Compiled ByDeborah Austin The key to meaningful improvement in logistics systems: Find ways to substitute information and transportation for inventory and work content. Some of those ways: Forecast sharing improves partners' ability to coordinate/minimize inventory levels; complete order information reduces mis-ships and double handling; order status availability reduces just-in-case inventory. These "keys" topped findings of a supply-chain focus group -- at The Logistics Institute (TLI) at Georgia Tech, Atlanta -- which recently met to hammer out efficiencies-improvement strategies in logistics. Represented were 15 companies including Malt-O-Meal, Carroll Tire Co., Schneider Logistics and The Trane Co. Other issues studied:
- Logistics productivity in the U.S. -- why it's stagnating;
- Segmenting customer bases to develop customer service policies;
- Choosing inbound logistics suppliers;
- Choosing e-marketplaces for transportation/procurement.
