Historically, supply chain professionals have focused their efforts on reducing costs and improving efficiency while meeting customer service expectations. Today, however, it is becoming...

The logistics industry is facing another challenging year. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, rising gas prices and other disruptions continue to impact supply chains on...

Last month in “The Difficulty Of Measuring Scope 3 Emissions,” I highlighted how almost 70% of Costco’s shareholders voted “yes” on a proposal that...

Author’s Note: I was asked by Transporeon (a Talking Logistics sponsor) to look at what is happening in the European transportation market and they...

Here are a few insights from supply chain professionals on how to approach the implementation of a CSC for your health system.

The post Thinking CSC? Advice from Your Peers appeared first on Tecsys.

In the late summer of 2020, I was honoured with the opportunity to interview supply chain guru Deborah Dull, not just once, but three times...

The recent sharp rise in inflation would only be temporary, according to economists, but supply chain professionals know better. The...

The post Pricing bullwhip appeared first on Supply Chain Movement.

We hope you enjoyed viewing Rob's 2020 video with Deborah Dull on the topic of circular supply chains or reading the transcript of that interview that we published recently...

Globally this past year, supply chains and shipments slowed down which subsequently caused material shortages and impacted our growing consumer consumption of literally everything. These disruptions emphasized just how interconnected we are worldwide.

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Manufacturers and distributors who cannot produce or supply as much as they did prior to the pandemic are in disarray for a variety of reasons, including labor shortages and a need for more key components and raw materials.

As we move into 2022, supply chains are still facing challenges and are struggling to rebound from subpar.

We sat down with our resident supply chain guru, LeAnne Coulter, vice president of Freight Management for Penske Logistics to discuss just when she predicts the disruption will alleviate and what businesses need to do to contribute to the progressiveness of the industry.

Q: When do you believe the supply chain will be able to catch a breath from all of this?

A: The national supply chain doesn’t work as one connected organic system; it is made up of many intricate puzzle pieces. When visualizing the different connection points in supply chains, there are practically bottle necks at every tributary. From material shortages to parts shortages and the labor force constraints across the entire supply chain – manufacturing, warehousing and transportation are all impacted. Inventories have been depleted for months and are still below where they need to be for supply chains to function effectively and smoothly. For resolution to happen there needs to be a concerted effort between data, technology, and logistics – across the industry. In this current climate, I feel, we are looking at supply chain congestion and disruption [due to supply and demand constraints] through Q2, 2022.

Q: What are some supply chain “best” practices to help get suppliers through these times?

A: To get through this every organization should evaluate its current state and ask, “are we creating a backlog?” Equipment and driver shortages are severe and are contributing to greater strain on the national network. For fast action, Companies need to look inwardly and determine if their scope of business has changed and adjust accordingly. In terms of the supply chain, carriers need to be turned as quickly as possible, equipment needs to be unloaded quickly and available for the next shipment, organizations need to understand where its supply chain gaps are and efficiently address carrier concerns as they arise. By focusing on near-term through put, shippers can help themselves gain access to capacity, even while supply chains are choppy. Additionally, what we see today is that organizations have their data and processes in many different silos, which creates supply chain inefficiencies and, in turn, a lack of organizational understanding. Bringing data together and managing transportation is a critical component at both organization and industry levels.

Q: How can Penske Logistics help resolve these issues?

A: Penske’s technology base and supply chain professionals help organizations with these types of problems; bringing solutions to them so they can start to get ahead of their crisis areas, and dissolve backlogging. Penske Logistics does this with its ClearChain® Technology Suite, including ClearChain® Control Technology which drives end to end visibility and collaboration. By focusing on synchronization of data and technology, and employing supply chain expertise, shippers can begin to move their critical human resources to truly shift their focus to hitting business objectives and strategies, and out of daily crisis management. Decision-makers need to simply not be afraid to seek help where they find inefficiencies. Penske offers sophisticated technology systems and platforms and processes and expertise to drive supply chain performance.

As we officially move into the new year, we wish everyone the best in health and safety – and hope to see the supply chain diffuse back into balance and come out even better than it was before.

By "Move Ahead" Staff

 Here is just a quick summary of some things I am looking at this week and also some things which just make you go ... hmmmmmm:

1. California Ports 24-Hour Operation is Going Unused - WSJ).  So far the 24 hour out gate at the ports of LA/LB are considered a total bust.  Unfortunately, those making these rules don't understand the "chain" in supply chain.  It is not just about time available.  It is about trucks, drivers, port space, all sorts of workers, chassis and a myriad of other things.  If nothing is done on those fronts, the chain breaks and no amount of extra "open" time will fix it.  More to come but so far I rate the 24 hour port plan a F-.  
   
