ISM: Non-Manufacturing Continues Upward Climb

It is highly likely that signs of growth and possibly economic recovery will be visible by the end of this year, according to the results of the latest non-manufacturing industry survey by the Institute for Supply Management (ISM).

The ISM has been making such a prediction for some time now, and the report on business activity in the non-manufacturing sector in June indicate the economy is definitely headed in that direction, said Anthony Nieves, chair of ISM’s non-manufacturing business survey committee.

“The report is encouraging,” he said.

Overall, the non-manufacturing index went up three percentage points in June to 44 percent. Technically, anything under 50 percent is considered to be “contracting,” but Nieves said the trend over the last few months has been a positive one, indicating that the index is creeping steadily upward, indicating a gradual improvement in the overall non-manufacturing sector.

“I think we’re seeing the signs of the leveling off,” he said.

Nieves said he was especially encouraged by the business activity and new orders indexes. Business activity leapt up 7.4 percentage points to 49.8 percent, while new orders went up 4.2 points to 48.6 percent.

Nieves said he will be watching both indices over the next few months, especially new orders, to verify that the growth trend overall is continuing.

The employment index, which typically lags behind everything else, also took a jump in June. According to the report, it went up 4.4 points to 43.4 percent, but despite this increase, Nieves said employment tends to be the slowest to react to changes, even positive ones, in the overall sector.

Read the rest of the scmr.com article here.

Transportation funding: Highway Trust Fund is again in need of more capital

WASHINGTON—A lack of capital for the Highway Trust Fund (HTF) is looming, with up to $7 billion to keep it solvent through the remainder of 2009, according to various reports.

The HTF is the federal government’s primary source for financing highway, bridge, and transit projects, and it is largely funded by the motor fuel federal tax, which is 18.4 cents per gallon for gasoline and 24.4 cents for diesel and has not been raised since 1993. One main reason for the HTF’s dwindling financial resources is that Americans are driving fewer miles, as evidenced by Americans driving 90 million fewer miles year-over-year in fiscal 2008.

California Senator Barbara Boxer said at a hearing yesterday that the HTF is estimated to have insufficient cash by August 2009 to make good on prior commitments, with $5-to-$7 billion needed.

She added that White House officials have estimated that an additional $8-to$10 billion is needed to pay immediate cash needs of the HTF program is to be maintained at current funding levels through the end of fiscal 2010, which is when Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), the current highway, transit, and highway safety authorization, expires.

“The administration is working closely with Congress to solve this difficult problem and ensure that states have the resources they need to maintain our roads and highways,” Department of Transportation Spokeswoman Jill Zuckman told the Associated Press.

Read the rest of the logisticsmgmt.com artilce here.

Logistics and business manufacturing: ISM report calls for good and bad news for 2009

TEMPE, Ariz.—Experts from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) remain cautiously optimistic about a possible economic recovery later this year, as two key ISM reports released today offer both a snapshot of the current situation and a forecast for the rest of 2009. 

Norbert Ore, chair of ISM’s manufacturing business survey committee, and Anthony Nieves, chair of ISM’s non-manufacturing business survey committee, both talked to SCMR about ISM’s report on the non-manufacturing sector for April, and ISM’s semi-annual economic forecast for 2009. 

According to the April report, the Non-Manufacturing Index (NMI) rose 2.9 points to 43.7 percent. Like the PMI in ISM’s manufacturing report issued on Friday, the NMI is edging toward 50 percent, above which it won’t be considered “in decline.” 

Still, while he acknowledged the rate of decline is slowing, Nieves was cautious about celebrating too soon, as the NMI still shows a decline. With only a month of positive change, Nieves said “It’s still premature” to declare the economy in recovery. 

Nieves said he and Ore both believed some sort of recovery would take place in 2009, but Nieves won’t be satisfied it’s actually happening until the NMI goes above 50. 

It also needs to stay there. Nieves pointed out that in January and February of 2008, the NMI showed a decline, and it then went above 50 in March, only to drop back down in April, and it hasn’t recovered since. 

Read the rest of the article from logisticsmgmt.com here.

Will Cost Pressures Drive more Companies to Outsource Logistics Functions?

In tough economic times, will companies be increasingly tempted to outsource logistics and distribution operations?

The answer may be Yes, especially given the many hungry 3PLs that may be tempted to dangle low ball prices to pick up the business.

In some cases, the strategy may be not only to outsource a part of logistics operations, such as management of individual DCs, but actually to outsource the entire logistics function.

That’s in fact what tech giant IBM recently did, announcing in December that it was hiring Geodis, a French logistics services provider (LSP), which IBM was already using for some logistics operations, such as service parts delivery and reverse logistics, to manage its entire logistics network globally.

In the relationship, Geodis will serve as a “lead logistics provider,” sometimes also called a “4PL,” and will provide management services for IBM’s already largely outsourced logistics function. In other words, Geodis will become an outsourced manager of other logistics outsourcers. Combined, IBM now spends approximately $1.3 billion on global logistics management.

Read the rest of the story here.

What is a Warehouse Management System

A comprehensive warehouse management system, Accuplus features the ability to manage multiple warehouses, customers, products, rates, and much more. A wide variety of management and customer specific information is available through traditionally installed operating systems (i.e. Unix) including inventory, activity, sales volume and analysis.

Bonded currently operates Accuplus in house as a standard WMS system.  We also integrate custom systems through EDI, direct connect to customer host system or through flat file transfer.  

Accuplus is also delivered via an Internet application service provider (ASP) model through Logview. Customer service, sales, logistics personnel and management have constant access to shipment and receipt status. Information is updated continuously every 15 minutes, so your information is real-time. Logview provides you with information required for managing your business. 

(source: www.bondedlogistics.com/warehouse_management.asp)