The Value of S&OP in Logistics

I have been talking a lot at various events recently on the value of Sales and Operations Planning to the logistician and specifically to those managing transportation.  I have found many so called "great" S&OP processes stop at the end of the factory and just assume unlimited capacity and capability from the distribution arm of the supply chain.  Very few look holistically at the entire chain from raw materials to the consumer and most just look at their particular part of it with some input from upstream and downstream suppliers.

This should and must change. The S&OP process is critical to the proper execution of the logistics' plans of a company.  It is also vital to give your carriers a decent forecast on the capacity needed at a time in the future.  I will remark more on this later in a post soon however I do want to remark on Kevin O'Marah's comments relative to the core aspect of S&OP - Trust.

Even the core of Vested Outsourcing  is built on trust.  In S&OP Gotcha: Bad Collaboration, Kevin discusses how egos and the desire to "win" ultimately can kill a good S&OP process.  Before entering into a true S&OP collaborative process across the virtual enterprise (this includes all participants in the supply chain) you have to agree on core principles and on trust.  If one is trying to get "leverage" over another then I truly believe it is a waste of time to enter into a S&OP process.  Just understand the situation you are in and make the best of it.  The core ideas to S&OP are:

1. Each trusts each other's data.  If you feel data is manipulated or hidden, you are starting at a weak point right from the beginning. 
2. Each agrees the "solution" is what is right for the ultimate end user - the consumer. 
3. Each agrees the "solution" has to be profitable for all.  No one will stay entered in a relationship if it is not profitable.  There is nothing wrong with this.  Where it goes wrong is where one side withholds information or changes information to gain profits at the expense of the other. 
4. Each agrees to open book sharing.  If key data is withheld then it just will not be possible, long term, to maintain a solid S&OP process. 

For the logistician, the output of this has to then tie to capacity requirements, possibilities and constraints of the logistics network.  One cannot assume whatever the outcome of the core S&OP process can be executed without constraint.  That is a recipe for failure. 

Logisticians need to force their way into the S&OP process of a company and make their voice known.  

Does Logistics Eat Strategy for Lunch?

An interesting review of two books about World War II entitled: "When Logistics Beats Strategy". The review states:

"Disciples and devotees of "strategic thinking" might find both books humbling. They should. In wartime, logistics eats strategy for lunch"

Given how many companies develop "War rooms" and discuss business using "going to war" metaphors it is fascinating how many of them refuse to learn the importance of logistics and the role logistics has played in the big battles of our time.

I wrote about this in previous installments about the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).

And A Third Set of Predictions....

I bring you yet another set of predictions concerning supply chain for 2013.  Adrian has a fantastic track record for seeing into the future so I would pay attention to this.  I will not give the excruciating details as you really should go over to the posting "Supply Chain and Logistics Predictions for 2013" at Logistics Viewpoints.  Here is the summary:

1. Big Data, Social Media, Cloud Computing, and Mobile Technologies will continue to dominate the headlines
2. User Interfaces for Supply Chain Apps Will Get a Social Makeover.
3. “Siri” Comes to Enterprise Apps.
4. The Robots Keep Coming.
5. Continued Focus by Retailers and Service Providers on Innovating the Final Mile.
6. Further Blurring of the Lines Between 3PLs, Tech Providers, and Consultants. 
7.  Increased Adoption of Alternative Fuel Vehicles.
8. More Programs and Partnerships to Address the Talent Shortage Problem. 

The themes continue to remain similar except Adrian clearly has a social bent to his ideas which I highlighted in an earlier post.  I can't imagine any of these predictions being too far off the mark. 

Yet, Even More Supply Chain Predictions

It is that time of year again when the supply chain (and other) predictions come out.  The really smart people keep them broad enough so, like a fortune teller, they cannot possibly be wrong which is why I do not necessarily believe in this type of crystal ball.  However, as I said in my previous post on the IDC predictions, it is good to get all this into one area so as you build your 3-5 year strategies, you can incorporate these broad directional ideas.

