Every day, headlines present an inordinate amount of conflicting and worrisome information. ITR Economics™ often receives emails with articles attached predicting impending doom, a stock market crash of immense proportions, the collapse of the U.S. dollar, and a future where U.S. GDP growth is limited. Others see unlimited potential in 2014 and a year that will prove to be much ...

Those brown UPS trucks have been doing more than hauling online purchases and wedding gifts. For the past few years, the delivery company has used tens of thousands of its trucks as “rolling laboratories,” analyzing data from on-board sensors and using the findings to optimize routes, cut idling time, assess driver safety and make vehicle maintenance more efficient. This “telematics” ...

3-D printing isn’t a new technology but it’s recently been gaining more attention in the business and popular press. Companies like GE are incorporating it into their manufacturing processes; NASA is planning to send a 3-D printer to the International Space Station; and UPS will be introducing 3-D printing services into some of its stores. Gartner, a market analysis and ...

Having the right item in stock when customers are ready to purchase is an essential component of customer satisfaction. Customers have a wide range of choices, so whether they are looking for clothing, appliances or electronics, there is always another business ready to sell to them if their first choice cannot deliver. The good news is that every business has ...

Weather events around the world disrupts production of a key component. A port strike delays imports. An equipment breakdown strands a shipment. These require action in the moment. But anticipating these events before they happen can make the difference between surviving and succeeding. “You have to have increased sensitivity in your company to the severe impacts that supply chain disruptions ...

In many fields, technological advances bring focus and simplification. The exponential growth of e-commerce and omni-channel retail, however, has done quite the opposite when it comes to distribution centers and material handling. Conversations have become increasingly complex, solutions more varied—and the timeline faster than ever. “Before, there certainly was more predictability,” said Kris Bjorson, international director, retail e-commerce and distribution, ...

By Gary Forger Think about this for a minute. The U.S. is expected to generate about 270,000 logistics-related jobs each year through 2018. At current job creation rates, that’s a bit more than 10 percent of all new jobs annually in the U.S. Many of these people will be working in warehousing and distribution as well as trucking, operations management, ...

By Joel Kranc By all accounts and economic indicators, the U.S. economy grew more than expected in the second quarter with higher GDP and private employers maintaining an increased pace of hiring. A recovery with some momentum has been building and this can be seen in the logistics and supply chain industries as well. A recent “Logistics Market Snapshot” produced ...

By Michael Fickes Do the demands of the manual material handling tasks you assign fit the capabilities of your workers? Have you studied the experience of your workers, watched them on the job looking for awkward postures, repetitive motions, fatigue and other indicators of a poor fit? According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), ergonomics is ...

Until two years ago, Moosejaw Mountaineering & Backcountry Travel, an online and brick and mortar retailer specializing in outdoor recreation apparel and gear, relied on a paper-based warehouse management system. Plans to add four additional stores to bring the number to 11 and an increasing volume of online orders spurred the move to automate the process. “We’re a small information ...