Please check out the most popular blog posts of 2012.

Five Lessons from Military Logistics

Military folks excel in logistics because they focus on the five areas below and we would all be wise to do the same.

Core Values / Culture

Regardless of which branch of the military or specific job responsibilities, the military instills core values into every soldier. These core values guide every action and every decision. I received tons of feedback from the experts
and most agreed that core values were the most important…..Continue reading

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Shippers

Highly effective shippers are successful because they have developed the right attitude and habits regarding shipping.

Below is a list of the 7 habits of highly effective shippers:

1.  Strategic view of shipping

Highly effective shippers see a well-run shipping function as a competitive advantage.  With this in mind, they hire the right people and find the best logistics providers.  Highly effective shipper realize that purchasing decisions should be based on value, not just cost.  They are willing to pay a reasonable price for a good logistics provider, rather than ….Continue reading

LTL Carrier Scorecard:  Measuring the Things that Matter

In a perfect world, LTL carriers would pick up freight and deliver it on the agreed upon day for a fair price.  Of course, all the freight would arrive undamaged and the invoice would always match the quoted price.

Unfortunately, we don’t live in the perfect world and not all carriers are created equal.  So we need a good carrier scorecard to objectively measure carrier performance.

The scorecard should measure carriers on the four most important attributes: cost, on time performance, billing accuracy and damage free shipments……Continue reading

Let Us Screw Up Your Shipment

You read it right, let us screw up your shipment.

Don’t get me wrong, I despise screwed up shipments! Lost, damage and late shipments are the bane of my existence. Screwed up shipments cost us money, waste our time and hurt valuable client relationships.

As a logistics provider, we do a lot of shipping so we deal with more screw ups……Continue reading

 The Second Worst Phone Call in Logistics

There are some phone calls that you just don’t want to make.  In the logistics world, those phone calls typically involve shipments that are late, lost or costing much more than originally quoted.

The natural tendency is to avoid that phone call like the plague  You can hope the client doesn’t…..Continue reading

 Understanding Lean and the 8 Wastes

Understanding lean and the 8 wastes is important for all operations people including logistics and supply chain folks.

The concept of lean (and the 8 wastes) originated in the manufacturing sector where it was first recognized that eliminating waste in the system led to much bigger profits.  Henry Ford and his team at Ford Motor Company discovered lean…….Continue reading