Today, we get a guest column on Forbes.com from Mark Woodward who is the CEO of E2Open, entitled: 5 Supply Chain Predictions for 2013, The Year of The Network. Given he is a CEO of supply chain technology firm, you can expect his predictions to be both centered around technology and offering up technology as solutions to problems.  Nevertheless, this is a very good list and I reprint it here with some of my thoughts:

1. Fast Data Will Become The New Big Data -   I know I promised not to use the term "Big Data" anymore as it has become the most overused term in the fastest amount of time of any business buzzword I know.  However this is an interesting twist which is big and fast are critical elements of a successful data management plan.  The speed with which you share and collaborate using accurate data is at least as important (and maybe more) as just the shear volume of data.
   
2. The "Social Supply Chain" Will Transform How We Work - Don't confuse your view of "social media" (i.e., your experience with your kids on Facebook) with the social supply chain.  The social supply chain, as written about extensively by Adrian Gonzales (Quickly becoming "the" expert on this topic and wrote this great blog post about why companies were not using social media in their supply chain) is about open collaboration, problem solving and open source dialogue about issues relating to supply chains.  As stated in this article, demand sensing is really part of the idea of the social supply chain.
   
   The one concern here is if companies really do compete on supply chain efficiency as much as they do on the product then we have to ask ourselves how far collaboration will really go in the open social world.  Some firms, like Apple, which consistently get high remarks for their supply chain efficiency are notorious for being closed up like a vault when it comes to collaboration and sharing outside of their own supply chain ecosystem.  A quick posting on this idea of companies competing on supply chains can be found here at: Businesses Don't Compete: Supply Chains Compete.
   
3. Supply Chain Control Towers Will Transition from Concept to Adoption - This I completely agree with and the time is now for this type of operation.  Control towers are a requirement for really dynamic supply chains to adjust to ever changing market and environmental conditions.
   
   This does not have to be a complicated IT solution either.  A great control tower, using lean methods and the idea of visual management can consist of white boards, manual tracking and the use of forward indicators of data.
   
4. Dynamic Cost Will Transform Decision Making - The idea of a static standard cost which gets adjusted once per year is dead.  It is a relic of times gone past when that was all our systems could handle.  Costs and the macro economic environment change far to frequently and quickly to allow you to not have accurate, fast and transparent costs into your supply chain. Transparency of costs is critical to accurate decision making.  The next time a supply chain partner tells you that you do not have to worry about this I suggest you hold on to your wallet.  A true partner would want accurate and transparent cost data so you can make the right decisions quickly and accurately (notice the them on costing:  Fast, Transparent and Accurate).
   
5. Risk Management Will Move From Static to Dynamic - I have written about risk and resiliency a lot recently so I will not rehash it here however suffice it to say the same theme applies in terms of dynamic, fast and transparent.  

As with other predictions, I am not sure if "this is the year for... " or not, however the ideas set forth by Mr. Woodward are fantastic and clearly the ideas all supply chain executives should be thinking about and balancing as they work towards transforming their supply chains to meet 21st century challenges. 

Lessons From Kozmo.com for Same Day Delivery

Yes, it is true if you live long enough what is old will be new again.  This, of course, is the situation as it relates to the so called same day delivery wars.  I have mentioned over and over again that I am very skeptical of this beyond being a marketing hype ploy as the density needed (low miles per stop and high number of packages per stop) is virtually unachievable except in very dense cities.  And, of course, in those cities "couriers" have been around a long time so same day delivery is not new.

Now even our friends at the Wharton School of Business have weighed in on this by analyzing what went wrong in the late '90s with Kozmo in a posting entitled " Same Day Delivery: This Time it May Actually Work" - an organization dedicated to same day delivery which went out in a flash of glory - and why this time it may be different.  The basis of this argument?  It is all about density.

