Why Are US Logistics Under So Much Strain? + E-commerce Challenges (feat. Marshall Taplits)

11/05/21 • 40 min

In this episode...

Renaud catches up with American supply chain and logistics expert, Marshall Taplits founder of Ship It Done a 3PL warehouse and e-commerce fulfillment center based on the East Coast, to talk about the difficult supply chain and logistics situation in the USA in the past couple of years. He answers: What's causing the logjams at ports? Is there a difference between East and West coast ports? Is transport overland or by air also problematic?

Marshall also sheds some light on how SMEs and e-commerce vendors can cope with the difficult situation, and some of the key challenges they face such as choosing between FBM and FBA and whether or not to ship nationally from one local warehouse.

There's been a lot of talk about how America's logistics system is broken in the media, so let's hear it from someone who's there working in this industry right now!

Show Sections

00:00 - Greetings & introducing Marshall Taplits & Ship It Done

04:19 - What's causing the logjams at US ports, logistics to fail under the strain, and delays in getting products to customers? Is it as simple as, 'people have been buying more stuff due to lockdown?'

07:42 - The move to 'Just In Case' buying.

11:26 - Why is delivery to US ports being held up? Is simply it a lack of road and rail capacity to move goods away after delivery?

15:23 - Is the government likely to be able to bring about changes to improve the logistics situation?

17:37 - Could the 3-4 week break for manufacturers during Chinese New Year give the USA some much-needed breathing room to clear the excess goods and stabilize the supply chain situation?

23:41 - What can SMEs do to weather the storm, are there any workarounds?

27:20 - How about ports on the East Coast, are they less congested than California?

30:27 - What's the situation with air cargo?

31:41 - The difference between FBM and FBA and what frontloading by air means and their benefits for e-commerce vendors.

35:38 - Is it faster these days to send a container from China to California Long Beach or New York Elizabeth?

36:20 - When shipping FBM is it cheaper to post products locally within the US than longer distances?

39:04 - Wrapping up

Related content...

Get in touch with us

Subscribe to the podcast

There are more episodes to come, so remember to subscribe! You can do so in your favorite podcast apps here and don't forget to give us a 5-star rating, please:

In this episode...

There's been a lot of talk about how America's logistics system is broken in the media, so let's hear it from someone who's there working in this industry right now!

Show Sections

00:00 - Greetings & introducing Marshall Taplits & Ship It Done

07:42 - The move to 'Just In Case' buying.

11:26 - Why is delivery to US ports being held up? Is simply it a lack of road and rail capacity to move goods away after delivery?

15:23 - Is the government likely to be able to bring about changes to improve the logistics situation?

17:37 - Could the 3-4 week break for manufacturers during Chinese New Year give the USA some much-needed breathing room to clear the excess goods and stabilize the supply chain situation?

23:41 - What can SMEs do to weather the storm, are there any workarounds?

27:20 - How about ports on the East Coast, are they less congested than California?

30:27 - What's the situation with air cargo?

31:41 - The difference between FBM and FBA and what frontloading by air means and their benefits for e-commerce vendors.

35:38 - Is it faster these days to send a container from China to California Long Beach or New York Elizabeth?

36:20 - When shipping FBM is it cheaper to post products locally within the US than longer distances?

39:04 - Wrapping up

Related content...

Get in touch with us

Subscribe to the podcast

There are more episodes to come, so remember to subscribe! You can do so in your favorite podcast apps here and don't forget to give us a 5-star rating, please:

Previous Episode

How design authority leads to product safety liability (feat. Clive Greenwood & Andrew Wilson)

In this episode...

Sofeast's CEO Renaud Anjoran is joined by two guests, Clive Greenwood and Andrew Wilson of WWMG associates to discuss the topic of liability for product safety issues. There's commonly a disconnect between Chinese manufacturers and their foreign customers over who is liable for any problems, such as consumer injury, caused by the products that they worked on. It depends on a number of things, such as who has the design authority and who issues the design specifications, etc.

If you are importing products you really need to have a handle on liability, as the consequences could be extremely costly and uncomfortable.

The panel aim to get to the bottom of it here...

Show Sections

00:00 - Introduction.

01:26 - When an American company, for example, works with a Chinese manufacturer to develop a new product, what do they expect the manufacturer to tell them?

05:00 - Product liability laws in the US & EU.

07:53 - How 'design authority' can be used to attribute liability.

12:09 - Post-DFMEA liability.

15:43 - Why letting your Chinese manufacturer 'help' develop a product could be a big mistake.

21:13 - Compliance for medical devices/products.

24:01 - Action items for companies who're designing a general consumer product to be manufactured in China.

31:58 - Product safety. What do we need to consider?

38:29 - Conclusion.

40:49 - Wrapping up.

Related content...

Get in touch with us

Subscribe to the podcast

There are more episodes to come, so remember to subscribe! You can do so in your favorite podcast apps here and don't forget to give us a 5-star rating, please:

Next Episode

The Importance Of Setting Up A Good Reliability Testing Plan (feat. Andrew Amirnovin)

In this episode...

Renaud is joined by Andrew Amirnovin, our head of New Product Development at Sofeast, to discuss the topic of reliability testing plans which is closely related to product design, as well-designed products don't fail in the field as they're designed to be reliable.

Some companies bringing products to market think that reliability comes during the product manufacturing phase, but in this episode, you'll hear why that isn't the case.

Andrew also gives some guidance on how to reduce reliability issues, what a reliability test plan should include, and the role of ongoing reliability testing after production starts.

Show Sections

00:00 - Greetings & introducing Andrew

02:54 - What is product reliability and why is it important?

07:54 - How to reduce common reliability problems that occur after some time?

10:58 - Do companies take reliability testing very seriously in general?

12:04 - At what point in the NPD process should you start thinking about product reliability?

14:11 - What do we learn from testing prototypes to failure?

17:43 - Should the reliability test plan be changed while iterating prototypes?

21:10 - An example of corner-cutting: The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 'disaster.'

26:20 - Another example: The Boeing 737 Max.

27:49 - What is the role of ongoing reliability testing during production?

31:18 - Product reliability risks caused by having an extended supply chain.

32:38 - Wrapping up

Related content...

Sofeast also provides you with reliability and durability testing for products and packaging so if this is something you need help with for products you’re developing and manufacturing in Asia, see if our service is suitable and get a quotation.

Get in touch with us

Subscribe to the podcast

There are more episodes to come, so remember to subscribe! You can do so in your favorite podcast apps here and don't forget to give us a 5-star rating, please: