September 2008
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SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT Freight Payment Services: DOLLARS & SENSE www.inboundlogistics.com THE MAGAZINE FOR DEMAND-DRIVEN LOGISTICS • SEPTEMBER 2008 ANNUAL TRUCKING ISSUE GROUND TACTICS: OPTIMIZING TRANSPORTATION NETWORKS ALSO: Charting the Top 100 Motor Carriers Surveying the Trucking Market IT SIPS. THE ALL-NEW 2008 DODGE RAM 5500 CHASSIS CAB. Have you seen the price of fuel lately? You’ll see it a whole lot less in a Dodge Ram 5500 Chassis Cab. The standard 6.7L Cummins® Turbo Diesel with 610 lb-ft of torque helps make this tough truck 14 percent more fuel efficient than Ford F-550 and 23 percent more than Chevy Kodiak 5500.* Combine that with the largest standard fuel tank and we doubt you’ll be running into your friends at the pumps anytime soon. Why suck when you can sip? For more information, go to dodge.com/chassis_cab or call 800-4ADODGE. *Estimated fuel economy based on independent testing. When properly equipped. Cummins is a registered trademark of Cummins, Inc. Independent testing has proven Dodge Ram 5500 more fuel effi cient than Ford and Chevy Class 5 chassis cabs, helping you save. GROR UND TACTICS pagage 36 THETHE MAGAZINE MAGAZINE FOR FOR DEMAND DEMAND DRIVEN DRIVEN LOGISTICS LOGISTICS September 2008 • Vol. 28 • No. 9 INSIGHT INPRACTICE 4 CHECKING IN 6 DIALOG READER PROFILE Navigating a Supply Chain Management Career Readers talk back. After 30 years in the business, Steve Schad, vice president of supply chain operations at TomTom Inc., moves materials and products from 10 SC PERSPECTIVES Intelligent planning could mitigate Point A to Point B with ease. the global problem of inequitable water distribution. 30 3PL LINE CASEBOOK Urban Outfi tters Sound shipper-carrier relationships help deliver tangible Sales into the Wind and sustainable results. While many of its competitors struggle, this trendy apparel retailer struts its 33 IT MATTERS Combining elements of GPS and stuff through aggressive growth, a passive RFID technologies, RTLS unique customer perspective, and a solutions take advantage of both supply chain that pulls it all together. technologies’ strengths. 34 RISKS & REWARDS New cargo-screening regulations raise questions about the best approach to compliance. INDEPTH INFO GROUND TACTICS Optimizing Transportation Networks 98 WEB_CITE CITY While every transportation mode is affected by a struggling economy and record high fuel prices, trucking has the most far-reaching impact on 106 CLASSIFIED supply chain network design and strategy. How are shippers coping? 108 RESOURCE CENTER EXCLUSIVE RESEARCH Trucking Perspectives 2008 Our annual Motor Freight Market Insight Survey provides an in-depth look at the trucking sector. Motor carriers and Inbound Logistics readers address growth areas and obstacles. September 2008 • Inbound Logistics 1 THE MAGAZINE FOR DEMAND DRIVEN LOGISTICS DOLLARS & SENSE page 66 September 2008 • Vol. 28 • No. 9 INBRIEF INDEPTH 9 10 TIPS How to safely import food. Trucking RFP 14 TRENDS Get free, no-obligation advice, solutions, and information for all your Georgia-Pacifi c’s eco-friendly trucking challenges. package design… Which state ranks fi rst for manufacturing and logistics activity? Show me!… Top 100 Motor Carriers JDA swallows i2 Technologies Shift gears, slow down, and take account of the motor freight carriers paving the road to innovation and change within the trucking industry. SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT Freight Payment Services: Dollars & Sense Freight payment services are no longer just about paying your carriers quickly. Today’s freight payment service providers have expanded their portfolios to offer an array of cost-cutting, productivity, and effi ciency benefi ts. Purchasing Managers: Shop Talk Purchasing managers juggle a To-Do list of stressful, business- critical tasks — from striking the best deals to projecting demand 22 GLOBAL LOGISTICS to staying abreast of fi nancial and Mexico’s great FedExpectations… political changes worldwide. Listen Making commercial border in as four purchasing managers crossings easier… India’s Hyderabad International Airport… chat about challenges and shoot China’s port boom the breeze on strategy. 