The issues remain and the questions continue to go unanswered in my humble opinion.  Some of them are:

1. How will you get the density?
2. How will you overcome the high costs of fuel?
3. Will this really generate incremental sales?
4. What happens when this becomes "an expectation"?  
5. Will this be given away for free and ultimately put pressure on margins?
6. Do people even want it (beyond the procrastinators who are probably not your best customers)?

The answer to number 6 equates to the idea of sticking a knife in a horse to get one last gallop out of it before you run it to death (i.e., What Kris Kristofferson does in True Grit).  Every retailer is fighting over that last incremental dollar as if it will make or break them.  My analysis suggests the amount of money spent to get that very last dollar of revenue probably is not worth it however that is what they are doing as a crowd.  They want that last dollar and appear to be ready to spend a fortune to get it.  

In my next posting on Same Day Delivery, I will propose a solution to this issue and we shall see what they think. 

A Good After Action Review (AAR) for Logistics Companies Post Sandy

A neat article in Reuters today titled "Transport, Logistics Weather Sandy Well Despite Glitches" calls out the great work the trucking and logistics industry is doing in Sandy.  Specifically, the good news is the industry learned from Katrina and has developed very good playbooks to deal with big storms and natural disasters:

"Freight transportation company triage playbooks have been evolving with a series of disasters, including Hurricane Katrina.

 By the time Sandy hit, trucking and logistics companies had topped off gas tanks, bought or rented back-up generators to power distribution and fueling centers, and shipped relief and manufacturing supplies to the Northeast that customers would need after the storm. During the storm and in the days after, these companies and East Coast railroads diverted shipments away from the hardest-hit areas and found alternative delivery options for customers"

This is good news as we know these disasters will not only increase with frequency but also with severity and the fact the industry is preparing for them is a great service to the US.

On Veterans day, we thank all the veterans who have served this Nation.  I would also say if companies are preparing to work in disaster stricken areas there is no better person to lead these efforts than a veteran.

The Logistics of Fuel in Post Sandy

I recently read a quote from Boone Pickens where he said there was plenty of fuel but no electricity to pump it. I remember in the Army we had "retail tankers" which could fuel up retail trucks and cars ( and tanks) right from the tankers.

I wonder why we don't have this capability as part of homeland security? Seems this would be core to what is needed during extended times of power outages for whatever reason.

I hope we involve experienced logisticians in a detailed and non emotional review of what can be done to mitigate suffering in the future.

"The Logistics Failures Will Not Be Repeated" - Part Two

Note:  This is Part 2 of a Two Part Series Concerning Logistics Lessons Learned in The Israeli National Defense Forces (IDF).  You can read Part 1 here. 

This entry deals with an article I read which discussed the logistics failures of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in the last Lebanon War.  I felt the article really applied to what I see as a common business cycle where a business sees success then begins feeling certain elements are not "core" to the business and logistics almost always becomes one of those items.  The business sheds / outsources / under invests in the logistics centers. Inevitably, something happens where logistics becomes a necessary requirement and the company finds out they no longer have the capabilities which they had originally and which may have actually been core to the success.  

Having been caught flat footed the business rushes to reinvest and the cycle starts all over again.  

The IDF found themselves executing this same cycle.  Prior to the Second Lebanon war they had stopped investment and training in the logistics forces, they were not seen as core and their capabilities atrophied to dangerous levels.  Once they went into Lebanon and the IDF literally had soldiers dying of thirst they realized how wrong they were.  This part of my two part article (Again, you can read part 1 here ) discusses the solutions. 

The first item they had to fix was the competency of the forces in terms of both training and equipment.  Due to under investment the logistics forces were the last to get equipment and the last to be invested in for training.  This was fixed and the "competency" level was raised to above 90%.  

A second and very interesting development was the organizational structure they adopted as a result of the learnings during the second Lebanon War.  The reorganization is described:

"Most importantly, following the war, the Logistics Corps was removed from the responsibility of the Ground Forces Branch (to which it had been subordinate a short while before) and once again, became subordinate to the GHQ Logistics Directorate. In addition, we established unified responsibility in the field of logistics – from the GHQ to the level of the individual soldier"

What they found was when the logistics corp was subordinate to the operational forces (ground forces) they were almost always going to be ignored or at the most they would receive just minor investments as they would always be considered "non-core".

