Supply Chain by the Numbers
   
 

- Aug 2, 2012
   
  Supply Chain by the Numbers for Week of Aug. 2, 2012
   
 

Amazon Keeps Delviering DCs; FleetPride Plans in the Cloud; Intermodal Keeps on Truckin'; Clock Ticking on Longshoremen Contract
   
 
 
 

18

Number of new distribution centers that Amazon.com plans to add in 2012, according to CEO Jeff Bezos this week in the company's quarterly earnings call, as Amazon sales growth and investment in infrastructure continues unabated. All the spending and continued aggressive shipping policies are hurting profits - net income fell 96% in Q2 to just 1 cent a share - but Bezos doesn't care. Sales were up another 29% in the quarter to $12.8 billion. Rumored to be coming soon to Amazon: same day delivery in many metro markets.
 
 



 
 
 

2

Number of months it took FleetPride, a major distributor of truck parts, to pay back its investment in supply chain planning software. How that fast? According To FleetPride's Steve Fogolini, key was use of cloud-based planning tools (from JDA), which enabled rapid implementation and time to value versus traditional deployments. A development "sand box" of the solution environment that was available in just a week or so after the contract signing that FleetPride was able to use configure and test the system was another key to the rapid payback, Fogolini said on a recent Videocast on our Supply Chain Television Channel. To view the broadcast on demand, go to: Supply Chain Planning in the Cloud.
 
 
 
 
 
57

Number of days until the contract between the (ILA) and ports on the East and Gulf coasts expires on Sept. 30. The risk, of course, is that if a settlement is not reached in that time that the ILA could go on strike, shutting down a number of key US ports, from New York to Houston. The talks got off to a rocky start, but both side now claim to have made good progress in the past couple of weeks. The National Retail Federation has called on both sides to keep working even if the contract expires before a deal.
 
 
 
 
 
236,518

Number of average weekly intermodal containers and trailers handled by US rail carriers in July, the highest average ever for the month, according to the Association of American Railroads this week, as intermodal volumes continue to grow. Indicative of the trend, intermodal units were up 5.6% for the month over 2011, while straight rail car volumes were down .7% year over year.
 
 
 
 
 
 
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