Logistics Viewpoints

A complete analysis of logistics trends, technologies, and services

HighJump Conference Affirms Strategic Progress

Logistics Software Vendors | By •

HighJump held its annual user conference last week in Orlando, Florida. The conference had about 650 attendees and a wide selection of session tracks, similar to the 2015 conference. Last year’s event was the first after the merger of HighJump and Accellos and management focused on the newly combined entity and path forward at that conference. Specifically, there was a strong emphasis on the company’s technology strategy and development roadmap (see Last Year’s Post). Logically enough, the focus of this year’s conference was the strategic progress made over the last twelve months.

HJ IconExtend and Unify
Extended Footprint
HighJump announced its acquisition of Nexternal shortly after last year’s conference, officially extending its solution footprint to include an e-commerce platform. This year, management confirmed the integration of the Nexternal plaftform into the HighJump ecosystem, and announced plans to develop vertical “bundles” for markets with specific e-commerce and client engagement requirements. A conference demonstration of an order lifecycle showed how the Nexternal platform, and functionality from recently acquired WeSupply, extends and complements HighJump’s fulfillment capabilities.

Unified and Modernized User Experience
HighJump officially lauched its HighJump One platform, a set of modern user facing technologies that leverage HTML5, and there are currently 10 – 12 customers running it. More specifically, Warehouse Advantage is now available on the HighJump One platform. In addition, some of the Essentials apps from Accellos are now available as well. Most notable are the Pulse BI tool, an application for resource (ie dock door) scheduling, and another for document imaging. Later this year HighJump will release its parcel shipping and manifesting Essentials app on HighJump One.

HighJump has also launched a number of its In-Motion applications specifically designed form mobile devices. Examples include Engage, a mobile POS and clienteling solution, and Dashboard+, a mobile BI application that displays analytics designed for a tablet. In addition, clients for Android and Windows with Bluetooth scanner integration are coming soon later this year.

Common Themes from WMS Users
Very often at user conferences there are a few common themes or threads that pass through the fabric of user case studies and informal discussions. At HighJump Elevate, this year’s common threads were modifications and adaptations to support increased order volumes for e-commerce fulfillment and parcel shipping. Most notably, Singapore Post’s e-commerce logistics business implemented HighJump WMS and integrated it with warehouse automation including pick to light, carousels, and an extensive multiple zone conveyor system; as well as a mobile smart phone picking and packing app that is intuitive and enables seasonal workers to get up and running quickly. In addition, Colony Brands discussed its implementation of HighJump Warehouse Advantage and integration with warehouse automation and real-time parcel manifesting to support a high volume, direct to consumer warehouse.

Conclusion
HighJump is making progress on its technology strategy outlined last year. While the company is unifying the product lines from the former distinct entities, it is also still actively extending its footprint through acquisitions and product developments. Although I did not hear about any prospective acquisitions, I also did not ask management about their inclination toward the possibility.

5 Supply Chain Trends You Can’t Ignore (Takeaways from Accellos Conference)

Cloud/Software-as-a-Service | By •

Are you working in a Company of Yesterday or a Company of Tomorrow?

I love that question, which is from a blog posting by supply chain executive and consultant Tony Martins, who was my guest on Talking Logistics earlier this year; Tony was also a panelist in the Mega Trends Impacting Supply Chains session I moderated at last week’s CSCMP conference.

I’ve been asking audiences that question the past few months whenever I give keynote presentations because it opens the door to other questions, such as How do you know if you work in a Company of Yesterday? and What are the attributes of a Company of Tomorrow?

I raised those questions in my keynote presentation last month at the Accellos Visions User Group 2013 conference. Many of the customers in attendance were 3PLs, so I framed my presentation around the following five supply chain trends 3PLs (and their customers) can’t afford to ignore.

Social, Mobile, Cloud are Transforming IT. I’ve written extensively about these topics over the past few years (see, for example, “A Pulse on Social Networking for Supply Chain Management”), so I won’t repeat myself here, other than to underscore an overriding trend related to Social, Mobile, and Cloud: the ongoing consumerization of IT — defined by Wikipedia as “the growing tendency for new information technology to emerge first in the consumer market and then spread into business and government organizations” — which is a key reason why software vendors are starting to compete on ease-of-use and UI design.