In business we see this all the time in organizations where logistics is subordinate to a brand or a commercial part of the business.  Yes, there are great examples of enlightened marketing and commercial general managers who fully understand the competitive advantage of a great logistics team but mostly they under invest because they push all the money to brand, product development and advertising.  They develop a great product, generate huge demand but find their ability to move to market in a timely and efficient manner is limited. 

The IDF essentially bypassed this organization and had the Logistics Corps reporting to equally high levels in the organization. This sends the right signal to the commanders and not only gives logistics a "seat at the table" but actually makes them "equals"  at the table.  

Finally, the IDF established a policy whereby no plans for military action are created without detailed logistics plans built along side the war plans (read: Logistics plans built along side the commercial plans).  This made the ground commanders (read: Commercial General Managers) equally responsible for the logistics successes (and by default responsible for any failures) of an entire operation.  They stated:

"Beyond that, the logistics issue was incorporated in all IDF operational plans. Today, no plan is drawn and no exercise is conducted without fully incorporating logistics planning. During the Second Lebanon War, many IDF commanders did not consider logistic issues a part of their responsibility, mainly because they had become accustomed, over many years of low intensity combat operations in the territories, to a state where logistics support was delivered to them, all the way to the end units on the ground. Now, IDF commanders understand that as part of conducting combat operations, they must be responsible for logistic supplies on the ground, and that without logistics, their combat operations cannot be continued.”

Again, think how many businesses do not incorporate logistics into their overall product development plans or do not incorporate them early enough to matter.  When decisions are made in terms of size, channel distribution, packaging, final assembly etc is when logistics people should be at the table helping and providing input. I call this "Design for Logistics"™  Many times companies get the logistics group involved after all these decisions are made and find out they have developed a "Frankenproduct" which will clog existing logistics networks. 

Concluding Lessons:

There are so many lessons to be learned here by companies and here is my summary:

1. Understand logistics is core to what you do and can provide competitive advantage if you properly invest. 
2. Even if you outsource do not "throw it over the wall".  You need to manage and involved your outsourced partners as if they were part of your organization.
3. Involve Logistics groups at the very beginning of the design and product development phase in a method I call "Design for Logistics"™
4. Think about the organizational structure.  Whatever organizational structure you select ensure the leaders of logistics have equal say and are not subordinate to the commercial organization unless you are absolutely sure the commercial leader will not ignore or under invest in the logistics capabilities. 
5. Invest in training and development of the logistics groups just as you do the commercial side.  

It seems these lessons have to be learned over and over again and it is good to reemphasize them.  Thank goodness lives are not on the line in business as they are in the military so the cost of not learning these lessons are only measured in dollars versus lives.  However, if a company is going to grow and prosper, they ignore these lessons at their own peril.  

Could The Post Office Be The Big Winner in Same Day Delivery?

An interesting development in the "same day delivery wars" which has been brewing as of late with Amazon and Wal-Mart.  The key question is who is going to do this from a delivery standpoint and who can do it at a very low cost?

Already, the USPS gets something to you for about .45 cents which FEDEX may charge you $5.00 or more.  Granted, they get it faster however with just a small amount of pre-planning you can change that $5.00+ charge to .45.  Most of what FEDEX is charging us for is a premium for our inefficiency and lack of planning.

Enter the USPS in the same day shipping.  As we know, the infrastructure costs for same day shipping are massive (advantage Wal-mart over Amazon since Wal-Mart has essentially 4500 distribution centers) and thus usually make it economically impractical. The USPS has some interesting, already in place, advantages:

1. Huge infrastructure - generally an office in every town regardless of size
2. Already mandated to go to just about every house every day in the Country
3. Will pick up as well as delivery and usually without an appointment. 
4. If you are not home, the trip to the USPS is generally very short (FEDEX for example has pulled out of my small town.  If I am not home when a FEDEX shipment comes and I want it I have to drive 1/2 hour to get it.. my post office is less than 1 mile away)

With some sophisticated routing tools, the USPS could, in a town, sweep the town to pick up the deliveries, bring to their "cross dock" then conduct the deliveries at night.  In some cases they can incorporate the delivery into their already established routes and in others they can utilize the equipment which is just sitting anyway.

