The Case for Yard Management Systems, Part II
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. ...
Delivering on a promise
Eric Lituchy runs a lean operation. His online gift firm, Delightful Deliveries, drop ships all of its orders. And this allows it to add product lines like gourmet-baked goods without making costly inventory commitments. “Without drop-shipping, I wouldn't have a business,” CEO Lituchy says....
Pick a peck of products
Sales were booming at Evergreen Enterprises. So the firm expanded into a 500,000 sq. ft. warehouse to handle the volume. That's where the trouble started....
Giving FEEDBACK
Why put yourself through the agony of giving performance feedback when 1) the problem really isn't very bad, 2) she's probably not going to change anyway,...
Swiss Colony heads to Shanghai
Swiss Colony has been buying clothing and furniture from suppliers in China for about eight years, “but the volume has grown significantly over the past four years,” says president John Baumann. That's why the multititle mailer plans to open an office in Shanghai in October....
The Case for Yard Management Systems
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....
Do You Have the Right Vehicles?
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....
Having Her Say: Customer Service is Declining Again
According to a new survey from marketing consultancy Hornstein Associates, customer service standards have hit an all time low in 2007. E-mail response to customer queries declined 50% since 2002. The report argues that a heavy reliance on technology—with little attention paid to best practices—is responsible for companies’ poor performance....
E-learning Pays, Part III
The chief purpose of a call center is to provide the company with efficient, cost-effective customer interactions, but many managers are too busy putting out fires to concentrate on efficiency. Once implemented, e-learning is a time- and organization-saver. ...
Awaken From The Customer Relationship Coma
The word coma means deep unconsciousness which seems to be the state to which some customer care organizations have evolved. How this happens is a curious combination of submission, negligence, and just-plain burnout from the battles and demands customer care professionals often face routinely....
Avoiding Dead Air
As in broadcasting, silence, or dead air, is not golden on the telephone line. In fact, it's anything but. And it can wreak havoc in your contact center, especially among newer customer service representatives....
E-learning Pays, Part 2
This week, the authors take a look at how e-learning increases the value of the call center to the company. ...
How To Be Green
Here are six steps you can take to ensure that your firm is both profitable and environmentally responsible....
How Investing in Automation Can Cut Your Costs
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. ...
Transpromotional Documents: The Good and the Bad
Are transpromotional documents the future of direct mail?...
Shanghai Sourcing Office for Swiss Colony
As Swiss Colony continues to increase the amount of apparel and hard goods it imports from China, the multititle mailer plans to open an office in Shanghai in October. ...
Tale of the Tape: Drawer Storage Cabinets vs Traditional Shelving
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. ...
3 Ways E-learning Pays
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....
Avoiding One Bounce Too Many
In prior columns, I’ve discussed the importance of recognizing e-mail deliverability for what it is and mastering it with a smart bounce management system. Let’s now look at what you do with the data from such a system to improve your marketing effectiveness....
Why Continuous Slotting Is So Critical
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. ...
How Receiving Affects the Supply Chain
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....
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....
Expanding Existing Warehouse Capacity
Here are the top 15 elements we review when assessing a current warehouse layout....
Harry & David DC a Big Deal in Ohio
Harry & David's largest distribution center is about to get a little bigger: The multichannel retailer best known for its Moose Munch candy mix and its Royal Riviera pears is adding 45,000 sq.-ft. to its Hebron, OH-based facility. The $16 million expansion will be completed in fall 2008. ...
It's August. Are You DPV-Compliant?
So, what is delivery point validation, how is it affecting mailers, and what can they do to keep their mailstream costs down? This is info you need to know, since the regulatory chance went into affect today....
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