Warehouse Management

Supply chains and logistics have seen seismic shifts forward in recent years. In 2020 alone, companies fast-tracked the digital transformation of their internal operations — and their customer and supply chain interactions — by three years to four years. The digitization of third-party logistics (3PL) providers began in the mid-90s, but the pandemic fueled progress…

The news cycle is confusing. We hear warehouse vacancy rates are at a 27-year low. Then we read that new warehouses are being developed at record rates and that Amazon.com is shedding excess space. At the end of the day, the lived experience of most retailers and merchants is that capacity is tight — and expensive.…

The COVID pandemic reshaped the world of e-commerce and, concurrently, consumer expectations. With most brick-and-mortar stores temporarily shuttered, consumers moved online en masse and found a revamped online shopping experience. One report found that the pandemic accelerated the global shift to e-commerce by five years. But now, as the world returns to “normal,” online retailers…

We've all noticed many of the things we buy are in short supply. From our favorite foods to furniture, items that once seemed to be in abundance on store shelves or online are out of stock and often come with lengthy waitlists. Pandemic-induced supply chain plagues — like chip shortages, labor shortages, and backlogged cargo…

From the manufacturing of goods to shipping to last-mile fulfillment and delivery, the entire supply chain has seen its challenges over the last few years. It's difficult for everyone directly involved to relieve the stresses being put on the cogs that keep the machine running. With the increase in consumer demand for at-home deliveries during…

The retail distribution center has undergone a significant transformation in the last five years. Once a fairly predictable — and largely manual — operation focused on store replenishment, today’s retail distribution center has become the hub of an omnichannel retail strategy. The impact of the changes required by this transformation are hard to overstate. From…

The New York attorney general is going after Amazon.com, accusing the e-commerce giant of rolling back protocols for COVID-19 in at least one of its warehouses. New York Attorney General Letitia James sought an emergency court order on Tuesday, saying Amazon's decision on COVID-19 safety leaves employees at a higher risk of exposure to the coronavirus. James…

American consumers spent a whopping $861.12 billion with online retailers in 2020, up 44 percent from the previous year. Amazon.com, the largest North American online retailer, reported a significant rise in site visits in January 2021, up 20 percent from the year prior. It’s plain to see that e-commerce is blowing up, and we don’t…

Warehouse operations are often siloed from other supply chain functions--such as demand planning, sales and operations planning (S&OP), and procurement--due to the physical distance that usually separates warehouses from front offices, as well as that warehouse operations are typically executed several weeks or even months after planning is conducted.

Manufacturers and distributors must reconsider how their warehouse management practices, processes, and systems need to change in order to improve warehouse productivity, visibility, and costs.