MARCH 2014
VOLUME 12 NO. 3
inside
26 A logistician turned
CEO: interview with
Lee Scott
BY MITCH MAC DONALD
Former Walmart CEO Lee Scott looks
back on how logistics helped turn his
company into a megaretailer.
31 A new pairing for
refrigerated transport
BY MARK B. SOLOMON
Will a rail-truck hybrid model
challenge truckers’ dominance?
37 Avnet goes lean and
green
BY PETER BRADLEY
Combining lean practices and
sustainability, Avnet’s global warehouse
in Arizona offers the company enormous
efficiencies—and a ready model for its
other facilities around the world.
45 The power of a control
tower
BY JAMES A. COOKE
Agilent Technologies’ “control tower”—
an information hub linking the
instrument maker with its suppliers to
provide inventory visibility—has helped
the company deftly model parts
availability, manage order promising,
and counteract parts shortages during a
natural disaster.
51 Flows like, well, water!
BY DAVID MALONEY
With hundreds of different beverage
products flowing in daily, German bottler
Labertaler was having a hard time
keeping its head above water. Automated
DC systems changed all that.
