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Helpful Articles - Hawaii Business

Logistics Terms Made Easy: What Is a Freight Forwarder? 

Like many other specialized areas, the logistics and transportation industry has its own set of terminology. In fact, if you’re listening to two logistics pros chat about an upcoming shipment, it might even sound like they’re speaking an entirely different language.   To help you decode the transportation, freight and logistics words you might hear, we dug deep into our glossary of transportation terms and pulled out one common one that causes an uncommon amount of confusion for many: freight forwarder.   We’ll walk you through exactly what a freight forwarder is, what a freight forwarder does, what kind of services a freight forwarder offers and why you might want to use a freight forwarder when you’re shipping...

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Supply Chain Management: Planning—and Why It’s Critical for Hawaii Businesses

At the heart of every business that delivers a product to its customers, you’ll find its supply chain. Managing your supply chain so that it operates smoothly, efficiently, and cost-effectively is essential to both the health and long-term survival of your organization. When you dive down into the nitty-gritty of supply chain management, it might feel like there are as many models as there are types of businesses. To keep it simple, we like to use the Supply Chain Council’s supply chain operations reference model (SCOR), an industry-standard that breaks down supply chain management into five parts: Plan Source Make Deliver Return In this first...

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Industry Update: Cyberattacks on Supply Chains and Logistics Are on the Rise

Does your organization have a solid plan in place to prevent and respond to cyberattacks? If not—or if you haven’t examined your plan in a while—now is the right time to make it a priority. According to both the FBI and Interpol, cyberattacks are on the rise. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the FBI has received between 3,000 and 4,000 cybersecurity complaints per day, three to four times the previous average of around 1,000 daily. Additionally, on the international side, Interpol has reported an “alarming rate of cyberattacks” during the pandemic. The agency also revealed that these attacks have shifted from individuals and...

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Insights from the Pandemic: 4 Supply Chain Risk Management Strategies for 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic put pressure on even the most resilient supply chains. As the pandemic unfolded—and its events created ripples across industries—it shone a bright light on potential challenges and weak spots, some of which resulted in massive disruptions during the global crisis. As a result, many companies are taking time this year to re-evaluate their risk management strategies—and implement new ones. According to a report from the Business Continuity Institute (BCI), 53.2% of companies surveyed are developing a comprehensive pandemic-specific plan to cover them for supply chain issues, while 32.3% are updating their overall plans to better account for supply chain challenges. In other...

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4 Ways This Holiday Season Might Be Different for Retailers

2020 has been the year of the curveball—a year in which seemingly anything could happen. Even just in the world of logistics and supply chain management, this year has seen dramatic shortages, supply chain disruptions, air freight capacity crunches, ocean freight blank sailings, and much more. (The list goes on!) As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact the globe, most experts agree that the 2020 holiday season will look a little different this year for consumers, retailers, and logistics providers alike. But exactly how will it be different? Obviously, that still remains to be seen. However, in this article, we’ll take a look at some...

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Spotlight on Supply Chain Sustainability: Important to Consumers, Good for Business

If your business hasn’t already embraced the concept of sustainability, what’s holding you back? Is it: Lack of clarity around what “sustainability” really means? The fact that it’s a challenging and slippery goal to measure? The impression that it will cost your company money without much benefit to speak of? The concern that it’s not a value that your customers will support—or even care about? These and many other concerns have made some businesses and brands hesitant about pursuing sustainability initiatives. If this is the position you find yourself in, we’ve got some resources to help you take a deeper dive into this topic, including...

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