Firms’ (shippers’) procurement of truckload (TL) transportation services is a costly, time-intensive process. The result of these months-long procurement events is typically thousands of contracts between the shipper and transportation service providers (carriers) covering each of the shipper’s lanes (origin-destination pairs) over which it distributes products. Due to TL supply and demand uncertainty, shippers often adopt a coverage strategy to ensure contracted capacity is secured on combinations of lanes on which demand is expected. However, this strategy leads to unnecessary costs and inefficiencies.
In supply chain design, also called strategic supply chain planning, senior management makes decisions regarding resource investments, business policies, and deployment issues in redesigning their supply chains. Not surprisingly, these decisions have a major impact on operational efficiency and competitiveness. The supply chain design field is rooted in conventions developed...
Beginning in 2020, the e-commerce grocery retail industry grew rapidly, largely due to the COVID- 19 pandemic. In addition to this shift in consumer shopping preferences, retailers are facing another challenge: a looming labor shortage. This shortage of workers has caused enormous disruptions across the supply chain, particularly for activities...
The emphasis on sustainability within supply chains across industries has increased in recent years. Today, companies across the globe report on sustainability efforts and progress each year and set goals to reach ambitious environmental and social sustainability targets. This increased focus has prompted questions regarding how sustainability practices are interpreted...
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), home to almost 27,000 students and staff with almost 400 departments, labs and centers, has a largely decentralized procurement system and informal reverse logistics flow or cost rebate programs for office supplies. Building on the success of the centralized procurement process for personnel protective equipment...
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are 2.6 times more likely to be rejected for a loan than a multinational, and the worldwide trade finance gap for SMEs is estimated at $1.7 Trillion USD. The main barrier to finance for SMEs is the high costs of due diligence during the financing...
Companies can expect to lose almost 42% of one year’s profit every decade because of supply chain disruptions. Working to have better supply chain resilience and robustness is now a necessity to stay competitive and profitable. This capstone addresses the creation of a comprehensive and scalable vulnerability assessment framework for...
Disruption in supply and demand causes imbalances in inventory positions across an enterprise’s supply chain network. In the medical device industry, having the right product at the right location in the right quantity is of critical importance. Therefore, companies thrive to maintain an optimal inventory position across their distribution network...
Within the electric distribution space maintaining a balanced inventory of spare parts forms a critical component of resiliency and restoration in the event of an outage. We find that leveraging network design provides an opportunity for utility companies to improve the effectiveness of the inventory they hold, enabling better service...
The Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) is a problem that has been formally studied since the 1930s and attracts great theoretical and practical interest. The theoretical aspects are particularly interesting as the TSP is an NP-hard problem and exact solutions for large TSPs are difficult to obtain. On the practical side...
In today’s business world, supply chain resilience has been brought to the forefront of management topics due to the increasing number of both natural and manmade supply chain disruptions in the past decades. Without an effective method to identify the most impactful resilience actions to take and the amount of...
Global warming is a reality. According to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Earth’s average temperature may increase by another 1.5°C to 2.0°C in the next thirty years, causing extreme weather, deteriorating air quality, depleting resources, and disrupting economies. By 2025, an estimated 1.8 billion people worldwide may...
For a broker in the transportation industry, one of the most critical decisions for the carrier representatives within the company is determining which carrier to select for a customer load. In order to determine which carrier would be the best for a shipment, certain criteria need to be selected in...
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ecommerce share of retail has grown at an accelerated rate, increasing the number of home deliveries and delivery speed expectation from customers. Moreover, demand variability over the year and delivering a wide variety of products in terms of weight and volume has...
Spare parts management is the backbone of asset intensive industries such as telecommunications companies, which operate in a highly competitive environment. Network reliability is a strategic goal as it ensures high customer service level and connectivity. Although companies utilize information related to the expected life of assets and plan maintenance...
As part of Agenda-2030, the United Nations developed the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with the objective of achieving a better and more sustainable future. One of the key drivers for reaching this objective is to lower carbon emissions globally. In line with the carbon SDGs goals, the United Nations Children’s...
The market for obtaining truckload capacity is becoming more dynamic as demand for truckload freight capacity in the US increases. Freight brokers form a vital connection between shippers and the hundreds of thousands of truckload transportation providers in the US and are critical to unlocking all available freight capacity. Previous...
Contract design and management are critical for Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) companies. Well-designed contracts promote a value-driven relationship between the buyer and the supplier. Under the governance of such contracts, the service provider will proactively lead continuous improvement efforts in the direction that best aligns with the goals of the...
Market Share in the pharmaceutical industry has been dominated by manufacturers that develop the most effective Go-To-Market Strategy. New promises in Cell & Gene Therapy and Personalized Healthcare Products open a wealth of opportunities for new market share in the Asian Pacific region, if manufacturers that can position their supply...
With the rise of online retailers, people are buying products online more than ever. This has intensified the competition in the e-commerce market. Online retailers are focussing on improved efficiencies in the way they deliver the products with exceptional customer service. Over the past decade, the online retailing industry has...
With the rapid growth of the e-commerce and the increasing awareness of environmental protection, retailers are facing new challenges to make product delivery fast and green while maintaining their profit margin. A balance between service level and cost to serve is required on both strategic and operational level. Transactional transportation...
DDMRP, a supply chain methodology introduced in 2011, aligns planning activities around incoming demand signals without the use of forecasts to predict future demand. The Demand Driven Institute (DDI) claims that DDMRP can reduce median inventory le vels by 31%, improve median service levels by 13%, and reduce the order...
With demand outpacing production capacity, increased variability in supply lead times and customers' conflicting requests to escalate orders, there is a demand prioritization debacle. This Water Technology Company is faced with inefficiently and manually prioritizing individual orders. To ensure the appropriate demand is fulfilled first, the Water Technology Company is...
There has been a significant increase of interest in supply chain resiliency since the onset of COVID-19 as multiple supply chain disruptions have affected companies across the globe. By increasing resiliency, companies aim to increase their ability to adapt to changes occurring throughout their supply chain network. The 3PL company...
Order fill rate is a critical performance metric in retail supply chain operations. Retailers use it to ensure deliveries received from their suppliers are in full quantities as per order. The retailers levy fines on suppliers that fail to comply with the metric. C.H. Robinson has a division that provides...
