Supply Chain by the Number for the Week of July 17, 2008

Supply Chain by the Numbers

-July 17, 2008

The Numbers Worth Knowing this Week in Supply Chain and Logistics

This Week: New Milk Jugs Deliver Transportation "Moo"-La; Dow Chemical Says Surcharges Aren't Just for Carriers; Some Companies Find Losses, not Savings, from China Sourcing; Free Trade Agreements Finally Turn a Profit for US



2
The number of deliveries per week Ohio’s Superior Dairy is now making per week to early customers such as Costco and Sam’s Club as a result of its new cylindrical milk carton that can be palletized, rather than placed in plastic cartons for transport, dramatically improving trailer loading efficiency.

$600

The transportation “surcharge” Dow Chemical is adding to customers for its rail shipment transportation charges, on top of previous shipping costs. It is adding $300 for truckload shipments. That’s in addition to the 25% increase in product prices the company announced at the same time, driven by rising energy and commodity costs.


33%
The number of companies that in actually incurred higher total supply chain costs by moving production to China, according to a recent PriceWaterhouseCoopers study.




$500 million
The trade surplus the US has so far in 2007 with countries with which is has free trade agreements. This is the first time ever that this measure has moved into a net positive for the US, and compares, for example, to a trade deficit with free trade country partners of $41 billion in 2002.