Author Archives: just2bruce

Capturing the Business Benefits of Student-Industry Collaboration

Posted on June 2, 2017 | Leave a comment

Here’s how to run student-centered research on supply chains.  Of course they are discussing masters and PhD students.

I find the technique is powerful at all levels of higher education. Projects force students to think deeply about an actual problem, and they also allow them to be creative in how to attack them.  The professor becomes more of a coach– no preaching, but lots of encouragement, and a bit of guidance to keep the goal in mind and the project on track.

I recommend exploring how a project would fit into your class routine, especially one involving an outside client as they do at MIT.

Source: Capturing the Business Benefits of Student-Industry Collaboration

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Posted in entrepreneurship, Leadership, Logistics, Supply Chains

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Understanding the 2017 Gartner Top 25 Supply Chain Rankings

Posted on June 1, 2017 | Leave a comment

Again Dan Gilmore skewers the Gartner top 25 supply chain ratings.  For me the most disturbing thing is that being a Gartner client is probably the surest way to get on it.

And you have to get past the idea that only large companies, and relatively light on assets ones, have the best supply chains.  Managing the assets is what logistics is about.  Whether it is good to have them or not should not be a factor– it is just a different set of skills one develops.

Supply Chain Digest LogoDissecting this Year’s List, as Now Amazon Joins the ”Hall of Fame”

Source: Understanding the 2017 Gartner Top 25 Supply Chain Rankings

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Posted in Logistics, Supply Chains

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ILA concerned about NY/NJ chassis depot rents

Posted on May 23, 2017 | 1 comment

Trucking and container chassis again moves into the spotlight. But now it’s how much to pay for the ground the chassis get stored on at the port.  The dislocation caused by ocean lines trying to foist off chassis ownership on truckers continues to hurt US ports.

Chassis provision has played a key role in the port container supply chains since ocean lines divested in 2013.  The issue was a key factor in the West Coast labor dispute at ports, and now is headed eastward.

The whole problem with pools, of chassis or otherwise, is how to allocate the burden of maintaining them, or, put another way, allocate the gains of pooling among the participants. Again it seems, truckers will not be benefiting; these players will fight over fees and split them while truckers will wind up paying in lease rates for whatever adjustments there are.  The ILA is at least bringing attention to the problem.

  Increasingly high rents charged to chassis providers by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey could hurt the port’s overall competitiveness, says Dennis Daggett, executive vice president of the International Longshoremen’s Association.

Source: ILA concerned about NY/NJ chassis depot rents

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Posted in Labor Economics, Logistics, Ports, Shipping, Supply Chains, Trucking

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