Susan Lacefield has been working for supply chain publications since 1999. Before joining DC VELOCITY, she was an associate editor for Supply Chain Management Review and wrote for Logistics Management magazine. She holds a master's degree in English.
Once regarded as a souless back-office function, supply chain management has emerged as one of the hottest fields in American busi- ness. Thought leaders and industry gurus point to the supply chain as a pow- erful competitive differentiator, while corporate titans like Wal-Mart, Dell, and Toyota brandish their supply chain capabilities like swords. Given the climate of the times, it's no wonder the executive suite has finally woken up to the value of the supply chain.
For evidence of the profession's growing stature, you need look no farther than DC VELOCITY's 2007 Salary Survey. The median salary for the 876 survey respon- dents was $90,000, with the mode (or most frequent response) being $100,000.
The mean or average salary came in even higher at $140,533. This number, however, may be skewed by the 11 people who reported earning over $1 million. All of these millionaires were senior vice presidents, corporate officers, or presidents at companies with more than 5,000 employees.
Given DC VELOCITY's diverse readership, it's no surprise the responses ran the gamut, ranging from over $4 million to $23,000. But there were plenty of responses that fell between these two extremes—a little more than half of all respondents earn between $75,000 and $149,000.
Logistics and supply chain professionals' salaries appear to be on a par with those of their peers in other parts of the organization. Purchasing professionals, for example, earn $78,470 a year, according to a recent survey by the Institute for Supply Management (a similar survey conducted by Purchasing magazine put the number at $83,205). IT professionals and accountants earn salaries in that range as well. Janco Associates Inc.'s 2007 IT Salary Survey reports a median salary of $78,652 for IT professionals. The Institute of Management Accountants' 2005 salary survey put its members' median salary at $91,823.
DC VELOCITY readers also indicated that their salaries have, for the most part, increased from last year, although not significantly. According to the results, 78 percent of survey respondents saw their salary increase. (Another 17 percent say their salary remained the same, and 5 percent say it decreased.) Of that 78 percent, however, 66 percent say that their salary increased by 5 percent or less.
Other signs of respect
Salary size is not the only indicator of logistics and supply chain management's growing stature. Some 69 percent of respondents say that over the past three years, the number of functions that they manage has increased, while only 5 percent say it has decreased. The remaining 26 percent say there has been no change.
Furthermore, 54 percent report that they have direct or indirect management control or influence over the typically broad and strategic area of supply chain management. With this broad reach comes more money. The survey results show that those who have control or influence over supply chain management earned more than those who did not. Those in supply chain management had a median salary of $100,000 and an average salary of $183,026. Those not involved in supply chain management had a median salary of $80,000 and an average salary of $90,197.
That's not to say that DC VELOCITY readers have abandoned their traditional distribution focus; 61 percent of readers have influence or control over logistics management, and 69 percent have influence or control over warehouse/distribution center management.
Of course, what they're called has a lot to do with what respondents earn as well. Exhibit 1 shows median and average salaries salary by number of years at companyby title. As the table illustrates, when it comes to median salaries, the average senior vice president earns more than 2.5 times the salary of the average supervisor.
Does experience count?
The fast-changing nature of supply chain management—and the information technology that supports it—would seem to favor younger managers. The survey results, however, indicate that the picture is slightly more complex.
If you look at median salary by age (see Exhibit 2), the results indicate that after 45, the median salary increases only gradually with age. (There does seem to be a leap in salary after the age of 60, but the sample size for this group is small, with only 38 respondents.) Even this slight age advantage disappears if you adjust for title. Exhibit 2 also shows the median salary for managers (who represent the largest group of respondents). As the table shows, there's little correlation between the age of a manager and median pay. Likewise companies seem to value an employee's experience in a logistics-related job only up to a point. After 15 years of experience in logistics-related jobs, median salaries rise only slightly for all respondents and actually drop for those whose title is manager (see Exhibit 3).
