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 The Fulfillment Doctor Consults on . . . Systems Selection
By: By Brian Barry
Question: I am trying to select a new catalog management system that also includes warehouse functionality. After reading the brochures, talking with vendors, and participating in Webinars with them, how do I make sense of all the information?...
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Having His Say: Steamed About Second Hand Equipment
There was an article in The O+F Advisor titled 'Caveats of Buying Second Hand Equipment' by Robert Babel dated January 24, 2007. I have many problems with this article because so many statements in it just don't ring true to me. ...
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RFID: Star Potential or Big Bomb?
RFID is the hit reality series for the warehousing industry. Everyone has been watching it to some degree — perhaps directly in day-to-day business or at industry events and in trade magazines. And it seems to be something everybody's voting on. Some vote for it to go away while others vote for it to become more widely adopted. No matter how you cast your vote, it's here to stay. This article will help you discover what it means to you, your organization and the electrical industry....
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Boost the Accuracy of Call Volume Predictions
By: By Bob Webb
The usefulness of the staff schedule created by workforce management software will rise or fall on the reliability of the predictions it makes about the expected volume of incoming work. Without the right assumptions about the workload to be handled, the software’s ability to accurately calculate staffing needs is doomed. The effect on the bottom line can be as chilling as a bad day on Wall Street on an investor’s stock portfolio....
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What’s New in Portable Terminals and Scanners
By: By Sam Flanders
Portable terminals and scanners have been used in the warehouse in some form since the 1970s. Each year we see improvements in the technology in the areas of size, performance, and battery life. Radio-frequency (RF) technology has finally matured to the point where it is both economical and highly reliable. And now, in addition to terminals and scanners, voice technology has come into the mainstream. Let’s look at some of the newer developments occurring in the area of portable terminals and scanners for distribution. ...
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It’s All in the Approach
By: By Michael Droske
Being a supervisor in a fast-paced distribution center is a lot like being an airline pilot: Success is all in the approach....
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The Skinny on Space Utilization
By: By Jerry Vink
Finding room in the distribution center for product and necessary processes often ends up being a game of Tetris. Ineffectively placed pieces decrease your time to react, space starts getting tight, and placing new pieces becomes a challenge....
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Four Questions to Ask a 3PL Provider
By: By Stephen Olds
A general once said, "Amateurs talk about tactics, but professionals study logistics." While this is no doubt true in combat, it would be fairer and more accurate to say that, in business, successful firms focus on their core mission and leave logistics to professionals. That’s why many companies outsource their fulfillment to a third-party logistics (3PL) provider....
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3PL Providers: Beyond Drop-Shipping
By: By Kevin Faeger
As businesses develop, management teams must continually implement new strategies and ideas to help manage this growth. In many instances this involves the outsourcing of the shipping and fulfillment departments to third-party logistics (3PL) provider. These providers typically offer a set of services that cater to the needs of midsize and large companies that require multiple packaging, shipping, and storage solutions. ...
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The Fulfillment Doctor….On Third-Party Fulfillment
By: By Curt Barry
Most of the direct world uses internal fulfillment. Many companies don’t think that they can achieve and maintain high service levels using third-party fulfillment (3PF), or they fear that outsourcing will cost more per order. And, of course, many are dubious about turning over control. ...
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10 Steps in SKU Profiling
By: By Alan McDonald
For a long time, finding the most efficient method of storing and retrieving inventory in the warehouse was quite a challenge: SKU data was very difficult to gather and even more difficult to process. Now, however, technology has developed to the point that anyone with the right inventory tracking system and a PC can conduct at least a rudimentary analysis of their products....
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Building Your Battle Plan
By: By Sam Flanders
Many of you are asking yourself, "How can I make the biggest positive impact in 2007?" The options are endless. To help you determine where you should invest your own mental energy and the energy of your team, ask yourself some focused questions:...
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Voice-Direct Picking: Pros and Cons
By: By René Jones
You’ve probably seen those commercials that extol the reliability of the Verizon Wireless network—the ones with the guy walking all over the world asking, “Can you hear me now?” Every time I see one of those commercials, I picture warehouse personnel talking to anyone in the company who doesn't work in the warehouse: people in sales, in purchasing--even their supervisors. Often warehouse folks talk about ways to improve productivity in the warehouse, but no one listens....
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Caveats of Buying Second-Hand Equipment
By: By Robert Babel
Buying used equipment can save you money up front. But it can also cost you more in the long run. Keep these stipulations in mind when considering preowned equipment. ...
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Supporting Telephone, E-mail and Chat Inquiries
By: By Kathryn Jackson
Can one agent handle telephone, e-mail, and chat inquries? And is that even a good idea? That depends on the communication skills you evaluated your agents on prior to hiring them and/or any additional training you have provided them since. Verbal and written communication skills are two distinct competencies, and being well-versed in one doesn't necessarily guarantee success in the other....
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Four Steps in Selecting a Business System
By: By Curt Barry
Whether your company needs a commercially packaged warehouse management system, point of sales system, an inventory control system, a direct-to-customer order management system --or some combination of the aforementioned, selecting of the right system is a major undertaking....
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Quick Tip: Behold the Mouse Cart
Are you looking to build a better mouse trap in your facility? You might start with the mouse cart. What's a mouse cart, you ask? The mouse cart is a unique vehicle that can get a picker quickly around the facility. It is ideal for instances that require long travels between picks....
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How You Can Harvest Acres of Diamonds
By: By Debra Ellis
You wouldn't think many operations execs could learn from book but “Acres of Diamonds” by Russell H. Conwell may hold a lesson for distribution center managers. The book tells the story of a man who sells his farm to search for diamonds. He spends his life searching for riches and dies a pauper. After the sale, acres of diamonds were discovered on his farm....
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Survey: Outsourcing Still Maturing
A recent survey from Raleigh, NC-based supply chain solutions provider Tompkins Associates finds that despite its rapid growth, outsourcing is still a maturing industry,” according to Steven Simonson, principal and author of the "Outsourced DC Operations" report. “Currently, only a third of respondents to the benchmarking and best practices survey are outsourcing some portion of their distribution operations. Much room exists for continued expansion,” he says....
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Leveraging Technology for Fulfillment Success
By: By Robert Tompkins
Technology is the cornerstone of an efficient fulfillment operation. It’s through technology that guesswork is eliminated from the fulfillment process, human error is reduced, and products and content go to market faster and at a lower cost....
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Ask the Fulfillment Doctor: Dashboard Dials
By: By Curt Barry
Imagine a series of dials in the corporate cockpit that reflect key indicators in customer service, sales tracking, and profitability. When tightly structured, these dials can give management an accurate and timely picture of the business—a carefully calibrated corporate spot check. ...
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Weighing Land Availability and Costs in Site Selection
By: By Stan Danzig and John K. Porter, Jr.
A decade ago land cost, along with construction cost, were the primary site selection factors when determining where to locate a warehouse or distribution center. Today, however, even in an environment where land and rental costs are increasing, these factors are no longer the primary consideration....
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Getting a Grip on Agent Time Utilization, Part II
By: By Kathryn Jackson Ph.D
Once the team has defined the work states, it should establish a start date and train the agents on work-state definitions. It usually helps to train the agents in small groups and to produce a job aid that can be placed in their workspace for quick reference (don’t worry, agents quickly memorize the activities and their corresponding work states)....
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The Skinny on Put-to-light
By: By Sam Flanders
Put to light is a way to direct activities such as single item distribution and order consolidation via light directed devices. Put to light uses the same hardware as a pick-to- light system, but it reverses the process....
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