Innovation and Logic at Crossroads 2007 Summit

Last week I attended the Crossroads 2007: Supply Chain Innovation Summit hosted by MIT in Zaragoza, Spain. Speakers included IBM, Johnson & Johnson, DHL and Best Buy. Supply chain innovation was the common thread between all the speakers and its interesting to hear about what supply chain innovation means to different people. For example, DHL's example of innovation was how they removed the windows on a plane to fit a box into a cargo hold. Innovation or logical, you decide. During the IBM presentation we discussed innovation as an employee that invented an electronic device. The device sticks to the boxes of our high end servers and it records if the box is tilted or tipped, which can cause damage. Knowing the precise time the box was tipped could pinpoint which 3PL is responsible. The device is currently patent pending.

What I was glad to see was that innovation isn't just about consumer devices like iPods and xBoxes, it's about thinking differently about processes and taking action. So in reality innovation can be a logical solution after all.

I am also trying to confirm in the clothing retailer, which is based in Spain, is named after the city of Zaragoza. Anyone know?

Blogging on Logistics Blogs

I just received my mail from the US and I opened up my February issue of Inbound Logistics to find an article by Amy Roach Partridge on blogs about logistics. To my pleasant surprise this blog, my blog, was included along with several other notable logistics blogs. I love how she describes my mission as "a personal crusade to convince the world that supply chains are not boring." Love it! Thanks Amy.

Check out the article by clicking here

Logistics Headaches

It's always been my impression that countries of the world encourage people to conduct business, not prevent it. Which is why I lost my composure a bit recently with a local logistics company in Austria. I recently received a small, 4.5 kg box filled with my used clothes from the US via FedEx. My dad paid the shipping fees and declared on the invoice the value of the used clothes at $10 , so far so good. Until a local logistics carrier got involved and all hell broke loose. The local provider charged me $57 to receive the box. When I asked why, I was told the fee was to pay for them to open the box and confirm that what I declared was accurate. HUH? I smartly confirm, "So I declare what's in the box and then I have to pay you to verify that I didn't lie?" He replied, "correct." My head is spinning at this point, but it gets worse. Then the provider goes on to explain that I would have been better off lying and declaring that two music CDs were in the box with a value of $25, which wouldn't require a need to open the box, thus eliminating the "open" fee and only requiring me to pay a $5 tax. At this point I told him to find a new job because his company will be out of business with advice such as this. This is the dumbest thing I have heard in a long, long time. Sad, but true.