Nuanced E-Commerce Shipping Decisions: Lower Zone Isn’t Always the Answer
A major sporting goods manufacturer asked the Data Driven Supply Chain (DDSC) team to review their B2B fulfillment network. This market leader manufactures its product from a facility on the US East Coast and ships via parcel carrier to specialty retailers nationwide. Due to capacity constraints in the East Coast facility, the company also uses […]
City Journal on Rare Earth Mining in the US
City Journal (by Manhattan Institute) has an excellent article on rare earth mining in the U.S. I read this in print a while back (I subscribe) and had to wait for it to come online. Highly recommend reading the full article, excerpts below. https://www.city-journal.org/article/rare-earth-elements-metals-technology-china The stakes [on rare earths] have only risen. In April 2025, […]
Iran War Driving Up Commodities Prices: WSJ Logistics Report
Aside from specialty trade publications, I think The Wall Street Journal ‘s Logistics Report newsletter is the best supply chain news roundup anywhere. I highly recommend subscribing. This article is an example: how many of us would think that the Iran war would also spike prices in aluminum and fertilizer inputs? https://www.wsj.com/livecoverage/stock-market-today-dow-sp-500-nasdaq-03-09-2026/card/aluminum-price-climbs-on-mideast-supply-crunch-U4vJRHOIPoUhK6mb4if4 #supplychain #iranwar
Geographic Diversification in Manufacturing: A Risk Management Imperative
I wrote this article a year ago in the context of manufacturing disruptions, but the principles apply no matter what the cause (wars included). 1) Design your supply chain with geographic diversification in mind. You don’t want most or all of your production or distribution capacity tied up in one facility, or a few facilities […]
The Line Between Good and Bad Really Matters
How can defining goals for a metric actually make the metric worse? When I was on military recruiting duty, we closely tracked how our applicants performed on the ASVAB, the military aptitude test. After an applicant completes the ASVAB, they receive their subtest scores, which are used for determining eligibility for specific military jobs, and […]
How Many Donuts Should I Buy?
Our recent Thanksgiving dinner included a 19-pound roasted turkey. We ate about one-third of the turkey and refrigerated the remainder, as the Pilgrims did so long ago. On Black Friday, my stepmother returned from a trip to the grocery store and remarked that whole turkeys – already quite affordable before the holiday – were now […]
How Many Delivery Stations Do I Need For 15 Minute Delivery?
This post is a follow-up and is best read after reading How Many Distribution Centers Do I Need For One-Day Delivery? and How Many Delivery Stations Do I Need For 30 Minute Delivery? Upskill your supply chain data professionals! We are holding intensive, two-day supply chain analytics training at the University of Wisconsin – Madison […]
How Many Delivery Stations Do I Need For 30 Minute Delivery?
This post is a follow-up and is best read after reading How Many Distribution Centers Do I Need For One-Day Delivery? In our previous post, we showed how supply chain leaders can get a quick pulse on the number of Distribution Centers, and their approximate locations, are necessary to meet a service goal: ensuring 95% […]
How Many Distribution Centers Do I Need For One-Day Delivery?
When designing your supply chain, proximity matters. For both B2B and B2C firms, it is vital to consider how far your Distribution Centers (DCs) are from your customer base, and what impact that distance has upon service level and operational cost. For example, Grocers may locate their temp-controlled Distribution Centers within a day’s drive […]
Purchasing Decisions For Perishable Inventory: The Newsvendor Model
In supply chain management, the newsvendor problem describes an inventory purchasing decision where: Inventory is highly perishable (e.g., they can’t be sold tomorrow, like a newspaper) Demand is uncertain There are costs associated both with overstocking and understocking relative to demand There may be a lost sales penalty associated for unmet demand There may be […]