However, if you look at average salary, it's a different story. Across all titles, average salary grows significantly as the age of the respondents goes up. The significant difference between median and average salaries after the age of 56 indicates that there may be a few people in these age groups in high-level positions who are earning very large salaries. In fact, nine of the top 10 earners are over the age of 56 and all are over the age of 45. This discrepancy is not seen with managers. Just as with the median salaries, average salary drops after age 45, until respondents reach the age of 60, when the average rises to $93,182. (The sample size for this age category, however, is only 11 respondents.)
Average salaries for all respondents also continue to grow substantially as the employee's number of years in logistics increases. Again of the top 10 earners, all had more than 15 years of experience. Salaries for managers also rose steadily until they reached around 20 years of experience. Then the rate of increase levels out, rising only 1.2 percent from the average for those with 16-20 years of experience to the average for those with more than 25 years of experience.
In short, title is much more important than experience when it comes to salary. However, a high percentage of those perched on the top rungs of the corporate ladder are in their 50s and early 60s and have over 15 years of experience in logistics. This result implies that experience is a factor in who gets promoted or hired to those highly compensated upper management positions.
What about number of years at the current company? The survey results showed no clear connection between loyalty to the company and salary. Across all titles, average salary rises steadily as the years of service at the company increase—or at least up to 25 years (see Exhibit 4). Median salary, however, shows no predictable pattern, with salaries rising for the first 15 years of service, holding steady from years 16-20, then jumping up at year 21, only to fall back down again after 25 years of service. Similarly, there seems to be no clear correlation between number of years of service at the current company and the average or median salaries for managers.
What accounts for higher pay?
We also took a look at some other key factors with the potential to affect pay—education level, location, size of the company, and gender—to see how they correlated with salary. The clearest results are for education level. As the level of education increases, so do the average and median levels of pay (see Exhibit 5). Interestingly, even those readers whose education ended with a high school diploma (26 percent of all survey respondents) are still earning high salaries, with a median salary of $72,000 and an average salary of $86,597.
Working in New England can also bump up the pay you receive. Based on both median and average salary, DC VELOCITY readers in New England earn more, on average, than their peers in other regions of the continental United States (see Exhibit 6). This proves true even if you hold the position constant, as is seen by looking at the median or average salaries for managers. In most other regions of the continental United States—the West, Middle Atlantic, South, and Midwest— salaries remained pretty much consistent, although average salaries in the Southeast lagged slightly behind the rest.
Size of company can also have an impact on pay. Average and median salaries generally tended to rise by number of total employees both for all respondents and for managers (Exhibit 7). The one exception is companies with 501-1,000 employees, where median salaries for managers dipped.
A look at the results broken down by gender yielded some interesting findings (see Exhibit 8). Women make up roughly 10 percent of all survey respondents; yet they earned five of the top 10 salaries reported in the survey. As a result, when you look at average salary, women seem to be earning significantly more than men— $303,695 vs. $112,691. Median salary, however, tends to be less susceptible to outliers. These figures show women earning significantly less than men—$70,000 vs. $91,500. In fact, if you look only at the manager level, it's clear that the average female manager doesn't earn as much as her male counterpart. Female managers earn a median salary of $60,000 and an average salary of $65,774, while male managers earn a median salary of $75,104 and an average salary of $80,225.
No matter what your gender, education level, location, or level of experience, one thing remains consistent: Logistics is a lucrative field. And as recognition of the strategic role of logistics and the supply chain grows, compensation is likely to follow suit.
It’s getting a little easier to find warehouse space in the U.S., as the frantic construction pace of recent years declined to pre-pandemic levels in the fourth quarter of 2024, in line with rising vacancies, according to a report from real estate firm Colliers.
