Model Opportunities

| MCM staff

FOR MANY CATALOGERS, the right customers may be just a modeling application away. Confronted with shrinking list universes, reduced response rates, and

Woodworker’s Supply Buys Defunct Rival

| Paul Miller

At one point in the late 1990s, Lynn, MA-based Trend-Lines had annual sales of $230 million. The cataloger/ retailer of woodworking tools suffered a reversal

Woodworker’s Supply Buys Defunct Rival

| Paul Miller

The rise and fall of Trend-Lines, a cataloger/retailer of woodworking tools whose sales reached $230 million in the late 1990s, quietly ended on March

Twice as Nice

| Jeff Morris

SURE, MCDONALD’S MAY BE DOWNSIZING its menu, but don’t let that fool you. When it comes to food, it’s unlikely you can have too much of a good thing.

Dealing with Problem Children

| Margery Weinstein

On the operations side of the business, catalogers all too often must contend with chronically tardy employees, workers too wracked with personal problems

Checking Accuracy

| MCM staff

Q We plan to launch an employee incentive program to eliminate errors in the warehouse. To ensure that the right product is shipped, how can we motivate

Perfect Shipment

| MCM staff

99.9% That’s Herbalife’s order accuracy rate, pre-inspection. Impressive, but not good enough when you’re intent on shipping the perfect shipment. So,

Acquiring a WMS

| Ernie Schell

Every distribution center requires the functions provided by a warehouse management system (WMS) to facilitate inventory movement, from receiving and

RFID, Warmed Over

| MCM staff

According to a popular myth circulating on the Internet, the new U.S. $20 bill contains a hidden RFID chip that will explode if the bill is microwaved.