Top 50 3PLs: Collaboration now paramount

This is an excerpt of the original article. It was written for the July-August 2018 edition of Supply Chain Management Review. The full article is available to current subscribers.

July-August 2018

At Supply Chain Management Review, we’ve been writing about the talent crisis in our profession since at least 2012 when our MIT contributors were publishing a column on talent strategies. Last winter, the topic touched home when I picked up my local newspaper one Saturday morning. One of the lead stories was about two initiatives launched by C&S Wholesale Grocers with two local academic institutions: Keene State College and Franklin Pierce University.

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Industry insiders coming to grips with the dynamic changes shaping both the domestic and global third-party logistics (3PL) marketplace have come to similar conclusions about the future.

E-commerce continues to be the driving force for the Top 50 industry leaders, according the consultancy Armstrong & Associates. Meanwhile, merger and acquisition activity in the sector has been quieter than in recent years, but remains an attractive option for providers seeking to capitalize on synergies. For today’s logistics managers, finding the right mix of 3PLs offering the full gamut of integrated services to tackle ecommerce demands has never been more urgent, add market analysts.

“The biggest news on the integrated services front recently has been the explosive growth registered by the 3PL powerhouse XPO Logistics, which announced double-digit increases in its revenue this past spring,” notes Dick Armstrong, the consultancy’s chairman. He adds that it has left him a bit “chagrined” because he had been among the chief skeptics about the company’s aggressive strategy in the past.

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