Those trends played out as the gap between new building supply and tenants’ demand narrowed during 2024, the firm said in its “U.S. Industrial Market Outlook Report / Q4 2024.” By the numbers, developers delivered 400 million square feet for the year, 34% below the record 607 million square feet completed in 2023. And net absorption, a key measure of demand, declined by 27%, to 168 million square feet.
Consequently, the U.S. industrial vacancy rate rose by 126 basis points, to 6.8%, as construction activity normalized at year-end to pre-pandemic levels of below 300 million square feet. With supply and demand nearing equilibrium in 2025, the vacancy rate is expected to peak at around 7% before starting to fall again.
Thanks to those market conditions, renters of warehouse space should begin to see some relief from the steep rent hikes they’re seen in recent years. According to Colliers, rent growth decelerated in 2024 after nine consecutive quarters of year-over-year increases surpassing 10%. Average warehouse and distribution rents rose by 5% to $10.12/SF triple net, and rents in some markets actually declined following a period of unprecedented growth when increases often exceeded 25% year-over-year. As the market adjusts, rents are projected to stabilize in 2025, rising between 2% and 5%, in line with historical averages.
In 2024, there were 125 new occupancies of 500,000 square feet or more, led by third-party logistics (3PL) providers, followed by manufacturing companies. Demand peaked in the fourth quarter at 53 million square feet, while the first quarter had the lowest activity at 28 million square feet — the lowest quarterly tally since 2012.
In its economic outlook for the future, Colliers said the U.S. economy remains strong by most measures; with low unemployment, consumer spending surpassing expectations, positive GDP growth, and signs of improvement in manufacturing. However businesses still face challenges including persistent inflation, the lowest hiring rate since 2010, and uncertainties surrounding tariffs, migration, and policies introduced by the new Trump Administration.
Both shippers and carriers feel growing urgency for the logistics industry to agree on a common standard for key performance indicators (KPIs), as the sector’s benchmarks have continued to evolve since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to research from freight brokerage RXO.
The feeling is nearly universal, with 87% of shippers and 90% of carriers agreeing that there should be set KPI industry standards, up from 78% and 74% respectively in 2022, according to results from “The Logistics Professional’s Guide to KPIs,” an RXO research study conducted in collaboration with third-party research firm Qualtrics.
"Managing supply chain data is incredibly important, but it’s not easy. What technology to use, which metrics to track, where to set benchmarks, how to leverage data to drive action – modern logistics professionals grapple with all these challenges,” Ben Steffes, VP of Solutions & Strategy at RXO, said in a release.
Additional results from the survey showed that shippers are more data-driven than they were in the past; 86% of shippers reference their logistics KPIs at least weekly (up from 79% in 2022), and 45% of shippers reference them daily (up from 32% in 2022).
Despite that sharpened focus, performance benchmarks have become slightly more lenient, the survey showed. Industry performance standards for core transportation KPIs—such as on-time performance, payables, and tender acceptance—are generally consistent with 2022, but the underlying data shows a tendency to be a bit more forgiving, RXO said.
One solution is to be a shipper-of-choice for your chosen carriers. That strategy can enable better rates and more capacity, as RXO found 95% of carriers said inefficient shipping practices impact the rates they give to shippers, and 99% of carriers take a shipper’s KPI expectations into account before agreeing to move a shipment.
“KPIs are essential for effective supply chain management and continuous improvement, and they’re always evolving,” Steffes said. “Shifts in consumer demand and an influx of technology are driving this change, in combination with the dynamic and fragmented nature of the freight market. To optimize performance, businesses need consistent measurement and reporting. We released this study to help shippers and carriers benchmark their standards against how their peers approach KPIs today.”
Supply chain technology firm Manhattan Associates, which is known for its “tier one” warehouse, transportation, and labor management software products, says that CEO Eddie Capel will retire tomorrow after 25 total years at the California company, including 12 as its top executive.
Capel originally joined Manhattan in 2000, and, after serving in various operations and technology roles, became its chief operating officer (COO) in 2011 and its president and CEO in 2013.
