LTL Industry Best Practices for Cross-Border Shipping

Posted on August 18, 2014 by Matt Grossi

Cross-border shipping is an integral part of the global economy and an especially important component of the commercial relationship between the United States and Canada. The United States Census Bureau reported that in May of 2014 the U.S. imported over $30 billion in goods from Canada. If your business is looking to engage in any kind of cross-border shipping, it is important that you ship your goods in an efficient way that also complies with all the pertinent regulations for this type of commerce.

Include the Proper Documents

The first step in making sure that you can properly engage in cross-border shipping is getting your documents in order. Important things that you need to have include:

Your bill of lading that is filled out with all the necessary information
Evidence of the purchase of the goods, such as an invoice or purchase order
A license to import/export: this is usually only required for products that are regulated, like firearms, tobacco, etc.

Checklist for Efficient Global Supply Chain Management

Posted on August 11, 2014 by Marco Grossi

Efficient supply chain management on a global scale is a handful for even the most logistics-savvy companies. When you are entangled in the global market there are a lot of blind corners and gray areas. There is going to be a lot of days that you wish that the straight line you drew between two points on the whiteboard was a reality. With that being said, global supply chain management is a difficult yet not impossible task. Here is a checklist of tasks that every business needs to follow to maintain the efficiency of their global supply chain.

Global Supply Chain Management Checklist

[ ] Always Start With Risk Management: Operational Risk Management is more than just a buzzword. It has to be the starting point of every logistics operation. While it may not be possible to disaster-proof every movement, you cannot know what contingencies you will need to prepare for if you do not take the time to consider the events that will have the most disruptive effects upon your operations. You need to consider how you will do business if your critical systems are rendered inoperable, what steps to take to respond to these catastrophes, and how to resume operations as quickly as possible. Continue Reading

5 Common Mistakes in Supply Chain Management

Posted on August 4, 2014 by Matt Grossi

Studies show that the supply chain accounts for over half of the total cost of production. Successful management of the supply chain therefore requires the ability of a company to recover quickly from disruptions. The supply chain is even more complex than it was two decades ago so it is critical that you remain vigilant, steer clear of common mistakes and appreciate the benefits of proactive management.

That said, here are 5 common mistakes in modern-day supply chain management;

1. Prioritizing functions by spend

Quantifying by spend is probably the most common mistake in supply chain management. Simply put, you look at your suppliers and prioritize functions based on who supplies most of your goods and services. So, even if you have 20 suppliers, you’ll want to prioritize say five suppliers whom you’ve always spent 80 percent of your budget on. This strategy worked well until fifteen years ago when outsourcing was proliferated. Today, supply chains come in layers where you source from several suppliers.

You can no longer rely on a single source for your parts otherwise these parts would become a single point of failure in the supply chain. Continue Reading

What Type of Supply Chain Disruptions are a Threat to Your Business?

Posted on July 28, 2014 by Scott Pattinson

Many businesses share common management concerns including potential supply chain disruptions. These common supply chain threats include extreme weather like hurricanes or tornadoes, or natural disasters like earthquakes and floods. Other kinds of disruptions like supplier breaks, labor issues and pricing risks, are perhaps less dramatic, but hold the same potential for damage. For every business, the type and ultimate impact of supply chain disruptions will vary. There are several threats to a business”s supply chain, especially if they rely on transportation.

Supplier Breaks

Any manager waiting for a truckload of raw materials originating in a hurricane zone along the Gulf knows that unforeseen disruptions are costly and can potentially put their business at risk. Supplier breaks can arise for a variety of reasons.

Climate change and environmental damage continue to cause supplier breaks because they can lead to swings in the cost of commodities and other materials prices, which can affect your bottom line. For example, changes in climate led to a reduction in grain crops in Eastern Europe, leaving many food manufacturers forced to increase prices to cover the drop in supply and subsequent increase in price. Unanticipated events like explosions in warehouses, business failures, or new regulations can end in supplier breaks too. Continue Reading

How to Choose Supply Chain technology

Posted on July 21, 2014 by Scott Pattinson

Choosing supply chain technology is the most important decision a logistics manager makes in his or her career. Why? Simply because the right software solution can propel a company forward, regardless of how bad the economy is, while the wrong one may bury the business for good. Unfortunately, selecting the best supply chain management (SCM) system can be difficult.

