Industries | SupplyChainBrain

Industries: Page 1303

Retail Container Imports to Increase 8.5 Percent in September; Strong Holiday Numbers Ahead?

Import cargo volume at the nation's major retail container ports is expected to increase 8.5 percent in September compared with the same month last year, and strong increases are expected into the holiday season despite talk of a possible strike at East Coast and Gulf Coast ports, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

Small and Medium-Sized Manufacturers Project Strong Second Half in 2012

Prime Advantage, a buying consortium for mid-sized manufacturers, announced the findings of its 10th semi-annual Group Outlook Survey, revealing financial projections and top concerns of its member companies for the second half of 2012. The majority of surveyed manufacturers report healthy revenue projections, strong hiring and capital spending plans. However, for a small portion of respondents these plans may see delays due to uncertainty about the results of the federal elections.

Truckload Rates Hold Steady in August, Intermodal Linehaul Rates Rise in Same Period

Truckload pricing remained constant from July to August according to the Cass Truckload Linehaul Index, which for the second month in a row registered a value of 109.5. On a year-over-year basis, truckload rates are up 1.0 percent. After seeing substantial year-over-year growth rates last year and early in 2012, truckload pricing has continued to see its rate of growth move down over the last few months, according to Avondale Partners' recent report.

Ahold USA Enlists FoodLink as Purchasing Platform for Fresh Foods, Floral Products

FoodLink will become the online buying platform for all fresh produce, meat, seafood, deli and floral category purchasing across more than 750 stores operated by Ahold USA.

Damco Moving Headquarters to The Hague, Netherlands

Global freight forwarder and logistics provider Damco is moving its headquarters from Copenhagen, Denmark to The Hague, Netherlands. The move, which should be completed in first quarter 2013, brings Damco closer to the heart of the European logistics community and supports its strategy to become a Top Five industry player in the years to come.

VP Quote: TradeStone Has Enhanced Accuracy, Communication and Visibility

Challenge: A southern-based retailer/wholesaler was operating four distinct divisions (auto, industrial, office products and electronics). Each division was sourcing independently and most private brands buying was done through agents, which led to higher costs, quality check issues and limited visibility. Quote requests were also being stored in various formats, (spreadsheets, emails, etc) making tracking and organizing a cumbersome issue.

U.S. Rail Traffic Dips in Beginning of September, But Intermodal Sees Strong Growth

U.S. freight carload traffic for the week ending Sept. 1 declined 3.4 percent measured against the comparable week of 2011, the Association of American Railroads said. But U.S. intermodal continued its winning streak, up a robust 6.5 percent during the week compared with one year ago.

North American Freight Volumes Declined 1.1 Percent in August

North American freight volumes continued to drop off, and on a year-over-year basis, shipment volumes were down 1.1 percent from last August. This is the third time this year freight shipments have fallen below the level for the same month in 2011. Freight volumes grew 9.9 percent during the first half of the year, but after two months of consecutive contraction, the annual growth has fallen to 8.0 percent.

Chinese, Indian Entrepreneurs Differ from Western Counterparts on Business Model, ROI Strategies

Ever since Frederick Taylor's early writing on industrial efficiency - followed by the work of Peter Drucker, Alfred Chandler, and others - the modern Western corporation has been managed according to a tightly defined set of rules and norms. A clear corporate strategy calls for earning at least the cost of capital, growing at a higher rate than the overall market, and managing the portfolio to a "logic" - periodically pruning poorly performing businesses. And with Wall Street analysts ready to applaud CEOs for making their numbers or pulverize them for a one-cent per share miss, there is often little opportunity to change course.

Understanding Independent Distributor Certifications and Anti-Counterfeiting

Quality management systems are at the core of every set of critical business processes, and essential among these are anti-counterfeit strategies. Recently, industry headlines have been replete with analyst and government reports documenting the pervasiveness of counterfeit product in supply chains. Rather than a new problem though, counterfeit criminal activity is as old as business itself, and with this history comes an equally long history of anti-counterfeit strategies and risk management practices.

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Cortera Launches B2B Purchase Insights Service for Sales, Marketing and Finance

Cortera has launched a B2B Purchase Insights offering, enabling sales, marketing and finance executives to better research and understand their customers, prospects and suppliers.

Transplace Integrates Truckload Benchmarking Data With LLamaSoft App

Transplace, the North American-based third-party logistics provider, is integrating its truckload benchmarking data into the Supply Chain Guru software of LLamasoft.

Page 1303 of 2013

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