From Start to Finish

On the first Saturday each May, the world’s best three-year-old thoroughbreds will compete in the Kentucky Derby. Need help making your pick? Over the past five years, the same jockey has won three times, Calvin Borel. Let’s take a look at how he’s gotten there.

He’s earned the nickname Calvin Bo-rail because he stays so close to the rail to save ground. If you consider the mathematical proof “the shortest distance between two points is a straight line”, you’ll understand why his logistical strategy has earned him three spots in the winners’ circle. He has trainers coming to him for the Derby mount and could have his choice of any horse in the race.

Odds are in his favor for the blanket of roses on May 5, but as we all know, pre-race odds don’t mean much once those gates open. It’s anyone’s race, and they’re off.

Duty in Details

Tonight on Rock Center with Brian Williams, Carl Quintanilla takes a look inside the popular warehouse chain Costco, where the focus is in the smallest of details. Technicians test quality control on all Costco products, checking measurements, product-to-product ratio, and weight to name a few variables. This episode focused on the most popular Costco product – toilet paper.

Some practices of quality control may seem obsessive, especially with something as simple as toilet paper, but this product is tested the most out of all on Costco shelves. Technicians use spectrophotometers to measure whiteness, softness and texture – a practice Quintanilla refers to as reserved for radioactive materials.

Don’t you feel more comfortable knowing your tush is protected by an entire staff dedicated to quality? Watch the full documentary tonight at 9pm.

Watch for Potential Hazards

We’ve all seen it; the vehicle ahead slowly drifting from the center of a lane to the shoulder and back, or gradually slowing down for no obvious reason, then suddenly speeding up to match the flow of traffic. In many cases the driver is distracted. His/her attention is on something other than the task at hand; driving.

What is distracted driving?

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, distracted driving is any non-driving activity a person engages in that has the potential to distract him/her from the primary task of driving and increase the rise of crashing. There are three main types of distraction:
• Visual - taking your eyes off the road
• Manual - taking your hands off the wheel
• Cognitive - taking your mind off of what you are doing

Distracted activities include texting, using a cell phone, talking to passengers, grooming, reading (including maps), using a PDA or navigation system, watching a video, changing the radio station, CD or other devices. It is important for our professional drivers to recognize the signs and know how to safely share the road with a distracted driver. By increased public awareness sharing the roadways will be safer for all.

Packaging the Punch

Coca-Cola has distribution and manufacturing down to a science, and we aren’t talking about the soda. We all love a Coke in the glass bottle, but that desire comes at a premium. It’s no wonder Coca-Cola started manufacturing the product packaging in plastic – it’s much cheaper.

Consider the 2 liter bottle before it’s filled – a plastic bottle containing nothing but air and takes up loads of space on a warehouse rack. What Coca-Cola has done is create a pre-filled packaging state, which looks like a thick test tube. The tubes take up fractions of the space on a truck and the process to expand them to be filled is simple. The tubes are placed in a vacuum and heated so they soften. Hot air is blown into the tube, stretching to almost 40 times its original size. The plastic cools and shaped to a mold.

Shipping air is never good, and Coca-Cola understands what its customers are willing to pay for and what they aren’t. By examining their supply chain, they have been able to drive out unnecessary costs – allowing us to enjoy The Real Thing without breaking the bank.

Painting the corners of supply chain

When I hear the term perfect logistics, I think of a pitcher throwing a perfect game. In our business, so many factors contribute to success, and with supply chains that have grown longer and more complex, perfection is often difficult to achieve – much like the elusive perfect game in baseball. Unlike baseball, perfect logistics is becoming more of a reality thanks in part to advances in technological visibility. We are already seeing elements in play today, with RFID chips able to pinpoint the location of goods as they travel through the supply chain to deliveries being tracked in real-time, and analytics of that which identify any time a driver appears like he or she will miss the schedule appointment time even by a few minutes, re-routing drivers as conditions change, and more.

So will logistics become perfect? Tremendous advances are being made, but with all of the touch points and interfaces along the supply chain, I don’t foresee a time in the near future where shipments will manage themselves. What is occurring will allow for services providers to be more proactive in responding when things do go awry.