Despite all the advances in warehouse automation for ecommerce fulfillment, enabling greater efficiency and addressing the common difficulty of finding enough workers to perform the highly repetitive, physical tasks, most organizations are not looking to jump in with both feet. The COO of 3PL Boxzooka explains why the company is taking a more measured approach.
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.
This special report from Multichannel Merchant will address how the right tools and technology not only provide greater inventory accuracy and visibility, but help you prioritize and track SKU movement within a facility, among network nodes and in partner channels. It will also cover advanced capabilities as well as must-have systems.
A tiny startup union dealt a major blow to mighty Amazon with a successful vote at a fulfillment center on Staten Island, NY led by a worker who had been fired two years ago, a move that backfired on the multi-million-dollar effort to thwart the organizing effort. But the matter is far from over as Amazon is sure to challenge the vote.
There are several basic principles that apply to ecommerce fulfillment center layout and design that tie into operating an efficient facility. Without them, you’ll face capacity issues, decreased productivity and storage inadequacies. Here are 11 key principles to consider when looking at FC layout, design and productivity.
As you plan your WMS budget, two main areas that get initial budget attention are user licenses and costs and professional service fees. But companies often underestimate the equipment requirements, server capacity and communication bandwidth. You may find the needs are larger and more complex than you thought.
As you select a new WMS for your ecommerce fulfillment operation, it’s clear not all are created equal in terms of core functionality. WMS add-on modules are typically available to extend the core system with additional functions. You need to not only understand the benefits of the add-on but also how it affects the TCO and ROI.
Best-practice companies have designed their storage and inventory control processes and systems to meet the needs of the current and planned mix of storage types, including optimization of storage locations and layouts. Here are some tips to help you optimize location, tracking, retrieval and timely processing of customer orders.
Big data presents supply chain and ecommerce fulfillment center managers with an unprecedented opportunity to acquire real-time visibility of goods in transit and part of inventory. But this also comes with a set of challenges, not least of which is how to manage the resulting flow of information without becoming drowned in data.
Flexe, pioneer of he concept of warehouse on demand, has raised $70 million to build out its technology platform and facilities network connecting shippers with available space while also providing WMS and OMS capabilities. The company has increased its facilities base 50% to 1,500 in the past year as ecommerce demand has exploded.