are now moving towards supply chain excellence and inbound logistics to handle new pressures on the American healthcare system.
Keith Biondo | Inbound Magazine

Inbound Logistics published its first healthcare logistics article back in 1994.  That article revealed several important reasons for companies to move to demand-driven logistics, even those not in the healthcare value chain. Hillarycare was introduced the year before that article ran. My opinion then was, “Fine, look at Hillarycare, but first cut costs and boost […]

Smarter, Better, Faster

IT is fueling the digital revolution. How to access its power.
Ludger Schuh | INFORM GmbH

Statements regarding digitalization and the accompanying changes to workplaces are often contradictory: Some people imagine outlandish deserted factories and warehouses and proclaim the digital transformation as a job killer. Others recognize that humans are the key players in digitalization as they hold the strings of the revolution and can pull them in ways that protect […]

Six Ways to Healthcare Supply Chain Success

A set of core traits can align your supply chain with the demands of the healthcare industry.
Shoshanah Cohen | Stanford University

Minimizing inventory and improving efficiency — that’s how companies in most industries control supply chain costs. Missing a few sales is less important than keeping inventory under control. But the concept of “too much inventory” loses its relevance when people’s lives depend on product availability That’s a key reason why healthcare supply companies have historically […]

The Urgency of Trade and TPP

In a world that is being rewired and transformed, policy must keep pace, starting with approval of the largest and most far-reaching free-trade agreement in history.
Mark Wallace | UPS

The following is based on a speech given by Mark Wallace, UPS senior vice president of global engineering and sustainability, at the Global Supply Chain Summit in Washington, DC. The world is well along with what history will show as a great rewiring. This rewiring is massively and permanently changing global interconnections that have structured […]