Here’s a special sneak preview of some of what you will find this week on the Bahrns blog: The stakes are high and time was running out for the Highway Transportation Fund bill, but House Republicans and Senate Democrats both had dug in their heels. Which side blinked first? We’ll tell you … Assembly lines … Read more
In a move that some observers say may be a sign that the looming strike by West Coast longshoreman may be avoidable, a consortium of container shipping lines announced that it is moving ahead with a planned rate hike. The Transpacific Stabilization Agreement — which includes container lines that move cargo between Asia and West … Read more
The Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) will hold its annual trade and industry expo September 21 to 23 at the Long Beach Convention Center. The expo is an important North American intermodal supply chain event where the industry’s leading products and services are showcased and the industry’s issues and challenges are examined. This year’s … Read more
In the US, variety shows rely on singers, dancers and comedians to keep their audiences entertained. In Germany, however, the stars of the show are heavy machinery. In this clip from the German variety program “Wetten Dass?” — which is German for “Wanna bet that …”? — a Liebherr excavator is used to climb an … Read more
Nothing kills production rates like a changeover. The line stops. The changes are made. The tests have to be done. Even if everything works correctly when the line re-starts, you’ve lost that time forever. It would be nice to be able to stockpile product and avoid changeovers that way, but it’s a fat chance if … Read more
The bar code — those 12 tiny black stripes that are now printed on practically every package and are used for everything from pricing to inventory to tracking through the supply chain — celebrated its 40th anniversary last month. On June 26,1974, the first bar code was used to ring up a 10-pack of Wrigleys’ … Read more
Third-party logistics (3PL) showed a 3.2% growth in gross revenues in 2013 compared to a year earlier, according to a report issued earlier this month the consulting firm of Armstrong & Associates. And analysts predicted that growth will be 5.2% for 2014 as the US economy continues to show improvement A third-party logistics provider is … Read more
Two of the leading supply chain management software companies announced earlier this month that they were merging to form a single networked trading partner management technology solutions firm. Accellos — which is based in Colorado Springs, Colorado — has joined with the Minneapolis-based HighJump Software to create a new company that wil have 11,000 customers … Read more
Here’s a special sneak preview of some of what you will find this week on the Bahrns blog: Would you believe that the bar code is turning 40 this year? To celebrate, we’ll look back at the fascinating history of that little squiggly box that has been on packages and products since 1974. The fees … Read more
Retail sales gains between May and June showed relatively little growth, yet at least one economist from the National Retail Federation said the retail industry could be on the brink of the rapid growth everybody has been waiting for since the start of the Great Recession. According to statistics released earlier this month by the … Read more
