Image Enabling The Supply Chain

  An Engaging UI UX is a Key ingredient for your Enterprise Supply Chain Apps. A very good UI (user Interface) and hence a very good UX (User Experience) is an important component in improving the warehouse and distribution center productivity. In this day and age where Apple and Android have completely changed the user experience that is so easy to not only understand and use the app within seconds, but also figure out any new capabilities on an intuitive basis using hand gestures such as touches, swipes, pinches etc., it is very important to pay attention to the enterprise apps that are deployed in your Supply Chains today. Particularly in the distribution center, there is significant time that is spent on training the end users. I’ve seen many distribution centers that are literally revolving doors, where personnel come and go. All these personnel go through training for weeks to understand and to improve their proficiency in their work, so that is at least 40 hours spent per em...

  This best practice is about the importance of UI (User Interface) in improving the distribution center productivity. In this day and age where Apple and Android have completely changed the user experience that is so easy to understand and use the app. Particularly in the distribution center the time is spent significantly on training the end users. I’ve seen many distribution centers that are literally revolving doors, where personnel come and go. All these personnel go through training for days or weeks to understand and to improve their proficiency in their work. If 50 percent of the employees leave after getting  trained  that’s still a lot of time wasted. Then that’s also a lot of dollars spent on the training time. These kind of training scenarios could be significantly reduced if you choose a tool with a very good UI. The mobile technology is evolving and at the same time it is very important to choose the tools with the best UI because that will not only reduce y...

  We can all imagine drones moving boxes in the distribution center. However, there are a couple of reasons that make it difficult to move boxes today. That being said, another scenario offers even a more compelling advantage: inventory control. Of course, a few technological hurdles need to be overcome for this idea to be really feasible. Today, the payload for a drone is limited. To increase the payload, the drones need more motors and propellers, which increases the size of the drone significantly. This size increase also its battery efficiency. After installing this many propellers and battery, the flight time on the drone might only be 15 to 20 minutes with a payload of maximum 10 to 15 pounds. In order to keep the drones operating, there have to be recharging stations where the drones have to be sent every 15 minutes. Again fast charging technology will help here, but that technology is not fully ready yet. So this significantly reduces the feasibility of drone deplo...

  1. Introduction  This is a leading supplier of shelf-stable, dairy based food, and beverage products for large CPG companies, emerging beverage brands, and private label retailers nationwide. The Company is the partner of choice in RTD beverage industry for top brands and private label retailers for food and beverage products including RTD coffees and teas, dips, beer, sauces, and snacks. They have the expertise necessary to meet highly demanding consumer and regulatory requirements. Their capabilities include retort thermal processing expertise, in-house formulation resources, clean label, and organic production, and more. Recently, this Food and Beverage Processing Company implemented LoadProof – the centralized enterprise photo documentation system for Food and Beverage products. This document describes the benefits that an effective photo documentation process can bring to avoiding load rejects with retailers. 2. Leading Food and Beverage Processing Company Supply chain ...

  In the distribution center (DC), technology has taken over many manually intensive, paper-based processes. That progression is fascinating.  Technology is being leveraged to create superior processes and connect workers seamlessly throughout the distribution center. Early in 2000, I visited a Detroit-area DC that based its efficiency on highly disciplined paper-based processes, ruled by the iron fist of the DC manager. This tough woman had more than 30 years of experience in the organization, which had a 50-plus history. The seventy-year-old owner still visited headquarters daily.  My visit showed me clearly the source of their success: a willingness to change and improve.  Instead of laying off experienced (i.e. older) workers, this company worked to update their skillsets and maintain their value in the organization. The company had called us in to deploy a Warehouse Management System (WMS). We found that the biggest challenge was not the technology, but the peop...

  Is retail dead? This became the crux of the matter when I found myself invited to pitch in front of a leading retailer at the  Advanced Technology Development Center  (ATDC) at Georgia Tech. It was an exciting opportunity that was dulled when the name of the retailer was revealed.  They are losing market share to Amazon, the big elephant in every conference room discussing supply chain topics. This retailer was on a downhill slide, shutting multiple store locations. There are two ways to look at this situation. I could figure that it was a waste of time doing this pitch. The other was to try to turn adversity into opportunity. You can guess which approach I chose. Part of what led me to this decision was a distinct retail experience from my past. In those days, I saw a Kenneth Cole shoe at a local retailer. My salary was sparse, so I had to plan for the purchase, and wait for a sale. Finally, I got a coupon after about six months, and I was so excited I woke up ear...

