The Journal of Commerce’s supply chain news and analysis impacting the management of end-to-end supply chains reports on supply chain strategies, cargo visibility, inventory trends, sourcing, customs certification and contract logistics. Supply chain news coverage also delves into refrigerated shipping advancements and management of inventory status, regulatory updates and government funding projects.

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The port of San Francisco said it expects the Food and Drug administration. to accept it's offer of </div>

The port of San Francisco said it expects the Food and Drug administration. to accept it's offer of

<div class="phx-topic">The port of San Francisco said it expects the Food and Drug administration. to accept it's offer of a low-cost lease to keep its northern California import laboratory open. G Shippers count on the lab for quick clearance of imported food that has to be checked for illegal additives or possible contamination. If the lab were closed, port officials and shippers argue, goods would have to be sent to FDA labs in Los Angeles, Seattle or Denver, driving many food importers away from northern California.The FDA last year announced it would close the lab to save money, but later agreed to consider a port plan to keep it run. Ron Stone, port maritime affairs, said he expects to sign a lease with the FDA by June.The port has offered to give the FDA a low-cost lease on a new facility and port commissioners agreed this week to start negotiating that lease.The FDA is now playing $500,000 for rent in downtown San Francisco and says it would like lab space for about half that much. Its current San Francisco rent is twice what the agency pays in other cities, said Ron Johnson, FDA district director.The port of San Francisco claims it would be hit hard by the lab closurebecause shipments of coffee and cocoa beans, which require FDA inspection, would be diverted to other ports."It was the unanimous opinion of the Bay Area coffee industry that this action (closing the lab) would increase costs, result in delays and force the importers to route cargo through other ports such as Los Angeles or ports in the Gulf coast." Mr. Stone told commissioners.He added that the development of the Pier 30/32 facility as a coffee container freight station "provides a unique opportunity for us to accomplish this and improve our competitive position." by having the lab at the new CFS.The local FDA staff backs this idea, but final approval must be obtainedfrom Washington, he told commissioners.Port officials have set aside 11,000 square feet of lab space and about 3,000 feet of office space for the FDA at Piers 30 and 32. Initial rent would cover the port's costs, Mr Stone said, but he declined to estimate just how much rent the FDA might pay, however.For next year, the port is projecting revenues of more than $34 million and a surplus, or earnings, of $633,040.</div>

Transport, Trade and Regulation News

FOCUS ON IMPORTS CALIFORNIA IMPORT LAB LIKELY TO STAY OPEN

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">The average U.S. factory worker earned as much as $9 for every dollar paid a worker in South Korea i</div>

The average U.S. factory worker earned as much as $9 for every dollar paid a worker in South Korea i

<div class="phx-topic">The average U.S. factory worker earned as much as $9 for every dollar paid a worker in South Korea in 1985, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.A table for workers in 25 countries compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and made available this week puts average South Korean pay in 1985 at 1,251 Korean won - the local currency - an hour. That was about US$1.41, compared with an average US$12.82 for the U.S. worker. In Taiwan, the figure is 58.91 Taiwan dollars - US$1.48 - in Portugal 262.76 escudos or US$1.53 and in Hong Kong HK$13.73 or US$1.75.Such figures, showing how much more cleaply many goods can be made outside the United States, will be much used in Congress as it debates a new trade bill over the next few months. Members are under heavy pressure to help American factories sell more goods against foreign competition.A bill to do that was widely criticized as "protectionist" and opposed by President Reagan's administration but passed the House of Representatives last year. It died in the Senate, which was under Republican control. Now the Senate like the House, has a majority of opposition democrats.Representative Jim Wright, the new democratic Speaker of the House, is making trade a top priority.A call to protect Americans against cheaper foreign labor has long been part of the argument to support measures for limiting imports. Because labor is by far the biggest cost in most goods traded, goods from a low-wage country tend to be much cheaper than those in a high-wage country.Sellers of many imported goods can make better profits in a high-cost country like the United States than on goods made at home. Lower prices of imported goods may also be passed on to consumers. But manufacturing companies in the high-wage country lose orders and workers often lose jobs. The low- cost goods also compete more effectively in third countries.Pay figures in local currencies were not available for 1986, but increases from year to year are small compared with the difference between wages in poorer countries and those in the United States. South Korea'saverage wage, for example, was worth US$1.44 in 1985, US$1.41 in 1984 and US$1.32 in 1983.The exchange rate of the U.S. dollar fell considerably in 1986, but that made little difference to costs in Taiwan and South Korea, where the currencies are pegged to the U.S. dollar.In West Germany and Switzerland, where the mark and franc rose against the dollar, wage costs in 1986 probably exceeded those of the United States indollar terms as they did in several countries before 1982. In 1985 average pay in West Germany was worth US$9.60 and in Switzerland US$9.50.The 1,539 yen an hour of the average Japanese worker in 1985 amounted to US$6.45 - just about half the U.S. average pay. The sharp drop in thedollar's value against the yen probably brought the two wage scales much closer to one another last year.Next to West Germany and Switzerland the highest pay rates outside the United States in 1985 were in Norway with US$12.22 and Belgium with US$11.73. The fall in the value of the dollar probably put them at the U.S. level or above in 1986.</div>