This should be fun to watch!

"The Logistic Failures Will Not Be Repeated" - Part 1

Note:  This is Part 1 of a Two Part Series Concerning Logistics Lessons Learned in The Israeli National Defense Forces (IDF)

I came across the this fascinating article which chronicles the poor performance of the logistics group within the Israeli National Defense Forces (IDF) during the 2d Lebanon war in 2006.  Literally, Israeli soldiers were suffering from dehydration due to a lack of drinking water in the Country right next to their own and one which they easily can beat militarily.  Brigadier General Itzik Cohen, the head of the Logistics Branch for the IDF's Technology and Logistics Division said the following about this horrendous situation:

"During the Second Lebanon War, there was no shortage of logistic items. We had sufficient inventories of food, water and ammunition. The problem was that the items did not reach the forces that needed them."

Translate this into a business problem which we see all the time:  The company has a better product and can readily produce it but the problem is they cannot get it through distribution to the customers who need it when  they need it (Availability of product is at least two dimensional:  Quantity and time).  Think about this in relation to the infamous "Black Friday" events.  There is a lot of demand, there is a lot of promotion (think of promotion as the invasion) but the company cannot get the product to the market.  Last year, one company even canceled orders admitting they would never get the product to market.

Why did this happen to a one of the most proficient militaries in the world?  We learn the issue is very similar to the problem in business. Here are some reasons cited in this article:

"In the summer of 2006, the IDF disbanded the divisional logistic groups that were responsible for resupplying combat divisions... The issue of logistics, so it seemed, was of low priority for commanders, and the result was reports of hungry and thirsty troops deep inside hostile territory."

Does that sound familiar?  Logistics is a "low priority" for commanders?  Translate this into business and think how many times logistics is an "afterthought" to  the people who generally run a consumer company (sales, marketing, finance and merchandising).  Of course, there are great companies, like Wal-Mart who fully understand logistics is in fact core to the success of the company.

The life cycle of a company's organizational structure relative to logistics is very similar to the experience cited in this article with the IDF.  This life cyle looks like the following:

1. Business is Going Well - All is in Balance
2. Times get tough - Cut "Non Core", Logistics is seen as "Non-Core"
3. Things start getting better
4. Product has high demand, logistics is under developed, sales and marketing say "If only logistics was better we could sell the product"
5. Company invests in logistics

After 5, the cycle starts all over again.  This is a common life cycle of a company and it appears a very common life cycle of a defense force. 

My next post will discuss how the IDF solved this problem with what appears to be some real "10X Solutions".

A Definition of Logistics Gone Bad

I recently came across the video which I think is supposed to talk about the huge benefits logistics plays in our economy. And, by this the video defines logistics as transportation (it is a lot more than that but for the most part, this video deals with transportation).

It is a good description of how things get from point A to point B however I could not for the life of me think of a worse example to use:  Shipping bottles of water!!  Unless you are shipping water from a location of plenty to a drought stricken area, this is the worst example I can think of (except for maybe shipping concrete over long distances).



 Bottled water is a perfect example of something which should be created extremely close to the point of consumption ( I even think this video shows a route from Chicago to the West Coast).  Whenever a supply person sees that type of route they should be asking why are we shipping this in the first place.

Get the water locally, filter it, and bottle it locally and get it to local stores!  It is as simple as that! It is cost effective, it is "green" and it is simple.

As I have always said, don't just reduce costs, eliminate them!

More Data on Slowing ..

As reported at the Transplace blog, Stifel Nicolaus data supports the idea of a slowing environment.

