by Scott Frederick | Aug 12, 2015 | News
As we announced back on July 7, Logistics Plus was named a 2015 Great Supply Chain Partner by SupplyChainBrain magazine. The official July/August magazine article came out earlier this week. A copy of the article and the official, final listing of top supply chain partners also appears on the SupplyChainBrain.com website. The article points out that no company and no supply chain exists in a vacuum. Shippers and logistics partners rely on each other because ‘no one of us can do it all, successfully, ourselves.’ We all need partners – but which ones are right for your company or supply chain?
According to the SupplyChainBrain authors, when they looked closely at all of this year’s ‘Great Supply Chain Partner’ nominations carefully, they found the following top ten challenges on readers’ minds with regard to issues that their supply chain partners help them solve:
- Reliability – Meaning well is not enough; hope is not a business model.
- Excellence – If they don’t have this upfront, should they be your partner?
- Value – Seriously, what does your potential partner bring to the table?
- Expertise – Give me a partner who knows my business – and something I don’t already know.
- Problem-solver – You deserve a proactive partner, not one looking to you for the answers.
- Continuous improvement – Does your partner value ongoing education?
- Support – Your partner needs to support you well after the sale is done or the implementation is finished.
- Positive attitude – You need a partner who sees challenges as opportunities.
- Global reach – You can’t conquer the world if you have a stay-at-home partner.
- Strong leadership – What’s required is much more than Leadership 101.
We here at Logistics Plus remain very proud of being both nominated and recognized as a 2015 Great Supply Chain Partner. Our ability and flexibility to address many of the supply chain challenges listed above is clearly a primary reason we were chosen for the list. Although we don’t know for sure which of our customers actually nominated us, we do continue to receive many testimonials that confirm our status as a great supply chain partner, including recent ones from a solar industry manufacturing company and a shelter systems relief organization.
Feel free to read the full SupplyChainBrain article online, check out the full 2015 Great Supply Chain Partner list, or contact Logistics Plus if you have a supply chain challenge of your own that you’d like us to help you with (just click the button below).
by Scott Frederick | Aug 12, 2015 | News
Last week Thursday, Logistics Plus was given the opportunity to throw out the first pitch at an Erie Seawolves baseball game in Erie, PA. The person selected for this honor was Jesus Mireles de la Cruz “La Guera,” the father-in-law of Logistics Plus employee Alfredo Ayala. In addition to being Alfredo’s father-in-law, Jesus is also a former Double A player from México and was one of the Little League players that played at Williamsport in the 1960’s (Liga Pequeña Industrial from México). You can watch a short video of the first pitch on the Logistics Plus Facebook page.
(Pictured below on the left is Alfredo, Jesus and an Erie Seawolves player; in the center is Jesus and his grandchildren (Alfredo’s children); and on the right is a player recognition plaque for Jesus)
by Scott Frederick | Aug 11, 2015 | News
As a reminder, today is Erie Gives day! Erie Gives celebrates the local community where Logistics Plus was founded and maintains its global headquarters today. We have well over 100 employees working in the community area, most that give back freely to the community through weekly raffles, volunteering for charitable events, and generous donations. Please join us in support the community during this event that runs today for 12 hours between 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. When you do, the Erie Community Foundation will match a percentage of each donation that you make to your favorite nonprofit(s) when you donate through this website. The more donations made to a nonprofit, the more matching funds that nonprofit will receive. Of course, you’re free to donate to your charity of choice (however, we’re sort of partial to theAmerican Heart Association (AHA) since Jim Berlin, founder and CEO of Logistics Plus, is chairing the overall 2015 Erie County Heart Walk fundraising program for the community).
by logisticsplus | Jul 31, 2015 | News
Thank you to the Logistics Plus (LP) customers and non-customers that recently responded to our “logistics survey” request. Your feedback is extremely helpful and will allow us to examine some of our services and processes to make improvements where we can. While we cannot share all of the results or individual details, here are a few high-level insights from the survey:
- 80% of the respondents were LP customers; 20% were non-customers
- Half of the respondents were manufacturers, while the other half were mostly retailers and distributors
- Almost all respondents require domestic trucking services, and nearly half require international freight services
- Customers gave LP an average overall satisfaction rating of 8.8 on a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being most satisfied) – a great score (but always room for improvement)
- Half of LP customers, frequently or occasionally, log in to our eShipPlus or eWorldPlus freight management tools
- The majority of LP customers would enthusiastically recommend our services to other businesses (we had a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 64 which is fantastic!)
