In our world of technological innovation, the pressure to provide consumers with faster and more efficient levels of service is mounting, and retail manufacturers are feeling the impact. Gone are the days when consumers’ only options were limited to visiting brick-and-mortar stores to shop. Today, if they still choose to shop at a physical store, […]
In 2012, Amazon spent $775 million to acquire Kiva Systems, a distribution center robotics developer with about $100 million in revenues. Yes, that is a valuation multiple of seven times revenues. This is the most succinct way I can express the importance of warehouse automation to the e-commerce channel. ARC is currently producing a market […]
Another year, another NRF Big Show in the books. Not surprisingly, the typical buzz words were thrown around a lot again this year – omni-channel, integration, mobile, etc. But there were three main themes that popped up in just about every meeting I sat through, and I could hear people talking about them as they […]
The Logistics Viewpoints team thought our readers would be interested in seeing what 2014 posts obtained the most views over the year. The posts from the beginning of the year often obtain the most views because they’ve been visible for a longer period of time. However, this year’s most popular article was posted less than […]
Over a decade ago, trade journals were talking about smart grocery carts. These grocery carts would have a computer attached to it that could assist consumers in shopping by providing coupons, the location of an item the shopper wants to buy, and even an accelerated check out process if the shopper scanned the items into […]
I am not sure exactly when it happened, but one day I woke up and realized that supply chain solutions such as warehouse management systems (WMS) are finally considered “mature” software applications. Being in the logistics Industry for 45 years, this was quite an epiphany for me. I spent my early years working with companies […]
In today’s competitive environment, more and more companies are placing increased focus on the processes that best support their competitive positioning. Concurrently, these same organizations are shifting responsibility for other processes to specialist organizations. The increased use of 3PLs for transportation, warehousing, and fulfillment is one example of this trend in specialization. The partnership between […]