Viewpoint

While there’s no designated theme in October, one can’t help but notice that our feature stories this month highlight the ongoing ripple effect of the pandemic and how the challenges that unfolded in its wake still persist at every link in the supply chain.

This year on the transportation performance side, many of the findings support the fact that, while disruptive, the pandemic has greatly amplified the importance of logistics operations.

This marks the 11th year we’ve devoted a majority of our August issue to the lift truck, the steadfast workhorse of the materials handling market and the consummate backbone of nearly every warehouse and DC on the planet—no matter the level of automation being put to work inside the four walls.

To the readers of LM I say: Keep adopting new automation and technology and improving on all of your carrier partnerships to build in more resilience, because it’s going to be full speed ahead for the foreseeable future—and no one knows what that next disruption may bring.

“Today we’re seeing LMS being integrated with enterprise systems through mobile user interfaces that create more advanced analytics"

MIT’s Yossi Sheffi stated that whatever may come from the pandemic era, one sure bet was that it would act as “a great accelerator for supply chain technology trends that were already in motion.”

Our findings tell us that shippers are feeling a renewed sense of purpose and are now concentrating on building more resilient careers due what they just experienced.

When we look back on this time in history, we can say with some certainty that the pandemic acted as a great accelerator.

This marks the 10th year that we’ve devoted the lion’s share of our November pages to perhaps the most dominant—and by far the most complex—mode of transportation: motor freight.

One tradition that will continue this year regardless of the pandemic is the release of the “Annual Study of Logistics and Transportation Trends,” a study that Logistics Management refers to as “The Masters of Logistics.”

The staff of Logistics Management (LM) is honored to present the logistics and transportation community with the results of our 37th Annual Quest for Quality Survey

As we have over the past 10 years, we devote much of our May issue to an examination of just how far we’ve progressed down the path of digital transformation.

“It’s safe to say that nothing is easy about the 2020 global business environment, and it doesn’t look like there’s any real relief in sight,” says McCrea

Once again this year, the editorial staffs of Logistics Management and Supply Chain Management Review have put their collective heads together to program our Annual Virtual Summit designed to prepare logistics professionals for the year ahead.

While we continue to use our pages to beat the drum that a digital approach offers the promise of a fully connected network with access to real-time visibility to capacity and warehouse space, this year’s findings suggest that there has been a slight shift to a more passive “wait-and-see” attitude.