Global Supply Chain

Oct 17, 2012

Logistics Notes from the BVL Conference in Berlin

This week I had the opportunity to attend the BVL (Bundesvereinigung Logistik) conference in beautiful Berlin, Germany.  Berlin in the fall is a beautiful time of year, with the leaves… 

Oct 11, 2012

Ralph Lauren's Supply Chain: A Lot More Complex Then You Think!

Jeff Holcomb, Senior Vice President of Customer Operations and US Transportation at Ralph Lauren’s offices in Greensboro, NC spoke in my MBA supply chain class last week.  He told the… 

Sep 19, 2012

Three Key Trends in the Brazilian Logistics Market

I recently interviewed a senior logistics executive at one of the top three largest logistics service provider firms in Brazil.  This gentleman provided a very cogent and insightful set  of… 

Sep 12, 2012

Organizations Continue to Expand their Global Supply Chain Footprint…But Not Without Growing Pains

Organizations in multiple sectors are continuing to pursue global growth strategies that focus on expansion into new regions.  In particular, the focal BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) represent major… 

Aug 31, 2012

Thoughts for Labor Day

As we go into Labor Day in the United States, people are thinking about those who work for a living – e.g. those who Labor.  But what does Labor actually… 

Aug 13, 2012

Unilever's End-to-End Sustainability Push: Hitting all elements of the supply chain…

Unilever’s Corporate Sustainability Report came out in the last month, and was received with great fanfare.  Some of the highlights identified in the first year of its Sustainable Living Plan released… 

Aug 7, 2012

Key Forces to Consider that will Impact the Future Global Logistics Environment

Today’s global logistics environment is characterized by increasing complexity and a much greater number of parameters shaping the logistics environment. The speed of trends is breathtaking and increasingly complicated –… 

Jul 30, 2012

A differentiated lean volume channel strategy for Russia and India

I recently spoke with a CFO in charge of building a global value chain into India and Russia, who shared with me some of his insights on the differentiated supply… 

Jul 25, 2012

Insights from the Logistics Hub of Europe (or why flowers from Kenya are more sustainable than those from Holland)

Today had an opportunity to speak with Enno Osinga, Senior Vice President of Cargo Operations at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.  For the uninitiated, the Netherlands has the largest number of European DC’s, with… 

Jul 17, 2012

Five "Not so Easy" Pieces: Globalizing the Industrial Supply Chain

This summer we kicked off a new research project being sponsored by for BVL International entitled “Trends and Strategies in SCM/Logistics”.  BVL International is a non-profit neutral platform to promote…