Technology for All In a retail era dominated by e-commerce giants, customer expectations have shifted towards instant product delivery at no cost. To meet these demands and ensure superior delivery experiences, retailers and carriers must leverage last-mile delivery technology. Previously, only large companies such as Amazon and FedEx possessed the network and scale required for […]

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A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to speak with Kushal Nahata, Co-Founder and CEO at FarEye. In this conversation, Kushal and I talked about the complexities of last mile delivery. I asked Kushal to give some deeper insights on a few key points. First, what are some things companies can do to reduce […]

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Manhattan Associates, a supplier of supply chain management software solutions and the market share leader for warehouse management systems (WMS), had their Momentum user conference a couple of weeks ago. Sanjeev Siotia, the chief technology officer at Manhattan, spoke about the role of ChatGPT for supply chain management in one of the keynotes on day […]

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Ever since I was a kid, cartoons showed me that dogs like to bite the mail carrier. I always assumed this was just a joke. And for the most part, it is just that – an ongoing joke. But, more than 5,300 Postal Service employees were attacked by dogs while delivering mail last year. Aggressive […]

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Retailers know firsthand how quickly the market can change. One day, a product is flying off the shelves, and the next, it’s gathering dust. That’s why staying on top of the latest supply chain planning trends is so important – they can make all the difference when it comes to staying competitive, reducing costs, and […]

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Manhattan Associates hosted its annual user conference, Manhattan Momentum, in Phoenix, AZ this week. “Move Life and Commerce Forward” was the theme of the conference. I believe many of us can relate to this theme on a business and personal level, as the impacts of COVID-19 were felt by virtually all businesses and individuals. But […]

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Last night, I took my 13-year-old son to see the movie Air, which tells the story of how Nike pursued basketball rookie Michael Jordan in 1984 to sign with the company. That move, and Michael Jordan’s incredible talent and business acumen, has turned the Jordan brand into a multi-billion-dollar business. For my son, he loved […]

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“Our rules of thumb are no longer up to the challenge.” This description by a Chief Supply Chain Officer of the state of the supply chain he found in his new role stuck with me. The tumult of our times has accelerated interest in artificial intelligence (AI) for help more advanced than rules, and ChatGPT’s […]

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Raymour & Flanigan evaluated its warehouse software capabilities as part of a broader systems upgrade initiative. Raymour & Flanigan, in partnership with Alpine Supply Chain, uncovered great opportunities for productivity improvements that could be realized from system-directed put-away and picking, and from the introduction of opportunistic cross-docking. Furthermore, the insights [...]

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In early May, I participated in one of the supply chain industry’s premier events, which attracted more than 3,500 logistics professionals. I attend this conference every year, but this time, strolling the exhibition floor and surveying the 110+ technology providers’ latest wares, I was struck by a dichotomy. On the one hand, technology has undeniably […]

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Imagine you’ve just received the job offer of your dreams. The company is willing to relocate you thousands of miles away from home and your family is in full support. The interview process is over, but more challenges are ahead. Which school are your children going to attend? Are you going to rent a house […]

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I have written about drones a lot here in the past, and all the practical (and often times impractical) applications they have been used for. I saw an interesting story earlier this week about how a police department in a small Maryland city is using drones in its effort to thwart illegal dirt bike riding […]

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Warehouse performance continues to evolve into a more complex, multi-faceted measure. Performance today embodies not only the traditional measures of accuracy and cost-efficiency, but also responsiveness and agility. The importance of these capabilities has increased due to some interesting competitive pressures in the market. And the stimuli continue to change, gradually shifting the relative importance of these capabilities. There were a range of reasons given as to “why” a given performance objective increased in importance. But there were two common threads. The reasons boiled down [...]

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Steve Lewis, the president of GXO Direct, the shared services division of GXO Logistics, spoke at Blue Yonder’s ICON user conference. Blue Yonder is one of the world’s largest providers of supply chain software solutions. GXO is the world’s largest contract warehousing provider. Afterwards, Mr. Lewis spoke in more detail to industry analysts. Mr. Lewis […]

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I’ve often wondered what happens to clothes that can’t be sold. And I’ve covered this before when thinking about the “Championship” clothing of a team that lost. But it turns out, unfortunately, that there is so much more material waste in this world that we never think about. A mountain of discarded clothing, including Christmas […]

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The concept of digital twins has emerged as a powerful foundational tool to drive improvements in warehouse productivity and efficiency. To define what exactly it is, a digital twin is a virtual replica of a physical asset, process, or system. In the warehouse context, a digital twin can be created to represent the physical layout, […]

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I spent the better part of last week in Las Vegas, NV attending the Blue Yonder ICON customer conference. This was the first time I have attended a Blue Yonder conference in person since 2019, which feels like a lifetime ago. The conference certainly did not disappoint, as there were hundreds of sessions, interesting keynotes, […]

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Traditionally, planning processes are designed to serve specific time horizons – sales & operations execution (S&OE) is used for short term horizon, sales & operations planning (S&OP) for the mid-term horizon, and integrated business planning (IBP) for long term strategic horizon. In its ideal form, supply chain planning should help leaders balance customer service with […]

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Call me out of touch, but yesterday, May 4th, was the first I had heard of Star Wars Day – better known as “May The 4th Be With You!” As I read further, I learned that May 25, 1977 was the release date of the original Star Wars movie. And it is celebrated by some […]

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Note: Today’s post is part of our “Editor’s Choice” series where we highlight recent posts published by our sponsors that provide supply chain insights and advice. Today’s article comes from Erin Sun at Oracle and identifies five supply chain success factors CPG companies need to know for increased profitability. Optimizing a vast and complex supply chain […]

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