The O+F Advisor provides the expert strategic advice and practical techniques that Operations professionals urgently need to improve efficiencies, productivity, cost savings, and customer service. The O+F Advisor covers the entire fulfillment process from the moment an order is entered to its delivery at the customer’s doorstep.
 An Inside Look at Logistics from Asia
By: By Gerard Hempstead
A retired vice president for DHL, Gerard “Jerry” Hempstead spent most of last year on the ground in China observing the country's manufacturing, transportation and logistics. Hemstead, president of Hempstead Consulting (www.hempsteadconsulting.com), a firm that helps companies reduce their transportation costs, offers his take on Asian logistics....
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Evaluating the Performance of Your ‘Net Reps’
By: By Penny Reynolds and Pamela Trickey
It takes more than just technology to transform your call center agents into “net reps.” You also have to implement a comprehensive hiring and training plan to ensure your agents have the skills they need to deliver good customer service using Web-based channels. In addition to finding – and training – the ideal agents for supporting these Web interactions, you will also need to continuously monitor their performance to ensure consistency of service across all channels....
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What You Can Learn From a Telemarketer
By: By Jeff Schmitt
While the call center may be taken for granted in some quarters, it is truly the lifeblood of an organization. That’s why the call center is the perfect place to groom future business leaders....
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Survival Tips for Supply Chain Professionals
Recently, APICS The Association for Operations Management released a report outlining the top five ways manufacturing and supply chain professionals can succeed at their jobs and gain job security....
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Why You Should ‘Green’ Your Supply Chain
By: By Ron Cain
Recent years have seen an explosion in environmental awareness among U.S. businesses. Companies everywhere are jumping on the “green bandwagon” and are undertaking a wide range of initiatives to protect the environment – from reducing energy consumption to using environmentally friendly materials in their products to promoting homeshoring. There is, however, one area of business operations that has so far proven resistant to greening: The supply chain....
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DBL Distributing Moving to Multisite DC Model
DBL Distributing is moving its warehousing and shipping operations from its headquarters in Scottsdale, AZ, to larger facilities in California and Pennsylvania owned by its parent company Ingram Micro....
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Seven Signs of Logistics Fraud
By: By Mark Sullivan
What do you do when you receive an anonymous tip alleging that an executive running the transportation department is taking kickbacks?...
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Your Call Center is Web-Enabled, But What About Your Agents?
By: By Penny Reynolds and Pamela Trickey
Your call center is not just about handling phone calls. Today, customers demand the option to mix and match alternate communication channels based on type of contact, situation, and personal preference...
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Managing Multisite Distribution
By: By Kate Vitasek and Steve Symmes
Opening a second distribution center can more than double day-to-day complexity and increase the cost of operations. While most companies tend to focus on the network and facility design, it’s important to also consider the less obvious factors that can make running a multi-site DC environment challenging....
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Eyeglass Frames Maker Neostyle Opens U.S. DC
By: By Patrick Barnard
To keep a closer eye on its service levels, high-end eyeglass frames maker Neostyle has opened a new direct-to-market distribution center in Bradenton, FL, and is now handling U.S. distribution of Neostyle products on its own....
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Are Your Call Center Supervisors Up to the Task?
By: By Penny Reynolds
A survey recently conducted by The Call Center School shows that more than 80% of supervisors and team managers in call centers today were moved into that position from frontline agent. While this promotion from within ensures that supervisors understand the call-handling process, care should be taken that the right agents are placed into supervisory positions....
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Guitar Center DC Goes Green
Every day is Earth Day for Guitar Center. The company in the past year has taken a series of initiatives to help protect the environment, including reducing the number of wooden pallets used in its distribution center, as well as eliminating the use of shrink wrap on parcels shipped to its 214 stores....
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Four Steps For Reducing Pick-Error Rates
By: By Gary Patterson
Many options exist in the marketplace for high-tech solutions that reduce or nearly minimize errors in the fulfillment process, including pick-to-light systems, voice-automated picking systems and even fully automated robotic picking systems. However, these solutions can be expensive and are therefore not financially justifiable for small volume or highly variable fulfillment operations. So what’s a small guy to do?...
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Getting DC Size Right
By: By Jim Tierney
No multichannel marketer wants to be stuck with a distribution center that’s too small Excess capacity in a facility that’s too big is just as much of a problem. Just ask Lillian Vernon....
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The Power of One in Call Center Staffing
By: By Penny Reynolds
Whether manually created or developed through workforce management systems, once you have carefully devised a set of workforce schedules, it’s critical that your staff sticks to the plan. But one of the hardest things to manage in many call centers is getting agents to adhere to their daily work schedules. ...
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Have HEART, Operations Execs
By: By Jim Tierney
During his session “Are We Ever Going To Get It Right,” at NCOF in Orlando, FL, last week, Hill educated attendees about the aspects of HEART, which stands for humanistic, ethical, agile/acquisitive, responsive/resilient, and targeted. These basic fundamentals, he said, can improve your company’s performance and spark fulfillment and delivery excellence. ...
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Live from NCOF: Lehman’s Culture: People Who Need People
By: By Jim Tierney
Operations and fulfillment is all about people,according to Bruce Breckbill, vice president of direct sales for hardware, home goods, and gifts cataloger Lehman’s. What does this former middle school teacher/coach know about managing operations workers?...
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Live from NCOF: Contact Center Daily Double – Quality and Balance
By: By Jim Tierney
Every merchant wants their contact center to be better than average. So how do you get yours to break away from the middle of the pack? Focus on quality and balance, says Jay Minucci, vice president of consulting services for International Customer Management Institute....
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Put People First in Voice Deployment
By: By Larry Sweeney
If you’re thinking about implementing voice-directed work, you have to address the human factor by involving front-line and union management up front. You also have to give supervisors the necessary background and training so that they can teach employees the new skills. They actively elicit and consider employee feedback early on, recognizing that front-line workers are closest to the work....
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American Eagle Outfitters on Cutting Labor Expenses
By: By Jeff Morris
American Eagle Outfitters operates several distribution centers in North America, including a facility in Warrendale, PA, and a DC in Mississauga, Ontario, to service its Canadian stores. But the multichannel apparel merchant is most excited about its newest DC in Ottawa, KS, which is helping it reduce labor costs....
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Training Phone Reps to Upsell
By: By Liz Kislik
Many call center reps see themselves as order-takers or processors or helpers, not as salespeople, and they can be fearful--and in some cases, downright negative--about selling. So the approach of teaching reps to “make the ask,” as fundraisers call it, instead of asking them to “sell,” often creates less resistance....
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