92 TECH UPDATE 95 NEW SERVICES 112 LAST MILE: WHEELED VICTORY 2 Inbound Logistics • September 2008 THE M ST ...TEAM DRIVERS IN THE INDUSTRY. With over 3,500 team drivers ready to go, we’ll expedite your critical loads. And because at least one driver stays with the truck constantly, we’re also the most secure way to ship. In addition, our “Capacity Solutions” service offers supplemental capacity for peak periods. Visit www.crstvanex.com and see how CRST can do the MOST for your expedited or peak and fl ex shipping needs. CHECKINGIN Vol. 28, No. 9 September 2008 THE MAGAZINE FOR DEMAND-DRIVEN LOGISTICS www.inboundlogistics.com STAFF PUBLISHER Keith G. Biondo by Keith Biondo | Publisher [email protected] EDITOR Felecia J. Stratton [email protected] SENIOR ASSOCIATE EDITOR Joseph O’Reilly [email protected] ASSOCIATE MANAGING EDITOR Catherine Harden [email protected] The Short Loop is Better CONTRIBUTING EDITORS William Atkinson • Merrill Douglas • John Edwards Lisa Harrington • Amanda Loudin • Robert Malone uppose, for some unknown reason, the hot/cold water valves for your Amy Roach Partridge • Deborah Ruriani • Lisa Terry shower were installed in the basement, next to the water heater. When CREATIVE DIRECTOR Michael Murphy S you wanted to take a shower, you’d have to go to the basement, turn the [email protected] water on, then walk upstairs to the bathroom. If you needed to adjust the water SENIOR DESIGNER Mary Brennan temperature or fl ow, you’d have to get out of the shower, wrap a towel around [email protected] you, and traipse back down to the basement, dripping water all the way. Having PRINT/WEB PRODUCTION MANAGER Shawn Kelloway [email protected] hot/cold valves at the water heater would be considered a long-loop control. PUBLICATION MANAGER Sonia Casiano Having them in the shower is a short-loop control. It’s obviously silly to have the [email protected] long-loop control in the shower, so why do we tolerate it in logistics? CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Carolyn Smolin In logistics, the fl ow of inbound product – like the water – starts far away, from across the country and around the world. If you don’t practice demand-driven SALES OFFICES logistics, the controls regulating product fl ow are located at the point of origin. PUBLISHER: Keith Biondo (212) 629-1560 • FAX: (212) 629-1565 Wouldn’t it be better if your supply control loop was located exactly at the [email protected] point of the demand fl ow instead of in another time zone, in a foreign language, WEST/MIDWEST/SOUTHWEST: Harold L. Leddy and with someone else’s hand on the control? Locating the hot/cold water valves (847) 446-8764 • FAX: (847) 446-7985 in your shower instead of the basement, you could fi nely adjust the product fl ow [email protected] to dovetail more effi ciently with what customers buy from you. Marshall Leddy (763) 416-1980 • FAX: (763) 201-4010 Practicing demand-driven logistics gives you the ability to fi ne-tune your [email protected] product fl ow exactly where the change signals emanate from. Selecting a carrier MIDWEST/ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: Jim Armstrong that can give you short-loop, pipeline control – exactly where you are, all the long (815) 334-9945 • FAX: (815) 334-1920 way back to the supply origin – would be one way to do this. [email protected] Many carriers offer this level of visibility and control, not just across the SOUTHEAST: Gordon H. Harper country, but around the globe. This being our annual trucking issue, it’s worth (404) 350-0057 • FAX: (404) 355-2036 [email protected] considering how you can engage carrier partners in a more intuitive way, lever- MOBILE, AL: Peter Muller aging their capabilities to gain better control of critical demand points all the (251) 343-9308 • FAX: (251) 343-9308 way back to supply sources. [email protected] U.S. shippers and consignees are beginning to recognize that greater control NORTHEAST: Rachael Sprinz over distribution loops – and in some cases, shortening these loops – goes a long (212) 629-1560 • FAX: (212) 629-1565 [email protected] way toward streamlining transport costs. Lisa Harrington’s article, Ground Tactics (page 36), examines how companies optimize distribution networks to rationalize FREE SUBSCRIPTIONS transportation movements and costs, and better meet customer demand. www.inboundlogistics.com/free In Trucking Perspectives (page 45), you can familiarize yourself with the many Inbound Logistics welcomes comments and submissions. variables that comprise a demand-driven approach. Moreover, IL’s annual Top Contact us at 5 Penn Plaza, NY, NY 10001, (212) 629-1560, Fax (212) 629-1565, e-mail: [email protected]. 100 Motor Carrier directory (page 56) serves up trucking companies that can For advertising, reprint, or subscription information, call (212) deliver the goods and offer the premium services to help you better manage 629-1560, or e-mail [email protected]. Inbound Logistics is distributed without cost to those qualifi ed in North inbound movements. America. Interested readers must complete and return the If you don’t have processes and partnerships in place to anticipate and mit- qualifi cation card published in this issue, or may subscribe online at www.inboundlogistics.com/free. Subscription price to igate supply