Transportation and Logistics Collaborative

A group of professionals presenting on stage

The Transportation and Logistics Collaborative is an initiative of the Global Supply Chain Institute, working with faculty from the Department of Supply Chain Management, Center for Transportation Research, and Baker School of Public Policy and Public Affairs. Grounded in the rich, 80-year tradition of teaching and research in transportation by UT’s business faculty, TLC bolsters the understanding of how transportation systems, policies, and industry interact in the United States.

TLC aims to be a leading contributor to education, research, and benchmarking for executive leadership in the logistics profession. The collaborative works explicitly to support economic development efforts within the field of transportation and logistics in Tennessee and beyond.

 

The collaborative seeks to:

  • Be the first point of contact for information, education, and research in logistics and transportation in Tennessee.
  • Act as a repository of information concerning the different facets of the discipline.
  • Engage in partnerships that achieve excellence by solving real-world problems that achieve bottom-line impact; graduate students with real-world project experience; produce cutting-edge research that is relevant, applicable, and impactful; and leverage intellectual and monetary capital among partnering organizations through its research efforts.

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Founding members of TLC include:

 

Transportation and Logistics White Papers

a delivery man holding boxes

Last Mile, Reverse Logistics, and the New World Order in E-Commerce Delivery

May 9, 2023
According to Shopify, “a successful last mile experience makes up 53% of total supply chain costs and comes with its own set of challenges.” While challenges associated with last mile logistics are high, consumer expectations are higher. Following the global shake-up in shipping and supply chain management caused by COVID-19, consumers now expect shipped goods to arrive fast and free. This has forced supply chain leaders to innovate, pivot, evolve e-commerce methods, and deliver in ways they hadn’t before. To help business professionals better understand the shifting last mile and reverse logistics landscape, researchers working with the Advanced Supply Chain Collaborative investigated this area as society’s emerged from the pandemic.
White Paper Cover: Future Trends Shaping Transportation

Modern Takes on Transportation in Supply Chain Management

November 1, 2020
Transportation is the chief agent of motion in global supply chains. Ensuring continuous connectivity and visibility into where products are once they’ve shipped (i.e., end-to-end supply chain visibility) is a great challenge highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This white paper explores best practices, challenges, and predictions for transportation in supply chain management, as well as solutions for supply chain leaders when it comes to evolving transportation industry trends.
White Paper Cover: New Supply Chain Technology Best Practices: The Application of New Technology in the Physical Supply Chain

New Supply Chain Technology Best Practices

April 1, 2017
Keeping up with the latest supply chain technologies can feel like a full-time job. Understanding, adopting, and integrating the growing list of modern supply chain innovations is an even greater challenge. This white paper illustrates supply chain best practices for applying new technology advances to your physical supply chain and organizational strategy. In an era of unprecedented advances, Paul Dittmann outlines an easy-to-follow, well-researched guide for navigating innovation.
White Paper Cover: Selecting and Managing a Third-Party Logistics Provider: Best Practices

Selecting and Managing a Third-Party Logistics Provider: Best Practices

January 1, 2016
Sponsored by KENCO Logistics
White Paper Cover: Transportation 2025 MegaTrends and Current Best Practices: Navigating in a Digital Economy

Transportation 2025 MegaTrends and Current Best Practices: Navigating in a Digital Economy

April 30, 2015
Sponsored by Proctor & Gamble.
White Paper Cover: Bending the Chain: The Surprising Challenge of Integrating Purchasing and Logistics

Supply Chain Management Challenges and Best Practices

April 15, 2014
For decades, supply chain leaders have focused on performance issues emerging from a lack of business alignment with supply chain operations. With significant business integration improvements and systemic processes like Integrated Business Planning (IBP) and Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP), our research has uncovered a new opportunity for supply chain optimization within the traditional supply chain functions. Firms that do not align purchasing and logistics are missing an opportunity to create value. Our team worked with hundreds of companies to identify supply chain best practices your business can implement, as well as to illustrate how high performers are “bending the chain” to better align these two key functions.

Transportation and Logistics News

Understanding Organized Labor’s Impact on Our Supply Chain

October 9, 2024
With the reopening of the East Coast ports, the United States avoided another potential disruption to its supply chain. J.P. Morgan estimated that each day the ports were closed cost the US economy approximately $4 billion—a roughly $12 billion impact after three days of strikes. Yet the threat of a potentially longer strike isn’t over, only delayed until at least January 15, 2025.
Graphic photo of transportation modes at a shipping yard

Transportation and Logistics Collaborative Concludes Year One with Inaugural Director and High-Level Industry and Government Projects

September 12, 2024
In the past year, the Transportation and Logistics Collaborative (TLC) led by Ryder Professor Yemisi Bolumole has made progress on significant projects with private sector companies, U.S. government agencies, and universities.
smoke stacks and trucks

What to Know About Coming US Industry Emissions Reporting Rules

September 26, 2023
Disclosure requirements for U.S. industry greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are inevitable. However, what form these requirements will take is unclear, according to Alex Scott, associate professor and Gerald T. Niedert Professor of Supply Chain Management, at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Haslam College of Business. As evidence of these rules’ fait accompli, Scott cites several developments in this blog.
group of workers in meeting

‘Historic’ Teamsters’ Contract Means Labor Can Flex Its Muscles Beyond Supply Chain, Expert Says

September 1, 2023
Hailed by the Teamsters as “the most historic collective bargaining agreement in the history of UPS,” their recently approved five-year contract with the shipping giant is full of wins for the union. In this follow-up Q&A, Alan Amling, who worked at UPS for 27 years, discusses how the Teamsters will leverage this win and what it says about labor’s strength in the U.S.
a line of trucks

Making Sense of Sustainability Reporting Requirements

August 22, 2023
In previous blog posts, professor and transportation expert Alex Scott examined current standards for measuring truck emissions and proposed a science-based, data-driven method for improving how Scope 3 truck emissions are measured. Here he shares how to make sense of sustainability reporting requirements.
trucking ship yard

New GSCI Collaborative Continues Rich History of Leadership in Transportation and Logistics

August 9, 2023
This August, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Global Supply Chain Institute launched the Transportation and Logistics Collaborative (TLC), which will work closely with the Center for Transportation Research and Baker School of Public Policy and Public Affairs to bolster the understanding of how transportation systems, policies, and industry interact in the United States and around the world.

A Better Approach for Calculating Scope 3 Truck Emissions

June 28, 2023
In the first article of this two-part series, Alex Scott, a transportation researcher with more than two decades in the trucking industry, examined current standards for measuring truck emissions. Here he shares a science-based, data-driven method for improving how Scope 3 truck emissions are measured.
a truck on a road

Measuring Scope 3 Truck Emissions

June 21, 2023
Companies may soon be required to measure and report greenhouse gas emissions across their supply chains. The first article in this two-part series examines current standards for measuring truck emissions. In the second article, Alex Scott, a transportation researcher with more than two decades in the trucking industry, recommends a science-based, data-driven method he’s developed for improving how scope 3 truck emissions are measured.

Contact GSCI to learn more about TLC and how you can collaborate.