The Skinny on Sublines
It’s a dilemma nearly every distribution center manager faces: To remain competitive, costs have to come down. But a number of factors are pushing costs in the opposite direction....
Zone Skipping: Yea or Nay? Part II
So you’ve decided that a zone-skipping program can most likely cut your costs or improve your delivery times? That’s great. But before you go any further, take a look at the four keys to a successful program:...
Practical Perspectives with Bill Kuipers
Q: We had a great fourth quarter in terms of sales, but we got killed in operations. Our service levels deteriorated in every department. Should we consider a third-party call center for overflow, and what systems should we consider to replace our current one? ...
NewRoads Tallies Holiday Results
Multichannel merchants have lots to ho-ho-ho about, if the Christmas season results from Huntersville, NC-based NewRoads are indicative of the industry as a whole. ...
Five Mistakes That Will Doom Your WMS Implementation
In the course of implementing numerous warehouse management systems (WMSs) and other software applications over the years, I’ve come across numerous problems and pitfalls. ...
Ecometry Partners with IBM Point of Sale Group
Delray Beach, FL-based Ecometry is partnering with the IBM Point of Sale (POS) Retail Store Solution Group. The partnership results from a relationship IBM had with ADS Retail, an Upper Marlboro, MD-based provider of point-of-sale software, which Ecometry acquired in October 2005. ...
Zone Skipping: Yea or Nay?
Multichannel merchants are faced with rising costs and continued pressure on margins. Transportation and fulfillment/logistics costs generally represent 7%-15% of costs of goods sold or 3%-9% of revenue. ...
Practical Perspectives….with Bill Kuipers
Q: I have a question about slotting. Is buying a software package necessarily the answer? ...
Is Fear of Costing You Money?
Do you wish you could improve service while reducing costs? Or reduce risk when making decisions? Benchmarking will help you do all that and more. So why are you not benchmarking today? It’s simple. Implementing a benchmarking program is overwhelming...
Performing a Holiday Season Fulfillment Center Post Mortem
Last week Curt Barry of F. Curtis Barry & Co. shared his thoughts on planning a holiday post mortem as a way to improve operations for next year (“Are You Ready for Holiday 2006?”) Because one can’t underestimate the importance of improving your peak-season processes, with this issue Wayne Teres, president of Framingham, MA-based operations consultancy Teres Consulting (www.Teresconulting.com), offers the first of a two-part series on reviewing the season past and implementing improvements for the season to come....
The True Cost of Fragmentation
In the world of distribution, “fragmentation” describes fulfilling from more than one location. It is the opposite of “consolidation,” the act of bringing multiple points of distribution under one roof. You say you’ve never heard “fragmentation” used this way before? That’s because I just made it up—call it literary license....
Ask the DC Doctor
Welcome to a new recurring feature, in which Bill Kuipers, president of Haskell, NJ-based operational consultancy Spaide Kuipers, diagnoses your warehouse and fulfillment ills and prescribes a solution....
Study: Simpler Online Returns Make Happier Customers
Online retailers need to view returns as a key component of consumer marketing rather than as an annoying disturbance in the supply chain....
Are You Ready for Holiday 2006?
Promises, promises. All businesses make them, but the best actually deliver. Now is the time to conduct a post mortem of how well your multichannel business performed in holiday 2005 and to develop plans for improvement for holiday 2006. While it may seem early to start planning for the coming holiday season, now is the best time because your people will remember vividly the good and bad incidents, ...
Six Steps to Selecting the Optimal Order Management System
It’s time to replace your order management system, you say? How are you going to undertake this daunting project? First and foremost, you need to create a systems project team ...
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