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The Stages of Cold Chain Management: Improving Effectiveness at Every Stage
The cold chain is different from other types of supply chains because failure almost always results in the loss of products. If a nonperishable item–a package of toothbrushes, for example–is unintentionally left in a hot warehouse too long, the product will be salvageable. The same can’t be said for a crate of fruit or pallet…
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Environmentally Friendly Business Practices: Tips on Making Your Business More Green
Every day brings new and alarming stories about the environment. The buildup of plastic in the oceans, increasing levels of carbon in the atmosphere, and water shortages in some areas make it apparent that there’s a lot we can do to make our planet a healthier and more beautiful place to live. The well-being of…
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Track and Minimize Your Supply Chain Waste Streams
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Tracking supply chain waste streams isn’t just a matter of looking at the trash that comes out of processes. It’s about understanding how ineffective processes cost companies money–and how they can damage the planet. Waste occurs at every stage in the supply chain, from planning through delivery, and includes material-related streams (metals, glass, plastic, and…
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How to Reduce Pallet Costs
Efficiency is the key to protecting profit margins, especially in the high volume and narrow margin world of grocery and consumer packaged goods. Due to the nature of these industries, the companies working in them already pursue efficiency with an eye towards keeping their Total Cost of Business (TCOB) low and their profits as high…
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Cold Storage Warehouse Best Practices and Considerations
Cold storage presents many challenges for businesses. Cold temperatures affect employees, increase depreciation on equipment, and necessitate more frequent maintenance on machinery. Still, cold temperatures must be carefully maintained to guarantee that temperature-sensitive goods inside facilities remain safe to use. This is crucial for products that include food and lifesaving pharmaceuticals, which can lose potency…
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Three Real-World Examples of a Circular Supply Chain
Circular economic models are creating a major paradigm shift for supply chain managers. By pulling away from old linear models that followed the pattern of “produce, use, and discard,” companies are both reducing their impact on the environment and cutting their Total Cost of Business (TCOB) by keeping resources in use longer. Focusing on sustainability…
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Green Supply Chain Management in the Food Industry
Food production is one of the most difficult environmental problems the world faces. Fertilizers that are sprayed onto fields wash into waterways where they can cause toxic algal blooms and fish kills. Pesticides used on crops have a detrimental effect on pollinating insects like bees and butterflies. Livestock have been found to be a significant…
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Rethinking Logistics for the Circular Economy
Many people stop by a coffee shop or a convenience store almost every day. They pull a styrofoam cup off a stack, pour a cup of coffee, pull a coffee stirrer from a container, and mix sugar and creamer in. Finally, they place a plastic lid on the cup and continue driving to work. When…
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Why Green Supply Chain Management Is Important
Making responsible environmental practices part of supply chain management isn’t just the moral thing to do, it’s also good business. A more sustainable supply chain is also a less wasteful supply chain, and reducing waste can lower a business’ total cost of business (TCOB) while also enhancing industry reputation. This is just one of many…
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Can Plastic Be Sustainable?
The use of plastic is controversial and growing more controversial every day for two reasons. The first is that plastics are polymers generated from petroleum and petroleum byproducts. The oil industry has a controversial record of environmental mismanagement, and for some environmentally concerned persons, plastic’s origins from oil irrevocably taint it and give it no…
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Cross Docking As a Supply Chain Strategy
ARTICLE UPDATED ON AUGUST 10, 2023 Cross docking is a supply chain tactic that eliminates the need for a warehouse, at least in theory. In this approach, incoming freight from trucks is directly transferred across the shipping dock and loaded onto outbound trucks without going through a separate facility. However, the reality of implementing cross…
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Sustainable Product Transportation and Why It Matters
The implementation of sustainable product transportation is one of the thorniest problems facing us today. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. logistics system moved more than 56 tons of freight per person in 2015. The numbers have only risen since this estimate was calculated, and the vast majority of this freight is…