Fulfillment Operations: Scaling Starts with Strong Systems

| Brian Mattingly

Scaling for growth and business fluctuations are expected to be a primary focus for retailers and brands this year, and has a major impact on fulfillment operations. Before you get ahead of your skis on automation and robotics, here are some basics on doing a needs assessment and a system check to align investments with business needs.

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Speed Commerce Reassembles Team from Rakuten Super Logistics

| Mike O'Brien

Five executives who departed Rakuten Super Logistics after the Japanese parent company sold the assets in 2022 to FirstMile owner Devin Johnson have now found a home at Speed Commerce, which finds itself in expansion mode, with a focus on mid-market ecommerce firms.

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Amazon Workers Stage First UK Walkout

| Mike O'Brien

While Amazon has been able to stay ahead of growing efforts at labor organizing in the U.S., at least for the time being, union workers at an Amazon facility in the UK midlands have walked off the job in protest over pay, a first in the country, according to several media reports.

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WMS KPIs: Data, Measurement Optimize Performance

| Erhan Musaoglu

How are you leveraging your WMS KPIs? The answer can dictate your level of success in ecommerce and direct-to-consumer (DTC) fulfillment operations performance. The post-holiday peak period is the right time to assess your data and KPIs to help you measure performance and the bottom-line impact of process changes.

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Walmart Envisions Drone Delivery for Millions

| Mike O'Brien

Walmart is starting to see demand pick up for its drone delivery service, as the giant retailer has expanded to 37 store-based deployment hubs in seven states and 26 municipalities, with 6,000 deliveries in 2022, an executive told attendees at NRF’s Big Show 2023 in New York.

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Shipium Looks to Replicate Amazon Experience

| Mike O'Brien

Shipium co-founder Jason Murray is all about replicating an Amazon-like experience for shippers, having spent 20 years there helping shape its logistics and fulfillment technology, and now uses stochastic data science and predictive modeling to deliver better SLAs and cost savings.

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Supply Chain Jobs: Why Zoomers, Millennials Don’t Love Them

| Gabe Grifoni

Ask a millennial (the generation born between 1981 and 1997) or Gen Z (born between 1997-2015) to name his or her top 5 exciting and rewarding careers, and there is a strong chance that a supply chain professional isn’t going to be on that list. Here’s how to overcome this recruitment roadblock and attract the next generation of talent.

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3PL Sector Sees Some Consolidation

| Mike O'Brien

If any sector was ever ripe for consolidation, it’s third-party logistics (3PL), with literally thousands of companies plying their trade, looking to help retail shippers outsource fulfillment, storage, shipping and other operational aspects. Well, 2022 got us at least part of the way there. Here are some of the deals that got done.

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The Supply Chain Continues to Be the Story

| Mike O'Brien

In 2020, every consumer who had been the beneficiary of a mysterious apparatus called the supply chain to magically whisk goods to their door suddenly became aware it existed. In 2022, supply chain doings still dominated headlines as shippers, carriers and suppliers continued to grapple with myriad issues.

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Warehouse Space Demand Will Shrink in 2023

| Mike O'Brien

Demand for warehouse space will decrease in 2023, experts predicted, but companies will still be looking to fill in network gaps opportunistically, while continuing to move sourcing and inventory closer to domestic customers to hedge against supply chain shocks. Consolidation of the 3PL sector is expected to continue.