Supply Chain Optimization

Fall Brings Mixed Blessings

Trucking…Ocean…Package Trucking: Driver shortfall: 80,000 Parts shortage is forcing some carriers to cannibalize some trucks to get other vehicles running LTL carrier Old Dominion getting 10.1% more per cwt this year than last – and that excludes ...

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Restoring Re-Shoring

The distance you can afford to move an item depends on its value divided by its cost to ship. High value-per-pound or per-cube items, like electronics, can come to a long distance – Refrigerators, not so far. With ocean freight going sky-high (see ...

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AutoScheduler named Cool Vendor

Gartner has named our sister´s company and its product AutoScheduler a “Cool Vendor.” “AutoScheduler.ai is one of the first vendors to commercially apply sophisticated constraint-based optimization techniques to planning and managing work in a ...

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Good News On Hiring – Bad News On Ocean Shipping

The good news is that new courier and warehouse worker employment grew by 40,000 in August. This represented about… The good news is that new courier and warehouse worker employment grew by 40,000 in August. This represented about 17% of the total ...

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Retailer Fines Vs. Distribution Labor

Amazing as it sounds, retailer fines now exceed the cost of… Amazing as it sounds, retailer fines now exceed the cost of distribution labor in some grocery suppliers. Grocers want what they want in the quantities they want on the day they want it. ...

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Oil Is Down – Why Isn’t Diesel A Lot Cheaper? Port Problems

Oil is down substantially, yet diesel hasn’t declined nearly as much because refiners are making more money. Over the past year, refiners have averaged $10/barrel for processing – the so-called “crack spread”. Now the crack spread is running around ...

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Get Amtrak Out Of The Way

On the nation's freight rails, Amtrak is a nuisance… On the nation's freight rails, Amtrak is a nuisance – its frequently-late trains just get in the way. Now, the infrastructure bill gives money to start a new route that is all but guaranteed to be ...

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No Relief From Today’s Congestion And Delays Before Year-End

Maersk CEO says he sees “no relief from today’s congestion and delays before year-end”: Maersk Q2 revenue rose to $14.23 billion, up 58% from a year earlier. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization nearly tripled to $5.06 ...

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CSCMP This Year

Are you planning on going to CSCMP at the end of September this year? The head of supply-chain operations from Unilever is presenting the benefits of using optimized load building (they use AutoO2). At the same time, I’d like to meet as many of the ...

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More Price Pressure = Higher Freight Costs

Diesel price is being pushed up: US refinery capacity totaled 18.1 million barrels per calendar day (b/cd) at the start of 2021 – down 0.8 million b/cd (4.5%) from 19.0 million b/cd at the start of 2020 While down from nearly $78/barrel – oil is ...

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