   
2. Driving up and down the highways at night allows you to see a big part of the problem.  Trucks parked all over the highway as they run out of hours and there is no parking for them.  Is anyone addressing this issue?  Does anyone think that parking on the side of the road, with no facilities and with no safety will attract people to the trucking industry?  Remember, for in trucking for every "machine" you employ you have to employ at least one person.  It is not like manufacturing where a "machine" eliminates the need for a number of people.  In trucking the capital employed to human is 1:1.  Treatment of Drivers: F.
   
   
3. Anyone been to Costco lately?  I have been in one in Michigan and one in Georgia recently and guess what?  The toilet paper shortage appears to be coming back.  This time I think it is more about lack of trucking capacity than anything.  Come on Costco, you can get restocked!
   
   
4. Inventory to Sales Ratios both total and just retail show little to no improvement.  This means my "when will this get better" meter is moving to the beginning of 2023 when I had it pegged at mid year 2022.  Still not coming off of the 2022 but the likelihood of it going into 2023 is getting more real. Likelihood of a quick resolution to the supply chain issues in America ending soon - D
   
   Total Inventory to Sales:
   
   
   
   
   

   Retail Inventory to Sales:
   
   

   

   
   
   
   
5. Port of Savannah is still the best port out there by far however it has been "found" by some big retailers who are slow to move their boxes off the port.  This has meant some ocean carriers have cancelled calls to Savannah and added the Ports of Jacksonville and Charleston.  I think just about everyone is starting to look at "over the water" movements to the East Coast versus getting into the mess of LA/LB then trying to move it over ground. Port of Savannah is an A
   
   
6. JB Hunt  (Stock information: JBHT)is the best run trucking company in America by far.  They knocked their quarter out of the park and they have even better days ahead.  They have transformed from an old school, irregular route trucking company to a high tech, well disciplined supply chain company.  And, the market is rewarding them for it as they have a P/E that values it like a tech company and just about everyone upgraded their stock this week.  YTD J.B. Hunt is up 44.64% as compared to Schneider (SNDR) who is up 19.7%.  (See comparison chart here).  JB Hunt is an A+
   
   
7. Costs continue to rise in all facets of the supply chain:  Various data sources tell us that yes Virginia, there is inflation, and a lot of it. 

Most supply chain professionals and planners think of finished goods when they hear attributes. But attributes are present in every part of the supply chain from suppliers to raw materials, to machinery, products and distribution centers.

The post The role of attributes in supply chain planning appeared first on Adexa.

This is not a political or even an economic posting relative to the tariffs and the current "tariff war".  Rather, I have been doing a lot of thinking about what this teaches us about supply chain and specifically global supply chain design. 

First, this topic has been talked about for a long time and it goes under the banner of "supply chain disruption".  We have always thought of these disruptions as either "natural disasters" (think hurricanes and earthquakes) or "man-made" disasters such as wars.  In either case the recommendations have been for supply chain professionals to stay very close to the impact of these and how long a company could survive should one hit.  Perhaps this tariff war is a way for us to practice before something we really cannot control occurs.

In 2011 both the hard drive industry and the auto industry were hit hard and interrupted significantly by flooding in Thailand.  Closer in time, the graph below from EPS news shows the types and number of disruptions just in the 2017 / 2018 timeframe:

1. Plan, Plan, Plan - scenario planning and conducting FMEA's are a must in this environment.  You should not have to make it up as you go along when a disruption hits.
   
2. Think about your supply chain as a portfolio.  You likely would not invest your entire life savings in one stock would you?  Why would you do it with your company's supply chain?  Diversity is critical to mitigating risk
   
3. Develop early warning indicators - each with a plan of action if it appears it is happening.  As you develop your FMEA you will likely identify a bunch of interruption scenarios along with probability and severity ratings.  You will then want to work diligently on the scenarios with the highest likelihood with very severe outcomes.  But, it is not good enough to just know them.  You then have to determine what the indicators you will begin to look at to determine if something is going to happen.  How can you monitor the global situation and determine the likelihood of an event?
   
   For example, on tariffs, this was a topic of the election and the US is doing pretty much what it said it would do during the election.  This was a red flag.  While you would never have known for certain what you did know is the "likelihood" of supply chain disruptions due to tariffs increased dramatically on January 20, 2017.  Was it enough to change everything that day?  Probably not.  Was it a good time to pull out your disruption FMEA's off the shelf and update them?  Absolutely.