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Improving Cube Utilization in the Warehouse
A vital part of meeting the growing demands of consumers is getting more of your goods to market. Producing those extra goods is often a relatively simple matter of assigning extra shifts to production or working more fields. In the supply chain, though, those extra goods pose more difficulties. Attempting to fit more product into…
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Damage Prevention in the Supply Chain: How Plastic Pallets Can Help
Product damage during transit is universal in the supply chain. After all, you cannot tell a bag of lettuce or a shipment of medication to be careful on its journey to market, and unlike piggies, damaged products do not go “wee, wee, wee,” all the way home. Manufacturers have become used to simply reporting the…
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What Are the Benefits of Warehouse Automation?
You could say these are the best of times to be in business and the worst of times. On the positive side, after almost a decade of little or no growth, businesses are finally expanding again as inventory moves out and orders bring production lines back to life. On the other hand, transportation and labor…
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3 Ways to Improve Operational Efficiency Using Plastic Platform Pooling
Once your product is manufactured, then the real work begins of getting it to consumers via a complicated network of trucks and trains. A supply chain’s operations move staggering amounts of product every day, and its smooth function is what keeps your business going. There is no escaping the costs of running a supply chain;…
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How to Exceed the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Industry Standards
In mid-May of this year, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) finally told consumers it is safe to resume purchasing and eating romaine lettuce following an outbreak of E.coli linked to romaine lettuce products. The reason isn’t that the exact source was found or the outbreak contained, but that the growing season of the region…
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Why Efficient Supply Chain Management Systems Rely on Plastic Pallets
In logistics management, timetables are finely tuned. Grocery and pharma industries depend on just-in-time delivery to get perishable goods to market. The just-in-time approach—pioneered by Toyota—focuses on making or delivering only what is needed, when it is needed, and in only the amounts that are needed. It is a philosophy that frees companies from spending…
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Why Pallets for Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems Should Be Plastic
The pace of business in the grocery and pharma industries is relentless. Meeting the standards of consumers and regulators means constantly refining processes to increase efficiency. But sometimes maintaining the required productivity and accuracy is beyond the capabilities of mere mortals, particularly in the warehouse. For this reason, many companies are choosing Automated Storage and…
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How to Increase the Average Fuel Mileage for Semi-Trucks
Lately, as you pay the fuel bills for your shipping fleet or negotiate with your carriers, you may find that the prices leave you with a headache. Transportation costs are rising across the supply chain and are higher than they’ve been in a long time. In the transportation industry, there’s currently a perfect storm of…
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Standard GMA Pallet Dimensions: Why 48″x40″ Uniformity Matters
If you work in logistics you know how important standardization is. It allows equipment separated by thousands of miles to handle the same materials without difficulty or downtime. Standards across markets are quite literally what make global trade possible. If your company is operating in North America, then you likely use a 48-by-40-inch pallet that…
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Sustainable Supply Chain Management: The Case for Recyclable Plastic Pallets
In the 1960s, when the environmental movement first began, environmentalists and businessmen were mortal enemies. After all, the modern environmental movement coalesced when Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring pointed a finger at the chemical industry. Today, sustainability is a common topic of discussion around conference rooms in nearly every industry. The plain fact–one that companies…
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Cold Chain Logistics Management and Shipping: Why Plastic Pallets Are Best
Products shipped through cold chain logistics are diverse. They include steaks, salads, and life-saving vaccinations. One thing they have in common is enough value to justify the expense of maintaining the cold storage and refrigerated vehicles required to ship them. With each product, a mistake as simple as taking too long to load or unload…
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How to Optimize Food Supply Chain Management for Safety and Sustainability
Consider the taco. Rarely does anyone stop in their local grocery store to think about what it took to get meat, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, sour cream, and tortillas to their neighborhood grocery store. All of these products are grown and prepared in different places and shipped long distances through the food supply chain. Without the…