Rama Ramaswami

short takes

| Rama Ramaswami

Plug and Play? Not yet, although retailers wish they could. Ideally, a customer would be able to buy anything from anywhere – a brick-and-mortar store,

Run for Cover

| Rama Ramaswami

Everyone knows that customer service stinks. The press gleefully offers up statistics about the thousands of e-mails that go unanswered, the multitudes

short takes

| Rama Ramaswami

Steppin’ Out You can never be too rich or too thin – or, it seems, outsource too much. For those who believed the fad would pass, a new report, “Outsourcing

MANUAL LABOR

| Rama Ramaswami

In most distribution facilities, `hands-on’ means just that, and labor retention is more urgent than technology upgrades. The results of our comprehensive

short takes

| Rama Ramaswami

When Worlds Collide If you’re at all involved in e-commerce, chances are that you’ll need to negotiate with foreign customers or set up operations abroad

The Inner Child

| Rama Ramaswami

As I began writing what was going to be an editorial on management style, I came across an article in The Industry Standard (Oct. 30) reporting that dot.com

MICHAEL B. BARRETT

| Rama Ramaswami

What got you started in distribution?My family ran cut-and-sew factories, and I started working there when I was 15, cleaning toilets and working summers.

Outward Bound

| Rama Ramaswami

Every April, it’s travel time for the editors of Operations & Fulfillment. That’s when we scurry around the country visiting five trade shows in four

introduction

| Rama Ramaswami

Then and Now As we enter the second millennium, it is fitting to dust off an old classic: Fenvessy on Fulfillment: The Catalog Executive’s Guide, a manual

short takes

| Rama Ramaswami

Customers First Like just about every other industry today, the third-party logistics (3PL) business has become keenly aware of the importance of keeping