Software is Not Enough: The Emergence of Supply Chain Operating Networks. As I discussed earlier this year on Talking Logistics, Supply Chain Operating Networks bring together trading partner connectivity with cloud/SaaS applications. Instead of companies creating hundreds or thousands of one- to-one connections with their trading partners, they make a single connection to the business network, where their trading partners and thousands of other companies are also connected. In addition, they use the cloud applications that reside on the network to communicate, collaborate, and execute business processes in more efficient, scalable, and innovative ways.

Time to Rethink Supply Chain Risk Management. Put differently, companies need to embed supply chain risk management within their corporate DNA. The goal is to incorporate risk in the decision-making process at all levels of the supply chain, just like cost is today. In other words, supply chain professionals need to get to the point where talking and thinking about risk is as common and instinctual as talking and thinking about cost and service. For related commentary, see “Rethinking Supply Chain Risk Management” and “Many Companies are Falling Short on Supply Chain Risk Management.”

Talent Becoming a Competitive Differentiator. Why must 3PLs — as well as manufacturers, retailers, and distributors — think more strategically about talent management? Because best-in-class execution depends on best-in-class people (see “The Case for Competing on Logistics Talent”). But as I highlighted in my posting last week, and the Red Sox have exemplified this baseball season, talent alone is not enough for success. The people you hire, as well as those you already have on your team, including your executive leaders, must also have the right attitude if you want to make it to the World Series of your industry.

Beyond Operational Excellence: 3PLs as Consultants, Technology Providers, and Facilitators of Peer-to-Peer Learning. Simply put, providing operational excellence is no longer enough for success — it’s simply the ticket to the dance. Providing business intelligence and insights, as well access to supply chain experts and innovative technology, are what customers expect from their 3PL partners today (see “4 Important Factors to Consider When Evaluating 3PL Partners”).

While at the conference, I also had the opportunity to conduct video interviews with several of Accellos’ 3PL customers to learn more about the challenges and opportunities they face, and how those factors are influencing their technology investments and priorities.

I encourage you to watch the brief interviews to get the full story on their case studies. But here are a few clips that underscore some of the trends I discussed earlier.

First, here’s Kevin on why Goggin Warehousing chose to deploy Accellos’ warehouse management system (WMS) in the cloud:


And with regards to operational excellence not being enough, here’s Wade from Derby Supply Chain Solutions on the biggest challenge (or “gap” as he refers to it) facing the logistics industry in the years ahead:


And finally, here’s Gustavo about the factors that led Frialsa to look for a modern and scalable logistics software solution. Simply put, the company’s manual processes and legacy software solutions could not scale, quickly and cost-effectively, with its rapid pace of growth — a challenge many 3PLs I’ve spoken with this year are also facing.

This Week in Logistics News (September 16-20, 2013)

China | By •

“Half the countries in the world have an even number of chickens.” I wrote those words on a sticky note back in college, which I found in a memory box recently. I have no idea what it means, or what I was thinking at the time, but if I went through the trouble of saving the note, it must be important, right?

In more relevant news…

China remains an important focus for supply chain and logistics technology providers, as evidenced by this week’s announcements by Amber Road and Kewill. First, Amber Road announced that it has acquired EasyCargo, “a cloud-based solutions company with a specific focus on a subset of global trade management called China Trade Management, or CTM.” Here are some details from the press release:

EasyCargo’s CTM solution provides extensive automation to support the Chinese government’s regulations for an import regime called Processing Trade.

 

Processing Trade affects companies that import materials and components into China and use those materials and components to manufacture finished goods for export to foreign markets. When properly administered, Processing Trade transactions are exempt from import duties and value-added-taxes on export.

 

Because Processing Trade can reduce product costs by 25 percent or more, qualifying goods for the program has become increasingly popular. Goods qualifying for the Processing Trade program now account for more than 30 percent of all Chinese imports.

