Supply Excellence

Despite Declines, Railroad Industry Continues to be a Safe Bet

February 12th, 2010 · No Comments · supply management, supply market dynamics

As the transportation industry braces its self for the start of a new year, the railroad industry seems to be in an excellent position to thrive quickly. Even though The Association of American Railroads stated that mid-December intermodal traffic continues to be down year-over-year, volumes seems to be stabilizing and even seeing a few increases. [...]

[Read more →]

Tags: ··

New SupplyWatch Issue is Up

February 8th, 2010 · No Comments · sourcing, supply management, supply market dynamics

As many of you know, the Category Managers who contribute to Supply Excellence also create a quarterly report called SupplyWatch. The Q1 issue is up and includes detailed category breakdowns for…

Metals
Plastics, Rubber & Raw Materials
Transportation
Electronics, Electrical & IT Hardware
Paper & Packaging
Services & Capital Goods, Construction & Engineering

In addition, there is a feature article on Cutting [...]

[Read more →]

Tags: ·······

Changing Landscape in Trucking Continues

January 13th, 2010 · No Comments · supplier management, supply management, supply market dynamics, supply risk

The turbulent times in the trucking industry continued through the remainder of 2009, with additional carriers going out of business and the YRC restructuring plans continuing to unfold. It seems that we are no longer surprised to hear of trucking companies going out of business after seeing 3000 trucking companies closing their doors in 2008 [...]

[Read more →]

Tags: ···

Safety Report Comes Back on Mexican Truckers

October 19th, 2009 · 2 Comments · LCCS and trade, supply management

The long-awaited report from the Department of Transportation on the safety of Mexican trucks crossing the US-Mexico border stated that the Mexican trucks’ out-of-service rates were similar to those of the United States’ trucks. The report found that in 2008, 21.2% of inspections of Mexican trucks resulted in taking trucks out of service, while 21.8% [...]

[Read more →]

Tags: ····

UPS in Labor Talks with Maintenance Workers

October 5th, 2009 · No Comments · supplier management, supply management, supply risk

UPS is currently in labor discussions over a new contract with its 1,200 mechanics who work on UPS’s fleet of aircrafts. Although the workers represented by the Teamsters have overwhelmingly voted to approve a strike, UPS has stated that their vote is a typical negotiation strategy and that the company is not alarmed. The two [...]

[Read more →]

Tags: ····