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From feraljundi.com: “If there was any an indicator of how things are going in a war, you can always look at the health of the logistics tail. And to me, just looking at these three stories that cover Pakistan and Afghanistan, it is obvious that there are some serious security issues with logistics going on. The first story is one that I posted before, about Commando Security (a local national security company in Afghanistan) and their efforts in the war. The loss of life and the amount of actual fighting that this PSC is doing is stunning. Stacks of coffins…fighting daily?

The second story is about Pakistan shutting down the Khyber Pass. The Taliban and the various tribes are raping these convoys. Just lask week, these guys were able to attack a convoy and steal some Humvee destined for Afghanistan. The pictures of these things in Taliban hands are embarrassing to say the least. The final story is about Highway One in Afghanistan, and how dangerous that has become. It sounds like IED hell, and the Taliban and company are certainly applying the lessons of Iraq to their own campaign in Afghanistan and Pakistan.” Logistics Hell in Afghanistan and Pakistan

JDA® Software Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: JDAS) today announced that Loblaw Companies Limited, Canada’s largest food distributor and a leading provider of drugstore, general merchandise and financial products and services, has signed a license agreement to leverage JDA Software’s supply chain solutions.

With 140,000 employees, CAD$29.4 billion in annual revenue and more than 1,000 corporate and franchised stores nationally, Loblaw is implementing JDA’s Supply & Demand Optimization solutions to further drive optimization and process improvement. Loblaw will also leverage JDA Transportation & Logistics Management solutions to enable the company to proactively manage supplier and carrier relationships, reduce expediting costs and enhance service levels. Continue Reading »

Deutsche Post World Net takes strong action to reduce U.S. Express loss, improve Group performance in light of economic downturn… DHL Express to focus on international competencies in the U.S. and exit U.S. domestic air and ground business. Roadmap to Value program intensified amid challenging economic environment - savings of 1 billion euros targeted. Group 9-month underlying EBIT from continuing ops rises 1.3 percent. Continue Reading »

Some companies, regardless of their industry or size, do well. They are successful with low value merchandise or with fashionable merchandise or whatever product. Other firms struggle or so it seems. The difference, when you drill down, is often how well a firm executes supply chain management.
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From RFID News: “Retail behemoth Wal-Mart will require its Chinese suppliers to use RFID tagging to label shipments as of January 2009. Stricter requirements began to be introduced in October of this year, but by next year, the standards will effect all of Wal-Mart’s more than 1,000 Chinese suppliers. RFID tagging is expected to cost the suppliers roughly 20 times more than the bar-coding system now in place, but the changeover offers the retailer major benefits. It is estimated that the introduction of RFID technology to Wal-Mart’s supply chain will save the company up to $8.35 billion annually as well quickly providing important product information.” Wal-Mart to require RFID tagging from Chinese suppliers

So you want or need to learn about Logistics and Supply Chain Management? Take it from me, there are worse fates in life as at least these skills can be applied in the real world in support of business activity execution, expense reductions and to improve customer service. And even those who are perhaps here due to a one time passing interest or operational issue will be happy to know that these skills can be equally applied to planning and executing excellent parties!
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Consolidated Fastfrate Inc., a leading provider of transportation and logistic services in Canada, today announced that Peter Marshall has been named President and Chief Executive of Consolidated Fastfrate Inc. and its subsidiaries, effective immediately. Ron Tepper will become the Company’s Executive Chairman and focus on the growth and strategic direction of Fastfrate.
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Aravo Solutions, Inc., the leading provider of on-demand Supplier Information Management (SIM)software and services, today announced that GE has launched Aravo SIM (TM) to power and transform GE’s supplier information management processes across all of its business units worldwide.
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In November we launched the SCN Supply Chain Network Group on Facebook in concert with our article Start Utilizing Facebook for Business? As many of our readers utilize LinkedIn versus Facebook, we’ve now also established the SCN Supply Chain Network Group on LinkedIn. Simply click here to request membership in this group and we look forward to using these new tools with you to support our mantra of Ask, Learn, Build and Collaborate!

We’re pleased to present Supply Chain Network readers with an interesting and insightful series of articles on Supply Chain Fraud contributed by Norman Katz of Katzscan Inc.

Regardless of where you operate in North America, Europe or Asia, the regulatory framework and compliance requirements continue to tighten and simply reporting losses as shrinkage just doesn’t cut it anymore.

So read on if you’d like to learn more about the who, why, where and how of supply chain fraud and also get additional ideas on detection, prevention and steps you can take today to make progress in this critical area. Continue Reading »

Over the last couple of years my interest and excitment around the concept of reviving and renewing airship transport technology of the blimp or zeppelin variety has been growing steadily. Today I’m now utterly convinced these massive dinosaurs of the sky from the early 1900s actually have the potential to re-emerge and change our world for the better. Can Modern Transport Airships Change the World?

Our next SCN Webinar is scheduled for November 12th at 10:00 am eastern featuring a presentation and video demonstration by Seegrid’s Joel Reed of the Seegrid moblie robotic pallet trucks. Somewhere in the back of my mind I guess I knew it would happen someday, but to be honest I hadn’t really thought that much about the potential of mobile robots being applied to materials handing applications in logistics operations. I’m not talking about stationary robots that might wrap, stack or invert pallets, those have been around long enough that they’re almost taken for granted. What is now emerging and REALLY fast are mobile materials handling robots and these aren’t Automated Guided Vehicles or AGVS as they’re known that run on wire or laser guidance systems. These warehouse versions of R2D2, for all you Star Wars fans out there, are already here today and in operation at a number of sites in North America pulling pallets from one end of the warehouse to the other on a continuous loop basis with no driver. Register here to join us November 12th for this next exciting webinar event in our monthly SCN Supply Chain Network webinar series.

From Supply Chain Digest: “I am just back from Denver and the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) annual global conference. Thanks to the many of you who have written with kind words for the daily video summaries offered by myself and Gene Tyndall. If you would like to catch any of those three broadcasts, you can find them here: CSCMP Video Reviews.” Supply Chain News: CSCMP 2008 Review and Comment