Meanwhile, Kewill and CarrierWeb announced that they are collaborating to develop the Transportation Management System (TMS) market in China. According to the press release, the companies plan “to penetrate the China TMS market aggressively by offering a wider range of mobile-enabled solutions to empower customers with real-time, anywhere, anytime access to updates and monitoring to drive greater efficiency and productivity across their logistics and transportation operations.”

Penetrating the China market has been a long journey for software vendors, with varying degrees of success. I remember when I visited China in 2005 and I met with the CEO of a leading logistics service provider. When I asked him how he planned to scale his business in the face of growing demand, he replied, without hesitation,“We’ll just add more people.” In other words, at the time, adding people was the fastest, cheapest way for Chinese companies to scale their operations, not investing in technology. Today, with labor rates significantly higher and weaker economic growth, investing in technology is becoming the smarter choice.

More evidence that Supply Chain Operating Networks are on the rise: Accellos and SPS Commerce announced that they have partnered “to deliver a fully integrated, turnkey supply chain management solution for the Microsoft Dynamics® GP market.” According to the press release, the enterprise cloud service enables “suppliers to seamlessly connect with more than 50,000 supply chain partners including retailers, distributors, vendors and logistics providers through a single connection from their Microsoft Dynamics® GP system to SPS’s Universal Network.” Here’s a customer testimonial from the press release:

“SOG needed to integrate every trading partner in our supply chain with our Microsoft Dynamics® GP system to support our substantial growth,” said Nando Zucchi, Vice President of Sales & Marketing, SOG Specialty Knives & Tools. “With SPS and Accellos, we seamlessly automated our trading relationships with major drop-ship and traditional retailers including Amazon.com, Costco.com, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Wal-Mart and others within a few short weeks. This holiday season we will automate 1,750 transactions each week, saving our staff more than 60 hours of data entry every week. We are delighted by the solution and expertise provided by SPS and Accellos.”

In other technology news, Oracle has released Oracle E-Business Suite 12.2, which includes several supply chain management enhancements. Oracle Warehouse Management, for example, now has “streamlined mobile user interfaces, enhanced managerial workbenches, improved catch-weight functionality and better extensibility supports greater fulfillment flexibility.”

And finally, add Tesla to the list of companies working on self-driving cars. Here are some excerpts from the Financial Times article:

“We should be able to do 90 per cent of miles driven within three years,” [said Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO]. Mr Musk would not reveal further details of Tesla’s autonomy project, but said it was “internal development” rather than technology being supplied by another company. “It’s not speculation,” he said.

 

[Mr. Musk said] that Tesla was working on a plan that would allow drivers to turn on a form of “auto-pilot” in most situations that would allow the vehicle to take over control.

The future keeps coming faster and faster.

Have a happy weekend!

Song of the Week: “You & I” by Crystal Fighters

Merci Logistics: Moisson Montréal Improves Fulfillment Capabilities with WMS

Food & Beverage Industry | By •

Moisson Montréal is the largest food bank in Canada. They gather and distribute food, free of charge, to organizations that provide food and finished meals to families and individuals. In 2011-2012, Moisson Montréal delivered 10.4 million kilograms of food and other essential products — valued at over $55 million CAD — to community organizations on the island of Montreal. There are 212 community organizations that source food and meals from Moisson Montréal, and these organizations service about 150,000 people per month, including more than 40,000 children.

But Moisson Montréal was facing challenges. The organization relies on the generosity of more than 150 suppliers that often donate perishable food with only a few days of shelf life left. And as their suppliers become more efficient, they need to ensure that most of the food they receive gets used instead of going to waste. Hence, Moisson Montréal faced increasing pressure to provide end-to-end traceability and improve its fulfillment capabilities.

To meet these requirements, Moisson Montréal implemented the Accellos 6.3 warehouse management system (WMS) at it 72,000 square foot warehouse. Moisson Montréal is the first food bank to implement this kind of inventory system in North America. The warehouse employs 50 workers per day, most of them unpaid volunteers.

The old logistics flow involved color coding perishable food when it came in. For example, a pallet with a red tag might indicate food that needed to be given away by the end of the day. Further, the organizations Moisson Montréal supports would come into the warehouse, look at what was available, pick the items they needed, and then declare what they picked at the end of the process. In theory, these organizations would follow guidelines as to how much they could pick, based on the number of families they served. But the lack of control associated with this process was rather obvious.

