Third Party Logistics
THIRD-PARTY LOGISTICS
Outsourcing logistics—especially transportation and warehousing—is becoming more common as merchants focus on their core competencies. These articles provide strategies for choosing the best third-party fulfillment and logistics providers, deciding which activities to outsource, and measuring a 3PL's performance.
4 Ways to Address Multichannel Supply Chain Challenges
Here are four excellent ways to address your multichannel supply chain challenges.....
Safe harbor
Have you ever hired an illegal alien? Chances are you wouldn't know it if you did. There are 12 million undocumented immigrants in this country, and many...
THE ERP EDGE
Merchants juggling multiple selling channels have enough challenges these days — the last thing they need is to manage multiple software packages. That's why many marketers now want one solution to manage an entire enterprise, or an ERP system....
Fulfilling Urban's Legend
As director of distribution, Ken McKinney is responsible for all distribution, fulfillment, and transportation functions for Philadelphia-based Urban...
Get in Charge of Your Chargebacks
In a perfect world, merchandise deliveries would never arrive late, be mislabeled, or contain the wrong product or quantity. But ours is not a perfect...
Continental Divide
Caution, not creativity, has characterized most U.S. companies in the past couple of years. But at a time when risk taking is minimal, marketers are also...
The Lady or the TIGER
In the fat and happy 1990s, retailers, e-tailers, and wholesalers were frequently unwilling to contract the services of third-party logistics providers....
Overpaying Is Not Dignified
IT MAY SEEM IRREVERENT to buy funeral supplies over the Internet, but as the aging U.S. population gives renewed impetus to the funeral business, sending...
Third-party Logistics Market Surges 7%, Outpaces Economy
For the eighth year in a row, growth in outsourced logistics outstripped U.S. economic growth in 2002, reports a new study from supply chain management...
BUYER'S REMORSE
Would you buy a conveyor at what seems like a fabulous discount? Of course you would. It's a great deal, and the machine should work just fine, right?...
O+F Then and Now: Take the Simple Managerial Approach
DESPITE HIS ABUNDANT KNOWLEDGE of avant-garde technology and processes, today's warehouse manager isn't all that different from his predecessors. His...
Two by Two
One company designs and manufactures auto parts. Two more are in the book business. A third and a fourth sell off others' excess inventory. What they...
Multitasking
Multiple personalities are no longer a bad thing, at least in retail. It's now taken for granted that if you plan to sell products and services, you must...
Pick of the Bunch
What do exotic produce and third-party logistics services have in common? Their buyers are picky. This year, companies that use 3PLs are examining the...
Reverse Gear
A company may outsource all or a portion of its operations. Typically, a firm that chooses to outsource the fulfillment portion of its business does so...
Providers of the Lost Art, the Sequel
A roll-up company consolidates a number of 3PFs into one Third-party fulfillment (3PF) theory works well on paper, but what about in real life? The rationale...