  It’s one thing to rave about the benefits that IoT will deliver to a distribution center, but it’s another to get a look at how it really adds value and provides actionable insights. Let’s take a look at one experience I had recently. Recently, I was at a prospect site for a pilot demonstrating our technology. Typically, we show up at the client site Monday morning and get things up and running in an hour. We connect our devices to the WIFI network, then to the Warehouse Management System (WMS). We put the devices in the hands of users, get them oriented with a mini training system and they start using them. We stay at the location all week, to make sure they can work through any obstacles and test the devices in as many scenarios and with as many users as possible. We try to go across different departments and user demographics as possible.  We gather feedback and at the end of each day we run through some important questions (one’s I recommend to any organization evaluatin...

  Here is the list of top 9 Best Practices to consider when shipping products to retailer/ customer.  It is also to be mentioned that most of these best practices can be accomplished easily with little process changes. A perfectly curated list of top warehouse shipping best practices! 1.The Best Practices in Avoiding Pallet Damages and Separation During Transit Avoid pallet damages and separation during domestic and international transits with these pallet transit best practices from the supply chain expert.  Read full article >> 2.The Pallets Loading Best Practice that you must consider at your Warehouse Facility Follow these warehouse pallet loading best practices while loading pallets with high value products in to the trailer. Applies to both local and international shipping.  Read full article >> 3.The Best Practices for Stacking Pallets and Products while Shipping Follow these stacking best practices while loading pallets and high value products in ...

  Data is the new oil of the Digital economy.   It has been said that data in the twenty-first century is like oil in the eighteenth century. I don’t agree with this 100%. Like oil, data has to be refined before it is used, and it’s only as valuable as the insights that are drawn from it. Further, oil is a limited commodity, and we all know that the deluge of data is getting bigger every day. And with the proliferation of sensors everywhere, especially in mobile devices, it is much easier to gather data from business operations and also get much better insights from it. We are data rich, but information poor ,  this is changing with the rise of AI, ML and the cost of computing power going down significantly experts are able to run several analytics models and cull out some deep insights from the data that is available. According to a McKinsey Report [1] Companies have managed to generate 20% of their revenue from Data and Analytics products and services Data experts are g...

  What are chargebacks? Chargebacks are fines that retailers impose on suppliers because the Retailers are doing extra work to process the Supplier’s product through the Retailer’s Supply Chain. Why are suppliers getting chargebacks? Because Supplier’s shipments are not fully in compliance with the requirements set by the retailers on how the shipments should be arriving at the Retailer’s distribution center If a supplier is not fully following the compliance requirements, then that needs to be addressed first. So dedicate a person to this activity, there are people called Compliance specialists available that know how to get this right, they have a lot of experience working with specific retailers or you will have to review the routing guide. However a very good chargeback system will show your people the mistakes being made If you are doing everything correctly, then still getting chargebacks, then the chargeback management system will absolutely help you Are you inc...

  This post is about the best practices to track the velocity of your SKUs which is important to know as a DC manager and as a director of DC. As a supply chain inventory manager of your supply chain you got to know what are your A SKU’s, what are your B SKU’s, what are your C SKU’s. A SKUs are the fastest moving SKUs and the B SKUs are the moderately moving SKUs and C SKUs are the slow moving SKUs. The last thing you want to know is how to slot your A SKUs, slotting all the way far at the back of the DC will make the operators to walk more. That’s why it’s very important to know your fast moving SKUs like A+ SKUs, which is even faster. There are even more fast moving SKUs that could be a seasonal phenomenon that happens only during the peaker holiday season, where someone is ordering a specific SKU like a not very popular toy or a very popular gift item for all their friends and family. Recently we had a customer that went live, there was a Rachael Ray’s Evoo bottle which was one ...