Packaging and Merchandising Vs. Logistics Efficiency?

Conducting what I call a "walk around" (my wife calls it shopping) in the grocery store this weekend started my mind wandering to ideas about packaging and shelf space.  Why would a logistician be thinking of these stereotypical marketing and merchandising topics you may ask?  The answer is simple:  There is a battle going on in the retail world within companies and it is the battle of the logistician versus the merchandiser.

Just look at the picture below:

A merchandiser probably sees nice colors to attract the shopper's eyes, good shelf space display, multiple rows of the product to dominate the shopper etc.  A logistician sees boxes which are too big for the product which is in them thereby reducing useful cube in a trailer. If you look to the far end of the aisle you will see round and curvy shaped bottles.  The logistician thinks these attract the eye but kill you on cube (both primary and secondary) utilization.  So, the question is who wins?  To this point in my career the merchandiser has won but that is changing with three key changes in the external environment.

First, transportation costs have become so high people are no longer just deferring to the merchandiser.  They really need to make a solid business case why that curvy bottle which kills cube utilization is going to drive sales.  Otherwise, we will move to optimizing cube.

Second, shelf space is no longer such a driver of consumer preference.  When the entire concept of shelf space importance was developed it was the way to advertise to an uneducated consumer.  The consumer "learned" about your product by having the product catch her eye then have her read the box (another more practical reason why boxes are so big - need real estate for the writing and graphics) and this would be a major driver of her buying decision (The old adage there are two moments of truth: One when she decides to buy the product and two when she uses the product for the first time).  However this has all changed.  Many come to the store already knowing what they will buy as they have researched it prior to arriving. Or, if they have not, rather than read the box they will whip out their smartphone and read about it on line (the smart merchandiser will have a QR code on the box so it can be scanned).  This is a mega trend for how people shop which is growing and not shrinking.  The advent of the smart phone means you no longer have a self contained space to barrage the consumer with colors and splash - the consumer can "virtually" leave your space, find the information they want and need, then reenter your space without you even knowing it.

Third, as stores become smaller (especially if you follow the mega trend of consumers moving back to the cities which changes the entire dynamic of retailing) shelf space is shrinking.  With shelf space shrinking you need to figure out how to get your product in front of the consumer, get it to be interesting AND make it small and compact (The tyranny of the "OR" - Good to Great, Jim Collins).  For example, if you make laundry detergent and you only get 1' across on a shelf.  You can take that up with two giant bottles of non-concentrated detergent or you can concentrate it immensely and get 6-8 bottles across.  I personally believe more is better and the the signal the consumer will get is if there is that many on the shelf it must be because people are buying it - perhaps I should try it.   This trend supports and is in harmony with the needs of the logistician.

So, what does this mean for the logistician?  It means you need to get upstream in the packaging design, merchandising and manufacturing of your product.  Get involved in these decisions on the front end and influence the decisions which will meet the needs of the marketer and merchandiser and will also play nicely with cube utilization and transportation costs.  The lowest cost transportation is the transportation you do not use and better cube and better secondary cube (a topic I will address in another post) drives the elimination (not just reduction) of transportation cost.  This means you need to be intimately involved in the Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) process and if your company does not have one you should lead and develop one.

I have always said the great logistician spends as much time on these topics as they do on working with carriers.  The work with carriers tends to be fun part however this is where the majority of your cost savings will come.

The Food Supply Chain - "Not in Season" Goes The Way of The Busy Signal

An area in supply chain where I have never worked yet have always been wildly impressed with is the food supply chain / cold supply chain.  Today for the 4th of July we were shopping in a Meijer store in our local town.  The amount of fresh fruit and vegetables available was just astonishing.  Were it not for innovation in temperature control and other aspects of this supply chain this type of food would not be available so readily.

Remember when you would want some fruit or vegetable and your parents would tell you it was not available because it was "not in season".

"Not in season" is not something you hear much anymore;  It has gone the way of the busy signal.  Everything is in season somewhere in the world and the sophisticated food supply chains now bring it to you, where ever you are, and amazingly at very low cost.

