ARC Advisory Group just published an update to its annual warehouse management systems (WMS) market study. The recent analysis shows that e-commerce continues to exert its influence on WMS market growth. However, there is a notable shift in the market pressures and the profiles of companies purchasing WMS to support their fulfillment operations. For example, pressures from expedited delivery and the subtle shift in demand from soft goods to hard line items, such as grocery, and particularly prominent.
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Author Archive for Clint Reiser
The ProMat show hall had an elephant in the room – Toyota Industries and its companies were front and center, as a display of its recent strategic acquisitions into the warehouse automation world. Piece picking robots, shuttle system enhancements, collaborative robots, and the software that makes these systems “intelligent” were the highlights of my attendance at ProMat 2019. The following exhibits were the most infomative to me.
Read More →WMS product development roadmaps vary by provider, but there is substantial overlap among the development initiatives of leading WMS providers. Key topics include machine learning, optimization, automation integration, and interoperability. This article captures the “essence of the essence” of the development plans of the leadings WMS suppliers today.
Read More →US warehousing and storage industry (3PL) employment grew from 779 million in January 2015 to 1.2 billion in December 2018, a CAGR of 11% from 2015 through 2018. At the same time, US unemployment is at historic lows. This suggests that the warehousing and storage industry must hire workers from other industries. Stories about individual warehouses paints a picture of high demand for labor, low availability, and high turnover rates. Something has to “give”.
Read More →The overall structure and content of the MHI Promat and Modex events evolves very slowly from year to year. However, a prevalent theme seems to arise each year that differentiates one event from years prior. I’m told that robotic piece picking was the stand-out theme at LogiMAT last month and that theme will surely cross the pond to ProMat next month. I plan to spend a large portion of my time in Chicago at the […]
Read More →Supply chain advancements are credited with efficiency improvements within organizations but are often overlooked for their beneficial economic side-effects. For example, supply chain software may contribute more to productivity than traditional measures such as GDP suggest. One example is the Great Moderation. Another is the inability of economic models to capture the rapid improvement of software over time. This inaccurate measurement leads to underreporting of quality improvements. This underreporting is supported by the deflationary nature of software products.
Read More →It was three years ago that Logistics Viewpoints and DC Velocity launched a survey of logistics practitioners to evaluate the future direction fulfillment facilities, technologies, and practices. The survey’s format evaluated past, present state, and expectations for three years into the future. The findings, published on Logistics Viewpoints and on DCVelocity.com, were well received. Last week Logistics Viewpoints (ARC Advisory Group) launched a new survey (The Future of Warehousing and Fulfillment) that will serve as a […]
Read More →Today is the day of global trade compliance software. It’s not every day that trade compliance is top of mind. ARC Advisory Group’s Global Trade Compliance Systems (GTC) market research shows that the breadth of high-profile tariff changes has catapulted trade compliance ot the top of supply chain concerns and consideration.
Read More →Logistics Viewpoints has assembled the following list of conferences that my ARC supply chain colleagues and I consider to be the premier industry conferences scheduled for 2019. The include logistics industry association events and supply chain software conferences.
Read More →ARC Advisory Group 2019 supply chain trends of the year include: Global Trade and Tariffs; Logistics Labor Shortages and Automation; The “Digital Supply Chain” as the Logistics Technology Concept of the Year; expansion of Machine Learning and AI Enhancements. With taxes and duties accounting for a substantial portion of cost of goods sold, it is likely that companies will be reevaluating the impact on their global supply chains. Meanwhile, the “digital supply chain” is a conceptual umbrella term that will continue to be used to identify supply chain software, communications, and automation efforts that meet certain digital criteria.
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