While pop-up retail is not new - dating back to California-based Vacant in 1999 - the concept of pop-up distribution centers is a fairly new one. Following the same idea, it involves setting up a temporary distribution center in a specific location for a set period of time to meet a temporary need, then shutting it down.
The furious pace of energy exploration in North Dakota is creating a crisis for farmers whose grain shipments have been held up by a vast new movement of oil by rail, leading to millions of dollars in agricultural losses and slower production for breakfast cereal giants like General Mills.
Challenge: A CPG manufacturer of home appliances needed to control labor expenses and identified a 500,000-sq.-ft. distribution center as an opportunity to streamline. The facility ships to three regional centers and an overflow warehouse.
Tom Sanderson, chief executive officer of Transplace, runs down the various new regulations and pieces of legislation that could have a deep impact on shippers and the nation's transportation system.
Swiss corporate giant Nestle has pledged broad new animal welfare standards for its worldwide suppliers, becoming the latest major food company looking to limit some of the harmful effects of its global footprint.
Challenge: Analyzing historical transportation data revealed a high number of small volume, prepaid shipments from nationwide vendors to the company's West Coast DC. Software modeling suggested that a network of pool points (cross-docking facilities) could yield substantial savings.
Challenge: Our client is a unique and well-positioned specialty retailer in the wedding gown industry, competing in a large and stable industry with over 300 stores in the United States and Canada, but back in 2005 their business was outgrowing their capacity, they were at a crossroads regarding how to grow, design, improve and optimize their operations.
Challenge: The sourcing team within a global marine engineering firm was challenged with standardizing its temporary personnel procurement process, specifically for crew staff for its fleet of 100 maritime vessels. As the team collected global requirements, it became clear that a number of factors would add complexity throughout the process, as there were 34 different staffing vendors with multiple compensation frameworks fulfilling the 46 crew positions utilized in 9 geographical regions.
Challenge: Adopt a solution that can be easily rolled out to buyer and category manager desktops throughout the organization, plus scale across other departments in the enterprise.
The latest supply-chain news, analysis, trends and tools for executives in the food and beverage industries. Learn how food and beverage companies and their suppliers around the world are managing the flow of products across all channels of the enterprise. Experts sound off on forecasting and demand planning, supply-chain visibility, logistics outsourcing, inventory optimization, transportation management, warehouse management, supply-chain security, corporate social responsibility and more.
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