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 Boden to Open American DC
By: By Mark Del Franco
Apparel cataloger Boden will open a 60,000 sq.-ft. distribution center/call center in Scranton, PA, in January—it's the first company-owned U.S.-based facility in the U.K. apparel company's five-year history. ...
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What's in Storage
By: By Sam Flanders
We investigate what can happen if you think outside of the warehouse box and consider how changes made outside the warehouse may end up benefiting your distribution center. ...
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Recent China Manufacturing Issues Highlight Importance of Import Safety
By: By Despina Keegan
Recent waves of import product bans, alerts, recalls, and news headlines have generated consumer shock around the world. The global media frenzy impacts all companies that source products abroad for domestic consumption by challenging their import safety practices....
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Evaluating Fire Precautions and Risks
By: By Sam Flanders
A fire in your distribution center can be disastrous. Aside from the obvious threats to human life, a single fire, even if it occurs in an unoccupied building--can put you out of business. ...
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The Case for Yard Management Systems, Part II
By: By Mike Pujda
This is the second in a two part series on yard management. Last week we focused on how yard management can quickly move product through the distribution center. This week, we'll discuss the role technology plays. ...
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The Case for Yard Management Systems
By: By Mike Pujda
The vast yards around distribution centers and warehouses often have the reputation of being inefficient and relying too heavily on manual labor. But the best-performing operations realize the significance of solid yard management to company profitability....
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Do You Have the Right Vehicles?
By: By Sam Flanders
As your operation grows, the type of powered vehicles that will work best for you may change. Growth often means increasing numbers of SKUs and larger on-hand quantities. If your company provides replacement consumables or spare parts, you may find a growing parts inventory that must be maintained and selected from....
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E-learning Pays, Part 2
By: By Art Hall and Kathryn Jackson
This week, the authors take a look at how e-learning increases the value of the call center to the company. ...
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How To Be Green
Here are six steps you can take to ensure that your firm is both profitable and environmentally responsible....
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How Investing in Automation Can Cut Your Costs
By: By Dan Kaplan
In today’s competitive business reality, companies must lower their operating costs and increase productivity just to survive. Yet many companies are reluctant to upgrade their warehouse computer systems, remembering past experiences and not wanting to incur new expenses. What they fail to realize is that having aging software will result in higher operating costs companywide and excess inventory in the warehouse--meaning a decrease in profits. ...
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Coping with Seasonal Crunch Time
By: By Sam Flanders
Summer is almost over. If you are in the business of distributing to consumers, you are probably thinking about the upcoming busy season and what can you do to get ready for the impending onslaught or orders. How can you be sure to keep your service commitments even on your heaviest shipping days? ...
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Tale of the Tape: Drawer Storage Cabinets vs Traditional Shelving
By: By John Alfieri
Opening arguments: The time has come to make a decision about your storage equipment. You have many options, but one over-riding important decision you need to make is whether to go with drawer storage cabinets or traditional shelving. ...
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3 Ways E-learning Pays
By: By Art Hall and Kathryn Jackson, Ph.D.
Once thought to be too expensive for the call center, e-learning is hot. Through the Web, E-learning allows your customer service reps to brush up on customer service skills or training between calls and shifts. This is the first in a three-part series on the value of e-learning....
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Why Continuous Slotting Is So Critical
By: By Don Savage
Anyone would agree that slotting--the ideal placement of products in a warehouse--has an enormous effect on the productivity of a distribution center. In a typical picking system, it can mean the difference between 60 and 200 lines per man hour pick rates. ...
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How Receiving Affects the Supply Chain
By: By Sam Flanders
This series investigates what might happen if you think outside of the warehouse box and consider how changes made outside your distribution center may end up benefiting your operation and saving you money. Here are three tips to improve receiving....
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Shopping for a 3PL
Timeliness of deliveries, product condition, order accuracy and vendor compliance all affect customer satisfaction and ongoing profitability. When a company begins underperforming, improvements need to be made. The choices include making distribution improvements through process, technology and/or management modifications, or contracting with a third party logistics provider....
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Batching Orders Can Cut Down on Travel
By: By Sam Flanders
As your operation grows, the type of order selection vehicles that will work best for you may change. Growth often means increasing numbers of SKUs, and larger on-hand quantities. It is not uncommon for shelving storage requirements to grow to cases on pallet rack shelving, and then to full pallet loads of a single SKU. In a business where items are constantly added and changing, you may find that SKUs will proliferate. All of these factors can combine to create extra travel that can place a growing burden on your order picking staff. Fortunately, there are some powered vehicle options that can help....
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The Fulfillment Doctor On: Scripted Demos and the OMS
By: By Curt Barry
Question: We have been investigating replacing our order management system, and we have had vendors in to demonstrate their systems. While we have spent a lot of time, we don’t ever seem to see the whole system or the particular features that are critical to our business.
Answer: Two words: scripted demos.
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The Skinny on Order Completion Analysis
By: By Sam Flanders
"Data analysis" is a name given to the process of evaluating and interpreting historical electronic data. In distribution environments, we most commonly look at historical product and order data, to look for patterns and opportunities that are not apparent from observation alone. This month I look at a specific type of analysis which can be done for operations that have a small number of SKUs common to many orders....
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Tackling Shipping Costs – Strategies to Save 10%
By: By Rob Martinez
Best-in-class operations use shipping as a strategic competitive weapon to attract new customers, improve sales conversion ratios and increase profitability. You can typically reduce shipping costs by 10% or more through carrier contract negotiations and other strategies....
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