Of course this comes at a cost of sustainability and there is now a big push to buy local.  Buying local means, however, you will not get everything all the time.  I recently read of a cherry farmer who lost his cherries in Michigan due to the crazy early warm weather we had this year.  He was able to secure cherries in Poland!  If it were not for a sophisticated supply chain this would not be possible.  "Buy local" in this case would mean no cherry pie.

So, thanks to all the great individuals and suppliers working in this supply chain.  Your innovation truly has made the world a better place and I really do believe we have "solved world hunger".

T. Boone Pickens on Morning Joe

I saw Boone on Morning Joe and I finally have got around to posting it.  A fantastic interview from a man who is actually working like crazy to save America.  Thank goodness for his common sense and I hope Washington will listen.

For those in the logistics industry, come to the CSCMP 2012 meeting in Atlanta and here him keynote!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Turning Over Procurement of Carriers to a 3PL?

I have met many companies recently who not only have outsourced their operations to a 3PL but they have also turned over the procurement and carrier relations functions as well.  I think this is a bad idea.

I believe this for at least three reasons.  First, and the most obvious, is you have turned over the entire budget to a company which, most likely, has conflicting interests to your own.  At some level, the 3PL is interested in making money for their company and many times actions which accomplish this do not also help the client company.  Can you develop complex gainshare algorithms which limit this problem?  Yes, but it is very unlikely you will get them to work.

Second, you limit your ability to exit the 3PL relationship if needed.  Everyone goes into 3PL relationships thinking they will never end and this makes sense.  You do not get married and immediately plan on getting a divorce.  However, in business, ensuring you have an exit strategy is a good and prudent thing to do.  When you turn over the procurement portion to the 3PL you have complicated any exit if needed.

Finally, you will lose critical intellectual capital.  When dealing with a 3PL it is important the shipper maintain the intellectual capital needed to fully understand the areas of warehousing and transportation management.

For all these reasons I would highly recommend shippers retain the procurement function.  Just seems to make sense to me.

Apple and iPad 3 Put Strain on Airfreight Rates and Capacity

As is being reported by multiple sources, airfreight rates are going up if you can find the capacity at all.  This, mostly, is due to Apple and the launch of the iPad 3. 

Amazing that one company and just one product can do this but when it is Apple anything is possible.  My sources tell me this could continue for 3 - 12 weeks depending on sales.  Given that sales are already being pushed out if you order on line (indicating they are already in a backorder situation) my guess and money is on the bigger number.

UPS In Tentative Deal to Buy TNT Express

As reported on CNBC, looks like UPS will buy TNT Express after all.  My guess is this is all about taking on DHL in Europe however I do not know for sure.  I have never been a big fan of logistics companies purchasing others unless there is underlying technology you need.

My guess is UPS does not need any technology TNT has.  It is dangerous to buy just for a "customer list".  Acquisitions are generally not a "10X idea".  They usually occur when management is out of ideas.

CASS Freight Indices

I should have remarked on this earlier although I have been busy, busy, busy!  Looks like freight rates have leveled off from the somewhat aggressive increases over the last few months.  Intermodal seems flat while truck rates are up a bit.  This is what the CASS data would suggest although I personally think generalizing about this is a very dangerous game.

Depending on your freight flows and freight characteristics you may or may not see this trend.  If you are a "mega shipper" then perhaps the averages apply however most have specific and unique freight patterns.  My advice is to dive deep into those patterns and understand, in depth, regional movements along with nuances in the areas you operate.

Welcome to SupplyChainBrain: Who’s to Blame for Ocean Carriers’ Losses?

Welcome to SupplyChainBrain: <font size=2>Who’s to Blame for Ocean Carriers’ Losses?</font>

Incredible that this group has allowed this to continue.  However they continue to miss the "boat" per se.  They talk about exchanging rates for service however most do not provide service levels needed.  No value exchange there. 

Overall, good article about the state of the container shipping industry.