Category Archives: Supply Chains

Rail/Intermodal: Still on track, but not immune to challenges

Posted on July 30, 2015 by | Leave a comment

So rail is asking for re-regulation?  Give me a break.  When things get tough they simply want government relief.

This article authored by Jeff Berman is interesting, and even more so taken with others in the issue.  Those talk about how the balance between long haul trucking and intermodal may be shifting.  Trucking costs are going up, and folks are shifting to intermodal.  This places a greater load on the rail network, and since rails don’t make the money on intermodal that they do on commodities, they are wary of making capital investments to speed up intermodal flows.  Are higher regulated rates the answer?  I doubt it.

Logistics management logo

2015 State of Logistics Rail/Intermodal: Still on track, but not immune to challenges – Article from Logistics Management.

Leave a comment

Posted in Logistics, Rail, Supply Chains, Trucking

Who Really has a Supply Chain Strategy?

Posted on July 23, 2015 by | Leave a comment

Dan Gilmore reports on his mini survey about the slippery concept of supply chain strategy and it implementation.  I think it’s a really good question.  And what he found is provocative.

Who Really has a Supply Chain Strategy?.

It seems only a few firms have really embraced a far reaching strategic management approach to the integration of supply chains with corporate strategy.  And his data show that they are still focused on internal improvements, whereas most studies show the biggest leverage is connecting with customers downstream rather than with suppliers or with internal processes.   So I’m guessing there is a really long way to go.

While we have lots of tools for supply chain improvement, 3PLs have proved better at providing the information flows critical for integrating with customers or suppliers more directly.  I think that trend will continue, even in spite of the spate of mergers and acquisitions in the 3PL space.  It’s as if firms are seeing they don’t have the tools, let alone the glimmer of a strategy.

And this is true even of giants like UPS, which is rumored to be buying Coyote Logistics in a 1.8 billion deal.  It means we need software and we need user interfaces that can jump the corporate boundaries to connect the supply chain.

Leave a comment

Posted in Logistics, Supply Chains

It’s the Supply Chain Process, Stupid

Posted on July 21, 2015 by | Leave a comment

This interesting viewpoint comes via Huffington Post.  Not too much substance, but there is a germ of truth.  Firms are so hung up on security and privacy that they refuse to share information that would make supply chains work much better for all.  It’s possible they could be engines for growth. This has been true for 20 years now, and computer scientists have done little to facilitate sharing of data easily. The spectre of security and privacy violations and the media attention on companies when there’s a breakmeans no one will take a chance

Image result for Huffpost Business

It’s the Supply Chain Process, Stupid | Ho-Hyung Lee.

There is an opportunity for governments to require data sharing. We are starting to see it in trucking, where the driver incident data is coming online. Rails have been providing STB waybill data to the US government for years, though it is often incomplete and inaccurate and there’s no enforcement of accuracy.  And private firms like PIERS have been acquiring some data, like ocean container moves,  and making it available for a price.  But to have generally available and public movement data would greatly improve the joint planning of supply chain activity across chains.  That’s what is needed.  Sort of Google Maps traffic with details.

It’s politically so unlikely in the current US environment that this call is whistling in the wind.   The US is all about security, privacy, and individual or corporate control of any asset.

 

Leave a comment

Posted in Production Operations, Supply Chains