Selecting a SCM System

Never has so much technology been developed to help organizations improve supply chain performance. Yet, the performance of most supply chains has never been worse. Due to poor coordination and planning, dysfunctional industry practices, and high costs resulting from adversarial relations among partners, most supply chain organizations generate low profit margins, surviving, not thriving. To help you choose the right SCM system for your company, the rest of this post delineates the steps you should follow in the selection process. Continue Reading

How do Fuel Surcharges Work in the Trucking Industry?

Posted on July 14, 2014 by Matt Grossi

For businesses that transport their products within North America and carriers, protecting their bottom line from volatile fuel prices is an ongoing concern. One way to garner some protection from a fluctuating fuel price is the fuel surcharge.

What is Fuel Surcharge?

The fuel surcharge is the total cost for fuel usage. It is a contract between the shipper and another party that sets a standard rate for the fuel and how much will be paid above the base rate, and what fuel price triggers the surcharge, or no surcharge at all. Continue Reading

6 Tips on Enhancing Supply Chain Security

Posted on July 7, 2014 by Marco Grossi

The supply chain is threatened with insecurity from all directions. Theft, terrorism, and cyber crime are just a few examples of threats faced by goods on transit. Fortunately, there are several simple yet effective ways through which the security of the supply chain can be improved.

Here are six practices that you should consider if you’re resolute about enhancing your supply chain security.

1. Applying a structured approach

The first step in averting any risk is usually to stay safe: do not expose yourself to the problem. Start by forming a diverse team tasked primarily with managing supply chain risks at the organization. Then you can have all departments within the organization assessing and outlining their specific concerns which are then planned for by this management team. Every department has its own special needs and giving them the opportunity to express their concerns is the best way of identifying and tackling all risks within the entire organization. Continue Reading

Why transportation management is critical for the food and dairy industry

Posted on June 23, 2014 by Matt Grossi

Although there are many industries that can benefit from transportation management, one industry where it is critical is the food and dairy industry. Whether a farm, packager, or seller the process of bringing food and milk to market is a complex endeavor with numerous factors to take into consideration on a daily basis. With so many moving parts, attempting movement and transportation without sound logistics planning in place can be a disaster waiting to happen.

There are few industries that are as time-sensitive as food and dairy production and distribution. You can have thousands of tons of perishable material moving nationwide at any given moment. Some runs can be hundreds or even thousands of miles between producer and consumer. Professional transportation management is the only way to keep the entire enterprise cost effective and therefore profitable.

One solution to the transportation management dilemma is engaging the services of a third party logistics company to provide comprehensive transportation management services. There are four big ways that transportation management services can help your food or dairy business be more efficient: Continue Reading

Why Supply Chain Analysis is Important

Posted on June 16, 2014 by Marco Grossi

Running any business with a supply chain requires analyzing each component to make sure the company is running as efficiently as possible. Whether your business is in home improvement, hi-tech, retail or any other industry that involves costs, you need to reduce waste and maximize productivity. Supply chain analysis is the study of vendors, manufacturing materials, value, functions, costs, processes and forecasts to make sure your company is as profitable as possible. Continue Reading

International Supply Chain Solutions for Companies Operating Across Borders

Posted on June 9, 2014 by Scott Pattinson

The ratio of world trade to the GDP of the globe as a whole, an index also used to measure openness of economies, increased by 20 percent to just over US$20 trillion by the end of 2011. The sharp rise in global trade over the past two decades is partly due to innovations in logistics as well as changes in policies in trading countries, which has led to a reduction in the cost of delivering goods and services across borders.

A report launched by WEF indicates that removing supply chain bottlenecks could significantly enhance global trade. For example, if counties were to improve border management and necessary infrastructure, especially transport systems, to just half the level of Singapore, the global GDP would shoot by 4.7 percent which is about six times what we would get by scrapping all import tariffs. Continue Reading