- Among non-customers, the most cited reason for not working with Logistics Plus is that current providers are doing a good job
- Nearly half of non-customer respondents indicated a possible openness to working with Logistics Plus in the future (Yay!)
That’s about all that we can share publicly at the moment. Thank you again to everyone who participated in our survey! If you missed out and still would like to share some feedback with us, feel free to send it to marketing@logisticsplus.com at any time. And if you have any upcoming shipments we can help you with, please let us know (just click the button below).
PS: Congratulations to Michael K. for being our random, lucky winner of a $100 Amazon gift card. We’ll be contacting you shortly.
by Scott Frederick | Jul 28, 2015 | News
Logistics Plus Turkey sharing Energy News from around the World
Today Logistics Plus Turkey division (aka, LP Turkey) started sharing important and interesting energy news from around the world in a brief e-newsletter with customers and other interested parties. In addition to general freight forwarding and project cargo solutions, Logistics Plus Turkey also specializes in logistics solutions for the energy industry. If you’d like to be added to their distribution list, please send an email faik.uckan@logisticsplus.com and we’ll make sure you are added. Faik can also help you with any energy logistics needs in Turkey or around the world.
The first issue of Energy News in pictured below. Click here to view the online version.
by Scott Frederick | Jul 27, 2015 | News
The National Motor Freight Classification (NMFC) is the standard used to classify and rate less-than-truckload (LTL) commodities for interstate, interstate, and foreign commerce. Commodities are grouped into one of 18 classes – from a low of class 50 to a high of class 500 – based on an evaluation of four transportation characteristics: density, handling, stowability, and liability. Based on the recent National Motor Freight Traffic Association (NMFTA.org) studies, more commodities are shifting to a pounds per cubic foot (PCF) pricing model. The following are some of the commodities that will be re-classified in early August as a result of this trend.
- Air Curtains/Air Doors – New item 114135 will be established with classification based on length.
- Magazines/Periodicals/Newspaper inserts/supplements – Item 161685 will be canceled and new item 161700 is being created with classification based on density.
- Blinds, Hunters – Item 15830 is being canceled and referred to Item 15520, full-scale density.
- Chairs or Stools – folding – Item 80565 will be canceled and referenced to Item 80580 which is the density-based chair classification.
- Blinds or Shutters, wooden, exterior – Item 37550 is being amended to reflect classification based on density.
- Lockers, cold storage, steel – Item 111740 will be canceled and referred to 80440
- Pine/Fir Cones – Item 52640 is being amended to reflect classification based on density.
- Freeze Dried/Freeze Dehydrated Fruits, Meats, Vegetables, and Dairy Products – Item 76850 is being amended to reflect classification based on density.
- Night Lights – Item 109880 is being changed from a class 85 to class 125.
- Trail Mix – Item 77190 is being canceled and will now reference to Item 74800, the density-based snack item.
- Compounds, anti-freezing, Dextrin or British Gum, Blue, Flower or Garden seeds – Items 50070, 57200, 149590, 173270 are all being updated to remove references to Item 60000
- Household Goods – NMFC 100240 is being adjusted to reflect class 150 for boxed/crated household goods, without regard to the valuation of goods. The articles moving under this provision will have a maximum liability per article of $0.10 per pound.
Carriers often will assess fees if a discrepancy is found between the Bill of Lading and the measurements taken upon receipt of the goods. If you have any questions regarding freight classification or freight density, please contact our LTL staff at LTL@logisticsplus.com or 1.866.335.7623. If you want to avoid freight classifications all together, ask us about our LTL Density Rates Program.