WAGE DATA TO WEIGHT ON TRADE BILL

<div class="phx-topic abstract-wrapper">Suppliers of the following items seek U.S. importers/distributors. Interested parties are asked to c</div>

Suppliers of the following items seek U.S. importers/distributors. Interested parties are asked to c

<div class="phx-topic">Suppliers of the following items seek U.S. importers/distributors. Interested parties are asked to contact these suppliers directly. The Journal of Commerce assumes no responsibility for companies or individuals whose name it furnishes.Surgical equipmentDRESSING. A variety of surgical dressings made from fat-extracted cotton fiber. They are soft, white, highly absorbent, and beautifully packaged. Will send samples of our specifications on request. but can process and package to buyer's specifications and requirements.Contact: China National Chemicals I/E Corp., Beijing Branch, 190 Chao Yang Nei Street, Beijing, China. Cable SINOCHEMIP Beijing. Telex: 22470 BFTCCA CN.Textiles, apparelBLANKETS. Minimum order: none for standard items, 3,000 units for buyers' designs and specifications. Delivery lead time 75 days. Counter samples available in 45 days. Packing: 200 sheets to a box.Contact: China National Swan Blankets Import &amp; Export Corp., 94 Nanjing Road, Tiajin, China. Telex: 23282 CNBLK CN. Cable: BLANKETS Tiajin.BLANKETS. Minimum order 500 units. Packing example: 70x90 in. viscose blankets (5-pound), 40 units per 87x52x62cm. corrugated carton box. Contact: Hing Wah Blanket Co. Ltd., 4th Floor, Golden Star Building, 20-26 Lockhart Road, Wanchai, Hongkong. Telex: 83455 WAGON HX. Cable: HSINENTPSE.BLANKETS. Minimum order requirement, 1,000 units for buyers' specifications and designs. Production lead time 90 days. Packing to buyers' specifications. Contact Heshan Texile Mill, Renminn Road, Shaping, Heshan County, Guangdong Province, China. Telephone 2198, 2525. Cable 0208</div>

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The world of LTL is slow to embrace change. Business anachronisms permeate current supply chain processes. These vestiges of the way things used to work define the LTL freight transportation procurement process of many modern shippers.David Knuth, logistics specialist at IEWC, a global supplier of cable and wire based in Wisconsin, is happy to have modernized the RFP process, automating the entire LTL bidding procedure with Bid$ense, SMC³’s automated truckload and LTL freight transportation sourcing solution. But when prompted, he can still recall what once was.In his previous job, a large part of his duties were consumed by creating an intermodal bid package for carriers. In a spreadsheet, Knuth detailed the company’s volumes lane by lane, taking care to delete any errant keystrokes or misleading data. He would then email out the information to each carrier, taking time to respond to detailed technical questions about the spreadsheet data. Finally, he had to compile all the results, create an algorithm that would compare the carriers on each lane, and award the business.“It was a huge undertaking. It took about four months to do,” Knuth said of the old process. “It was almost a full-time job for that part of the year, every year.”In his new job at IEWC, he sat down with Bid$ense on day one and was amazed at the capabilities. Knuth had never before used a bid tool. SMC³’s latest versions of Bid$ense automate the process even further, taking truckload and LTL RFPs entirely online. The tool draws on RFP best-practices protocols to streamline the bidding communication process, enabling bidding carriers to respond accurately and promptly to shipper requests. The solution also does all the distribution work automatically, electronically submitting shipper bid data to carriers based on their actual service capabilities and performance records. Carriers are alerted with timely prompts for RFP deliverables, so shippers aren’t waiting by the phone for responses.Another benefit of automating the process is the data-cleansing assistance. When Knuth sent spreadsheets to carriers, data errors might cloud the bidding process; he might have to resend data or simply accept a price that did not truly reflect the costs of doing business. Data cleansing is incredibly beneficial, he said.The spreadsheet technique also made bidding analysis an onerous task. Since Bid$ense automates and streamlines the entire RFP process, intensive examination is now simple. SMC³ knows that each bid has more than one best outcome. With uniform responses from each carrier, shippers can quickly rank results and create an unlimited quantity of what-if scenarios to make the optimal procurement decision.Jesse Burnett of Central Garden &amp; Pet experiences many of the same benefits. Founded in 1980, Central Garden &amp; Pet has spent the last three decades growing from a small garden supply company to a provider of a range of products from dog chews and bird seed to soil supplements and natural insecticides. For much of its life, the company shipped these disparate goods via LTL and truckload carriers to retailers throughout the country, relying on each business unit to negotiate directly with their freight transportation providers. This arrangement worked fairly well for a small company, but as Central Garden &amp; Pet expanded, leadership decided to consolidate decision making.Burnett helped centralize the transportation decision making in 2015 with SMC³’s Bid$ense. Before Bid$ense, every business unit operated independently as far as negotiating with carriers.“There were a lot of different things just floating around,” he said. “We didn’t have master agreements in place; no national pricing at all. The pricing from carriers was just all over the place, depending on where you were.”The transformations he saw with Bid$ense were immediate. Burnett has been using the tool about every other year since its implementation at the company. Central Garden and Pet’s $19.6 million 2019 LTL bid saved the company just more than 9 percent when compared to its historical average. For Burnett, though, bid automation extends far beyond savings.“We knew that we weren’t getting the best pricing offer from our carriers just because nothing was centralized,” he continued. “We knew that if we combined everything from all these business units and paired it with one corporate offering, then it would drive some cost benefit with it.”When the company initially decided to centralize bid procurement, executives researched a number of different methodologies and technologies. In the end, though, Burnett found that Bid$ense was both widespread and well known, and that his carrier partners already knew how to use the application. Burnett also highlighted the data-cleansing process as a major benefit, saying the rigorous process ensures that carriers always return the best price.“It definitely has helped drive savings,” he said. “Any time you go out there and you drive that competitiveness with the carriers and they know they’re in a bid environment, it seems to sharpen their pencils.”Transportation procurement is an integral part of the modern supply chain. With Bid$ense, shippers can develop a strategic implementation plan that saves them time and money, but also helps them create strong relationships with their carrier partners. These carriers appreciate the solution’s data-cleansing process; when carriers receive a complete shipment history and future volume forecast, they don’t have to guess on pricing. Carriers that receive more data from shippers get a complete picture of that shipper’s freight, allowing them to accurately plan instead of simply preparing for the worst-case scenario. Clean data presented through an automated system can lead to both bigger shipment savings and a lasting partnership between carrier and customer.Whether customers are looking to streamline over-the-road transportation bidding by automating the RFP process or create an entirely new, centralized sourcing process, Bid$ense has the analytical horsepower to get the job done.SMC³ 2020 Customer Case Study