  Today, businesses large and small are blogging to get their ideas out there. My company is no different. We know it makes a difference since potential customers mention them. At the same time, we are always looking for new way to explore and expand the conversation about technology and the supply chain. For some, video is more engaging and convenient. At the same time, viewers are becoming increasingly demanding about quality. They only want to watch good quality video. In that pursuit, I set about researching and testing the available technology a number of years ago. I looked at the latest camcorders but soon realized that getting the footage from the recorder to YouTube was onerous. Next, I considered mobile devices. At the time, I had access to an iPhone 6 and found that it offered even better video quality than the camcorder. I got even better results with a Samsung Galaxy S7 Active phone. Finally, though, I settled upon the iPad Pro because I discovered a package c...

  That’s the fear, isn’t it? I think that this prediction is half right. The robots are coming, so brace yourself. Whether we like it or not, the robots are coming. However, I don’t think those robots are going to be taking over our jobs any time soon. We’re not looking at artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) that have reached sophistication where robots can take over our world. I just don’t see that happening. In the United States, we’ve seen some of the benefits of these technologies and the attendant automation. We also have built a culture of people who want to work. I don’t foresee a future where we send almost all of the humans home, leaving a few CEOs, like those at Amazon, Walmart, Costco and Boeing, to run everything using an army of robots. We have created complex systems and infrastructures in place—and they depend on the current economic systems. Perhaps someday, we’ll develop a basic income arrangement to make sure that people are funded to get what t...

  This distribution center best practice is called the cross docking. Cross-docking is basically sending a product you are sending from one dock to another dock i.e. from the receiving dock to the outbound shipping dock directly without any intermediary processes.  Cross-docking makes it so much efficient because you don’t have to send it to the reserve and then again from reserve to the active location and then pick from the active location. In the cross-docking process the quantity needed is recognized after the case comes-in. Then recognizing that there is a need for this product with the required number of units, you will be directly sending it to the outbound dock.  In the outbound dock a label gets applied and then it goes to the retail store. It’s much more common in the retail world because in the retail world you are shipping it from a DC and they are shipping to all the retail stores that they are serving so it’s okay if they ship one or two units extra. As you ...

  It was nice a Sunday evening at Orlando Florida. Our company, Smart Gladiator, was one of the Start-Up Technology companies that was selected to represent the Georgia team in the Retail Industry Association (RILA)  Retail Supply Chain Conference 2017 . The conference was full of educational sessions. Not just a source of subject matter experts discussing the major trends, the event was a great way to network and learn from other leaders and stalwarts of the Industry. The one that inspired me the most was a very down to earth, straight talk presentation by Crystal Hanlon, president of the Northern Division of  The Home Depot . She emphasized, just getting work done is not enough. One needs also to showcase the work done, so everybody, especially the influencers that are going to impact how you grow, are aware of your accomplishments. You need to take time, strategize and have a regular action in place, to communicate and showcase your accomplishments in front of these ex...

  1. Introduction  Recently, this Leading construction material manufacturer implemented LoadProof – the centralized enterprise photo documentation system. This document describes the benefits of effective photo documentation that helps in avoiding freight claims and chargebacks. This Leading construction material manufacturer makes drywall and joint compounds, among other things. This company is the largest maker of gypsum products in North America and the leading distributor of wallboard in the United States. Their business objective is to provide innovative solutions that enable people to work smarter, do more, and build better. Architects and construction firms require safer, faster, and less expensive methods of building. Building owners require structures that are more efficiently managed and have reduced operating costs. And the demand for environmentally friendly development to address global environmental issues is rapidly increasing. As a result, they are constantly ...

  Here is the list of top 9 Best Practices to consider when shipping products to retailer/ customer.  It is also to be mentioned that most of these best practices can be accomplished easily with little process changes. A perfectly curated list of top warehouse shipping best practices! 1.The Best Practices in Avoiding Pallet Damages and Separation During Transit Avoid pallet damages and separation during domestic and international transits with these pallet transit best practices from the supply chain expert.  Read full article >> 2.The Pallets Loading Best Practice that you must consider at your Warehouse Facility Follow these warehouse pallet loading best practices while loading pallets with high value products in to the trailer. Applies to both local and international shipping.  Read full article >> 3.The Best Practices for Stacking Pallets and Products while Shipping Follow these stacking best practices while loading pallets and high value products in ...