The bar has been raised on logistics performance.  Retail customers want perfect orders (expect a fine if they’re not perfect), and they want them faster and delivered within tighter and tighter time windows.

As a logistics manager, the spotlight is shining brighter on you and, by extension, your logistics service providers (3PLs).  You want and need your 3PLs to be great. But, ironically, achieving that result may have as much to do with how hard and how smart you work, as your 3PL. 

In our “Dispatches from the Road” feature, the KANE blog will periodically publish interviews with our drivers – the men and women who live and breathe the transportation topics we often write about.  In our newest installment, we interview KANE driver John Shepherd, III.

There’s a talent gap in logistics today and companies are dealing with it in different ways. 

For KANE, that’s meant placing more emphasis than ever on hiring logistics workers from within.  Recently, we caught up with KANE’s VP of Human Resources, Amy Wren, to discuss the subject.

Today, October 2, is CX Day.

Have you ever heard of it? 

It’s actually the 6^th annual celebration of customers – the group without whom none of us would have jobs.

The 3PL industry has changed drastically over the last 10 years.

Among the many things on the plus side, the industry continues to grow at a healthy rate and shippers today truly recognize the value 3PLs bring to their businesses.

But we need to be careful that this growth does not come at the expense of you, the customer.

Recently, a crack team of logistics detectives (aka “business students”) from the University of Scranton arrived at KANE’s Scranton distribution campus. Their mission: audit and document best practices in warehouse/DC sanitation for their senior class project. Code name: Operation Clean Team. The results of the mission have been kept secret – until now. 

For those of us with a little perspective on the 3PL industry (yes, that’s code for “I’m getting old”), the landscape has changed pretty dramatically over the last 10–15 years. 

M&A activity has resulted in fewer, larger players.  The assumption of the acquiring companies is that bigger is better – both for customers and shareholders.

They differentiate based on MORE – locations, trucks, people… But does “more” really improve the customer experience or drive bottom-line value? Or, in many cases, is it just window dressing?

“Streamline.”  “Optimize.”  “Deep Dive.”  These buzzwords are some of the worst offenders in terms of overuse and annoyance. But despite the eye-rolls they trigger from business professionals these days, they are actually pretty good words.