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 Six Tips for Going Green
Taking environmental issues into consideration when making business decisions is gaining popularity not only as a way for companies to be more socially responsible but also as a strategy capable of producing tangible bottom-line business benefits. ...
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Best Practices in Returns Policies
By: By Linda Shea
Based on Opinion Research Corp.’s December 2006 study on retail returns, we’ve come up with a list of returns best practices that can help boost satisfaction among customers as well as your staff. ...
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The Software Corner
By: By Ernie Schell
The director of Ventnor, NJ-based consultancy Marketing Systems Analysis, Ernie Schell takes a quarterly look around the changing software landscape for MULTICHANNEL MERCHANT/OPERATIONS + FULFILLMENT. ...
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A Few Thoughts on Slotting Software
By: By Mark Del Franco
Slotting your inventory is more than just making sure that heavy items are not located on the highest shelf or fast movers in the back of the warehouse. It’s meant to evaluate the size, the storage media, the mix, and the velocity of product being stored in the distribution center in order to maximize productivity, order accuracy, and customer service. ...
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Improving Order Accuracy
By: By Pat Brown
Just as in a diner, order-fill inaccuracies in a distribution center can disappoint or infuriate the customer. What’s more, they can cost the seller dearly in terms of customer loyalty, returns processing costs, and lost revenue....
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Five Tips for Lowering Shipping Costs
By: By Colleen Paulson
Ensuring that you do not overpay on your small-package shipments can seem like a monumental task. Because of the extra expense incurred in residential deliveries, shippers such as FedEx, United Parcel Service, and DHL charge significantly more for residential shipments. ...
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Are You Focusing on the Right Operations Goals?
By: By Brian Hudock
The drive towards the “perfect order,” the elimination of customer charge-backs, and a reduction in returns are all key operational goals to ensure success. Such goals translate into the ability to maintain long-term relationships with customers, reduce supply chain costs, and eliminate unnecessary waste. Even so, it is always wise to ask, “How much does it really cost, and is the money being spent wisely?”...
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The Fulfillment Doctor Pays a Visit to…Order Management Systems
By: By Curt Barry
Question: Our company installed a new order management system (OMS) lst month. While we spent considerable time educating our users and completing the conversion, I’m concerned that we are learning how to manage our business with the new system too slowly. What should our plan of action be?...
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Curbing Your Maintenance & Repair Costs
By: By Guy Boudreau
Do maintenance and service play a role in your operations as you run your material handling equipment? Do you adhere to the service schedule recommended by the manufacturer? If not, you may be costing yourself a lot more money - both in repair costs and downtime - than is necessary....
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First Things First: Unify the Service Desktop, Then Implement a Universal-Agent Program
By: By Cindy Curtin
There is not yet a standard definition for a contact center “universal agent.” To some, a universal agent is one who can handle both inbound and outbound interactions; to others, it is one who can handle interactions in a variety of channels. And still others see it as one who can handle a variety of call types, regardless of complexity, product type, or required skill set. ...
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The Case for Voice-Driven Tech in the DC
By: By Scott Yetter
Warehouses are experiencing remarkable increases in productivity by taking paper and RF scanners out the hands of their workers and giving them headsets with microphones instead. These distribution centers have learned that voice-driven logistics technology really works, even in the noisiest, harshest environments....
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Survey: Peak Times Strain Labor Strategies
A majority of executives feel that their temporary-labor strategies could improved, according to a recent Supply Chain Consortium survey of 100 top retail/wholesale and consumer goods companies. ...
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Put-away Best Practices
By: By Kate Vitasek
Put-away is the process of moving material from the dock and transporting it to a storage, replenishment, or pick area. Best-practice companies manage the put-away area by calculating resource and space requirements based on expected receipts and current backlogs. ...
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The Fulfillment Challenge: What Business Are You Really In?
By: By Tom Barone
Today’s supply chain continues to grow in complexity, and the fulfillment strategies necessary to meet customers’ needs are likewise becoming more and more complex. Much more than just picking, packing, and shipping, fulfillment today includes a whole view of the supply chain: inbound logistics; presenting those products into retail distribution and direct-to-customer distribution operations; receiving, and managing that inventory; the traditional pick, pack, and ship operations with value-added activities such as kitting, assembly, gift-wrapping, marketing inserts, and product personalization; outbound logistics in terms of mode, selection, rate, and contract management; and finally returns handling and product refurbishment. ...
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The Fulfillment Challenge: What Business Are You Really In?
By: By Tom Barone
Much more than just picking, packing, and shipping, fulfillment today includes a whole view of the supply chain: inbound logistics; presenting those products into retail distribution and direct-to-customer distribution operations...
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Tips for Improving Shipping Performance
With rising fuel prices, carrier capacity problems, and pressure from customers for on-time deliveries, shippers have been feeling the squeeze. To make matters worse, when they didn’t meet carrier expectations, many shippers found they were left out in the cold with carriers refusing to do business with them....
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Five Ways to Improve Inventory Planning
Looking for better ways to improve your inventory performance? Ray Goodman, senior vice president, retail and multichannel solutions for Omaha, NE-based software services provider Direct Tech, offers these suggestions...
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Five Ways to Improve Inventory Planning
Looking for better ways to improve your inventory performance? Ray Goodman, senior vice president, retail and multichannel solutions for Omaha, NE-based software services provider Direct Tech, offers these suggestions: ...
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Automation: Picking the Right Techniques and Technology
By: By Bill Hubacek
Today’s warehouse managers face a number of challenges. Customers demand perfect order accuracy; smaller and more-frequent orders cover a greater number of SKUs; senior management calls for lower costs and increased productivity....
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Nine Ways to Better Control Your Inventory
By: By Sam Flanders
Inventory accuracy is a common concern among my clients. Here are some tips to help improve the accuracy of the inventory within your facility: ...
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Saving Space
By: By Pat Brown
Few distribution center managers have the luxury of excess warehouse space that can be tapped whenever needed. Certainly the vast majority of DC personnel would claim they have a shortage rather than a surplus of space....
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