There’s no doubt that the Sales and Marketing side of a business can often seem like the ‘sexy’ side of the operation. Just picture a new car showroom with all of those shiny, glitzy vehicles just waiting for a test drive. But the supply chain that put those gleaming new cars in the showroom initially …
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All posts by John Hughes
Big Trends in Land-Based Modes of Transportation There are 2 big trends that are happening right now in the development of future land-based modes of transportation. The first is the development of autonomous, self-driving vehicles and the second is continued work in perfecting electrically powered drive trains for cars and trucks. Obstacles to Widespread Adoption …
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In an article back in 2015 (“The Weak Link in the Chain?) I discussed the importance of what’s known as the Soo locks at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan to barge transportation on the Great Lakes. This is a real choke point for marine shipments on the Great Lakes. Thus the Supply Chains of many businesses …
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One of the really intriguing developments in technology lately is the concept of 3-D printing. Who knows where it will lead … will General Motors or Toyota someday simply print whole automobiles as one large and seamless piece of plastic? Maybe Frigidaire will simply print up a bunch of new refrigerators. But let’s not get …
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I recently read 2 separate articles about recent mergers in the Consumer Package Goods (CPG) market that seem to reach contradictory conclusions: and this has gotten me thinking about just who is right. The two items that I’m referring to are “With Competition in Tatters, the Rip of Inequality Widens” (In the New York Times …
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Recent events during the summer of 2015 have exposed a major vulnerability in the supply chains of many U.S. manufacturers located in the industrial belt of the American Midwest. Iron ore as well as many other bulk commodities such as grain and coal, is shipped from Northern Minnesota and Michigan via vessels on Lake Superior …
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By now, we’ve all probably heard about the fact that there is a worldwide glut of crude oil. This is due to many factors of course, including the increased production of oil and natural gas in North America (especially as a result of fracking), as well as the rising proportion that renewable energy sources have …
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A couple of years ago, there was a book written by Thomas L. Friedman called “The World is Flat” which made the case that businesses and organizations are becoming more and more integrated across physical locations and national boundaries. His point was that in the future, the various different functions and processes of any enterprise …
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I read an interesting article in the New York Times concerning a shift in the physical route of the supply chain running between China and Europe. Until recently, trains have played a very small part in the shipment of manufactured products from the Far East to Germany, Holland, France, etc. However, a number of recent …
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There is nothing fundamentally new in the area of Supply Chain management! Supply Chains have existed ever since some caveman somewhere decided to make specialty dinosaur clubs from a particular kind of really hard wood and very sharp rocks that he got from two other troglodytes over in the next valley. What has changed however …
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