Now, however, there are controls in place. When food comes in, expiration dates are assigned to the pallets. The system knows, for example, whether the food has five days of shelf life left and counts down the time remaining every 24 hours. Food that is about to expire is allocated to pick lists first. As a result, 15 to 20 percent less food is thrown away today compared to before the system was implemented.

Under the new process, organizations are given a paper pick list when they show up. Their employees go into the warehouse, pick the items on their list, and then go to a checkout line, just like in a grocery store, where the accuracy of the picks is verified and the WMS adjusts on-hand inventory in real time.

Moisson Montréal also uses a custom-built allocation engine, integrated to the WMS, that allocates food to the recipient organizations based on the number of families they serve and the amount of food currently available in a food category. The engine also makes real time allocation adjustments. For example, if 20 organizations are scheduled to show up and pick food in the morning, but only 15 show up, the excess inventory from that half day fulfillment bucket can be reallocated to the organizations that showed up.

The WMS serves another purpose. While volunteers at Moisson Montréal often come on a punctual basis (from businesses, schools, community groups, etc.), Moisson Montréal also welcomes volunteers who wish to embark on a social or professional integration process at the organization. These volunteers work closely with full time employees, at least initially, and over time they acquire various social and professional skills. They are shown, for example, how to do simple data entry and track records in the WMS, adding to the list of technical skills that will prove useful when they integrate back into the job market. Working with the WMS allows long term volunteers to put on their resume that they have worked with a business computer system.

The WMS project began in October of 2011 and was completed in early April of 2012. Food reception and redistribution processes were impacted for a couple of days after going live, but by the third day they were able to complete all planned picks and distributions without any overtime. After two weeks, most of the remaining kinks were worked out.

Not surprisingly, there was some push back initially from the organizations Moisson Montréal supplies, because of the enhanced control brought on by the new system. But the existing rules do help to enforce equity and Moisson Montréal continues to improve the allocation rules.

The whole system cost $150,000 for the software plus implementation. This is a very low cost when you consider that it includes the cost of the custom-built allocation engine. Some of the money to buy the system was donated by Bell, a telecommunications company.

Merci, Moisson Montréal.

This Week in Logistics News (October 15-19, 2012)

Mergers-Acquistions | By •

My wife is going away for a long weekend with her mom and sister. But I should be fine. She left me three detailed pages of where I need to be and what I need to do, hour by hour, for the next three days.

So, with no time to waste, here’s this week’s news:

Manhattan Associates reported record total revenue of $95.8 million in Q3 2012. License revenue was $16.2 million, up 12 percent from Q3 2011. The company closed two $1 million-plus deals in the quarter (one with a well-known retailer, the other with a well-known CPG company, both of them existing customers). Here are some highlights from the earnings call:

  • Year-to-date, about 65% of license revenue has come from existing customers and about 35% from new customers.
  • Year-to-date revenue has increased 14% to $281 million. Compared to Q3 2011, total revenue in the Americas grew 13%; EMEA, 5%; and APAC, 14%.
  • The company updated its full year revenue guidance to a range of $370 million to $375 million, which represents 12% to 14% growth over 2011.
  • Planning for 2013, Manhattan expects low double-digit year-over-year growth of about 10% to 12%.

As I’ve noted before, this has been a very positive year for most supply chain and logistics software vendors, and despite the ongoing uncertainty with the global economy, most software vendors are optimistic about the year ahead. The bet is that companies will continue to invest in technology to drive down costs, improve productivity, and enable new processes.

When a 3PL issues a press release, it’s usually about the introduction of a new service or about an acquisition that will expand their solution footprint. This week’s announcement by C.H. Robinson, however, is about a divestiture. The company has sold its payment services business, T-Chek Systems, Inc. to Electronic Funds Source, LLC for $302.5 million in cash. T-Chek had been a subsidiary of C.H. Robinson since 1984. Here is a quote by John P. Wiehoff, chief executive officer of C.H. Robinson, from the press release:

“We are proud of T-Chek’s success and of T-Chek’s employees, who built a very strong business with a long track record of growth. As the payment services industry continues to consolidate and evolve, scale and alignment with the financial services sector are becoming increasingly important. EFS is an excellent organization and we felt, for T-Chek’s long term success, that strategically it was the right time for T-Chek to join forces with EFS.”

