Skill, connections, leadership, negotiation leverage and extensive industry knowledge represent much of what your business looks for in 3PL logistics companies, but that’s not everything. Actually, none of those great attributes are worth a nickel if you don’t have a successful partnership and great communication.

Manufacturing companies spend a great deal of time looking for ways to beat their competition in new and innovative ways, whether it is through new manufacturing processes, better products or improved supply chain management. Manufacturing industry supply chain management can be difficult as you try to keep costs low and deliver goods and services to the customer in a timely manner. Fortunately, third-party logistics (3PL) providers offer many services that will improve a manufacturers’ supply chain.  

In 1962, President John F. Kennedy declared a permanent date to recognize transportation in the United States. He declared that from that week forward, it will always fall during the week in May which contains the third Friday (National Defense Transportation Day), with the Maritime Day falling on the day after, Saturday.

3PL companies strive to minimize transport costs and maximize the abilities of meeting their clients’ most demanding logistics needs. When it comes to logistics, the type of products to be transported, the method of transportation and the distance of transportation determines your ability to derive value from working with a third party logistics company. The efficiency of your supply chain is dependent on the level of efficiency of each component in the supply chain. In any company, you should be able to measure performance; the easiest way to determine whether the process is adding value to your company or not. Benchmarks should be set to determine the acceptable limits of performance given certain business environments.

Bad warehouse logistics practices lead to profit losses, whether you have dozens of warehouses at the core of your business or one which barely gets a second thought. In fact, there’s a strong chance that the less important you consider your warehouse, the worse off your current warehouse logistics are—but you should consider this a good thing. After all, inefficiency is an opportunity for more profit, as you figure out ways to cut down on the waste that’s eating your time, money, and resources (and perhaps find a new way to outperform your competitors). Today, we’ll cover five ways for any business to improve its warehouse logistics, and claim the profit hidden in your current flaws. 

Newark's mayor is asking for Gov. Chris Christie's help to approve new revenue sources for the struggling city.  The mayor of Newark, New Jersey, has renewed his call for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to provide more money for city-owned land the bi-state agency uses for seaport and airport facilities.  Mayor Ras Baraka is effectively holding hostage City owned land if his financial demands go unmet threatening to sell the land currently used by the Port Authority of NY & NJ and Newark Airport.  “We are continuing to push the port authority to be a better partner and a better tenant. Either we get some serious relationship counseling or we have to seek a divorce,” Baraka said in his “State of the City” speech.  “We need the airport and the seaport not to just be in Newark, but we need them to be a part of Newark,” Baraka said. “We need transparency and oversight now. And if they cannot work with us in a way that is both fair and transparent, I’m prepared to put an RFP on the street asking interested parties to buy our seaport. You cannot be in our home and cook on our stove, even if you did bring the food, and eat while we sit in the living room and starve. We want to eat, too.”  Port authority’s chairman, John Degnan, said the agency would consider the suggestion but countered with the fact that the port authority had provided the city with $1.5 billion in payments since 2005.

Not yet, but it's close. Radar and camera technology have introduced the possibility of completely autonomous vehicles. Currently in the commercial truck market vehicles equipped with this his technology are capable of self braking when a vehicle is detected too close in the trucks path. The truck is braked to a safe distance at no more than the required braking rate than necessary. The truck is then throttled up to maintain a safe following distance from the vehicle ahead. Cameras and sensors on either side allow for automated interruption of lane changes when a potential obstruction is approaching at a potentially unsafe rate on either side. Adaptive cruise control uses the same cameras and sensors to allow the truck to be fully autonomous on freeways and major interstates. This however still requires a driver to maneuver the truck on and off the major highways. Anti-Roll Stability Suspension Technology has become an industry standard. Designed to sense lateral deviations in the trucks suspension, a powerful microprocessor executes complex algorithms in fractions of a second to control damping between the vehicle body and the wheels.The algorithms use thirteen attached sensors to compute the programmed cycle of a "Pulse Width Modulated" electrical signal. All of these calculations are done in time to slow the truck to a safe speed for the particular maneuver. In todays trucks the driver is necessary but we'll explore what the next generation brings.

What is a 3PL?

A 3PL (third-party logistics) provider is a provider of outsourced logistics services. 

Selecting the right 3PL provider for your business means more than just selecting a company that can do what you need at a price you can afford. When you allow another company to manage your logistics, you’re making that outsider a part of the very heart of your business—a decision that makes excellent returns when you choose well, but might prove disastrous should you choose poorly. Today, we’ll help you understand five key factors to consider when selecting a 3PL provider: Experience, Modernity, Connections, Services and Customization.

When government regulations come into the scene, no industry is spared, including the transportation industry. Many regulations pertaining to this industry will bring about dramatic and significant changes in the coming years. It is believed the new logistics/transportation laws being enforced will affect the bottom line of carriers, truckers, consignees and shippers. Depending on the end cost, they may even affect consumers down the line. 

Transportation disruptions come in all manner of destruction; mechanical, weather, labor and capital markets.  Savvy logistics providers come away with valuable lessons that will help manage the next service disruption and aid in the design of disruption management strategies.  The 7 month West Coast Ports strike exposed capacity and productivity limitations at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles.