In recent weeks I have been able to meet a broad cross-section of European logistics professionals during the autumn round of conferences in Central and Western Europe.

‘Managing a business is really about managing the supply chain,’ says the global operations director of De La Rue Cash Systems.

The engineering sector is late on the supply chain bandwagon but the challenge of low cost overseas manufacturing means logistics is fast moving up the agenda. What does the future hold?

Inventory management used to be about lean systems and JIT but accurate real time information is now more essential as demand-driven supply networks come on-stream. Perhaps one day, stock-outs really will be consigned to history.

This month acquisition activity has focused around global Swiss logistics provider Kuehne + Nagel International.

Recruiting, retaining and motivating staff is a long-standing problem for logistics operations, made more acute, in the UK at least, by the current relatively high levels of employment. What makes a company good to work for?

Writing in the October issue of Logistics Europe, regular columnist Peter Bartram quoted a leading international economist as saying that the days of $25 a barrel oil were probably gone forever. Perhaps that’s right. So, what does this mean for commercial

After the hype, many feel disillusioned with RFID but the technology continues to move ahead as prices fall and trials proliferate.

The Engineering and General Manufacturing sector has made a comeback this year, with Rexam Beverage Can Europe & Asia taking the top prize in The European Supply Chain Excellence Awards 2005.

For many landlords, a visit to the property director of a third-party logistics provider (3PL) ranks slightly lower down the list of things-I-want-to-do than a visit to the dentist.