He will continue to serve Manhattan in the role of Executive Vice-Chairman of the Board, assisting with the CEO transition and special projects. Capel will be succeeded in the corner officer by Eric Clark, who has been serving as CEO of NTT Data North America, the U.S. arm of the Japan-based tech services firm.
Texas-based NTT Data North America says its services include business and technology consulting, data and artificial intelligence, and industry solutions, as well as the development, implementation and management of applications, infrastructure, and connectivity.
Clark comes to his new role after joining NTT in 2018 and becoming CEO in 2022. Earlier in his career, he had held senior leadership positions with ServiceNow, Dell, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Arthur Andersen Business Consulting, Ernst & Young and Bank of America.
“This is an ideal time for a CEO transition,” Capel said in a release. “Our company is in an exceptionally strong position strategically, competitively, operationally and financially. I want to thank our management team and our entire workforce, which is second to none, for their hard work and dedication to our mission of advancing global commerce through advanced technology. I look forward to working closely with Eric and continuing to contribute to our product vision, interacting with our customers and partners, and ensuring the growth and success of Manhattan Associates.”
The Japanese logistics company SG Holdings today announced its acquisition of Morrison Express, a Taipei, Taiwan-based global freight forwarding and logistics service provider specializing in semiconductor and high-tech logistics.
The deal will “significantly” expand SG’s Asian market presence and strengthen its position in specialized logistics services, the Kyoto-based company said.
According to SG, there is minimal overlap between the two firms, as Morrison Express’ strength in air freight and high-tech verticals in its freight forwarding business will be complementary with SG’s freight forwarding arm, EFL Global, which focuses on ocean freight forwarding and commercial verticals like apparel and daily sundries.
In addition, the combined entity offers an expanded geographic reach, which will support closer proximity to customers and ensure more responsive support and service delivery. SG said its customers will benefit from end-to-end supply chain solutions spanning air, ocean, rail, and road freight, complemented by tailored solutions that leverage Morrison's strong supplier and partner relationships in the technology sector.
The growth of electric vehicles (EVs) is likely to stagnate in 2025 due to headwinds created by uncertainty about the future of federal EV incentives, possible tariffs on both EV and gasoline-powered vehicles, relaxed federal emissions and mileage standards, and ongoing challenges with the public charging network, according to a report from J.D. Power.
Specifically, J.D. Power projects that total EV retail share will hold steady in 2025 at 9.1% of the market, or 1.2 million vehicles sold. Longer term, the new forecast calls for the EV market to reach 26% retail share by 2030, which is approximately half of the market share the Biden administration targeted in its climate agenda.
A major reason for that flat result will be the Trump Administration’s intention to end the $7,500 federal Clean Vehicle Tax Credit, which has played a major role in incentivizing current EV owners to purchase or lease an EV, J.D. Power says.
Even as EV manufacturers and consumers adjust to those new dynamics, the electric car market will continue to change under their feet. Whereas the early days of the EV market were defined by premium segment vehicles, that growth trend has now shifted to the mass market segment where franchise EV sales rose 58% in 2024, reaching a total of 376,000 units. That success came after mainstream franchise EV sales accounted for just 0.8% of total EV market share in 2021. In 2024, that number rose to 2.9%, as EVs from the likes of Chevrolet, Ford, Honda, Hyundai and Kia surged in popularity, the report said.
This growth in the mass market segment—along with federal and state incentives—has also helped make EVs cheaper than comparable gas-powered vehicles, J.D. Power found. On average, at the end of 2024, the average cost of a battery-electric vehicle (BEV) was $44,400, which is $1,000 less than a comparable gas-powered vehicle, inclusive of hybrids and plugin hybrids. While that balance may change if federal tax incentives are removed, the trend toward EVs being a lower cost option has correlated with increases in sales, which will be an important factor for manufacturers to consider as they confront the current marketplace.