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Shippers save money, time with automated transportation bidding tools

If there’s one immutable truth in the world of logistics, it’s this: LTL is an inherently complex form of transportation. Tariffs, rates, DIM weights, transit times — it’s enough to confuse even seasoned logistics professionals. The solution to this knowledge gap has historically been on-the-job training or university supply chain education, but for a variety of reasons there is now a pressing need for third-party, remote LTL training that prepares logistics workers for transportation success. Global Scope Can Overlook Local Intricacies In the past, professionals looking to move into a supply chain career learned about the basics of supply chain from universities. However, many of these college supply chain programs are now global in scope, focusing on worldwide supply chain management instead of the intricacies of specialized domestic transportation. And even these programs, which used to be widespread, are becoming less common. LTL is not an industry of broad-brush strokes; supply chain professionals really need a pointillistic understanding of the logistics of LTL in order to excel in the industry. Accelerating Need for Dedicated LTL Education This lack of specified training put the onus on employers to prepare new hires with the LTL knowledge needed to do their jobs. Dedicated LTL study is a necessity, not a luxury. At the same time, changes in LTL and the broader supply chain world are accelerating. The reliance on e-commerce has ballooned since the start of the pandemic, and last-mile LTL shipments and related e-commerce strains on the supply chain won’t diminish once social distancing abates. That genie isn’t going back into the bottle. So supply chain employers need logistics workers that are fully versed in all aspects of the industry, ready to solve unique shipping and delivery problems based on their extensive supply chain knowledge But why care about LTL? It’s been reported that some shippers in today’s world are no longer concerned with what mode is used to ship their goods. A Multimodal Approach Ensures On-Time Delivery This mode agnosticism means supply chain stakeholders have to be well versed in all modes of transportation. As unforeseen weather events and other disruptions, such as protests, become more common, savvy logistics employees will need to be armed with familiarity of all modes, not just the most popular, to ensure that freight is delivered on time, without damage, and in the most financially expedient way possible. Offerings like SMC³’s LTL online education courses cover a wide range of topics from LTL basics and operations to more advanced concepts like pricing analytics and transportation law. The company also has plans to continually refresh content, adding new expert presenters and taking the feedback of students to make the courses even better as time goes on. Learn more about&nbsp;<a href="https://logisticstrainingcenter.com/smc3-courses/" rel="noreferrer" class="joc_admin__link">SMC³’s LTL Online Education program</a>&nbsp;and view the 2021 hybrid schedule, featuring live industry experts,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.smc3.com/onlinelearning2021/" rel="noreferrer" class="joc_admin__link">here.</a>

SMC3rates_shutterstock_5247046 (1).jpg

Filling the Supply Chain Education Gap with LTL Education Courses

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FOCUS ON IMPORTS CALIFORNIA IMPORT LAB LIKELY TO STAY OPEN

WAGE DATA TO WEIGHT ON TRADE BILL

FOCUS ON IMPORTS TRADE LEADS