In the immortal words of Kenny Rogers, “You got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em, know when to walk away, and know when to run.”

There’s been a lot of buzz this year about the rise of online education (see edX, launched by MIT and Harvard earlier this year, with Berkeley and The University of Texas also joining). This trend is now extending to software training programs, as evidenced by JDA’s announcement this week of JDA Minutes, “a cloud-based video training program, from JDA Education Services, that is available 24/7 via pc, tablet, or mobile device.” Here is an excerpt from the press release:

With JDA Minutes, users can expect flexible, timely and efficient learning – all in the cloud. Popular features include:  3-10 minute training videos on useful solution topics, expert presenters, video rating, “suggest a minute,” favorite’s folder, searchable video content, and more. JDA Minutes currently offers channels for JDA® Advanced Store Replenishment, JDA® Advanced Warehouse Replenishment, JDA® Fulfill, JDA® Demand, and JDA® Space & Category Management customers. Additional channels will be added in the future.

Like I said in my posting on Wednesday, when it comes to learning and talent development, we need to think beyond four year universities and traditional education programs. New paths to learning and training are being created every day.

Infor introduced new branding this week, complete with a special website outlining “The New Infor.” What’s noteworthy, in my opinion, is the emphasis the company is putting on “Social” and on “Beauty.” On the latter point, here is an excerpt from the website:

Business applications have traditionally been functional, but not much to look at. The new Infor changes that by making beauty a competence [emphasis mine].

It seems like Infor is taking a page from Apple’s playbook and bringing beauty to the enterprise software market. Steve Banker wrote about Infor’s new user interface back in April and he was impressed by it. The bottom line, as Steve pointed out, is that software usability is becoming a competitive differentiator, especially in market segments where there’s minimal difference in functionality between vendors.

And that’s a wrap. Now where did I put that list?

Song of the Week: “In the Meantime” by Spacehog.

(Note: CH Robinson, Infor, JDA Software, and Manhattan Associates are ARC clients and/or Logistics Viewpoints sponsors).

Video Game Technology Comes to Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) Market

Logistics Software Vendors | By •

Video game visualization technology has come to the Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) market.  These new products and modules are not merely “slick” packages that are “nice to have” additions to a WMS solution.  Whenever a software solution’s usability improves, new forms of productivity are enabled.  The personal computer revolution, after all, was based as much on improved user interfaces as it was on increased computing power.  These new video game-like graphical user interfaces are apt to lead to improvements in slotting, warehouse congestion detection, and error prevention.

Next View Software was first vendor to introduce visualization technology to the WMS market.  When I first saw this technology demonstrated, it struck me as one of the most innovative solutions I have seen in logistics software industry over the past several years.  Interestingly, Next View was not the only software vendor with this idea.  In recent weeks, I’ve seen very similar solutions from Consafe Logistics and Accellos.

In fact, the folks at Consafe told me they were upset when they the read the report I wrote last September about Next View (available to ARC clients only).  They had conceived this kind of solution four years ago, but the visualization engine they were attempting to use was not up to the job.  It was not until about a year and a half ago, when Microsoft opened up its gaming technology interfaces, that they could begin serious development.

Similarly, top executives at Accellos told me they started developing their solution about a year ago.  They had to wait for their gaming engine supplier to make substantial enhancements to their engine (which was completed in September) before they could finalize their development work.  Accellos did not actually see Next View’s solution until their Visualize product was near completion.

So, three different WMS vendors came up with the same idea independently, and they developed products that are strikingly similar and coming to market within months of each other.  The Next View solution is already available and the company is in discussions with several potential customers (but no deals have been closed yet).  The Accellos product goes into beta testing on March 1st, with general availability beginning on April 3rd.  Consafe’s solution will come to market in the second half of 2009.

So, why all the fuss?  Why do I find this type of product so exciting?

As the screen shots below show, these solutions provide you with a three dimensional, virtual tour of your warehouse layout.  By moving the cursor, you can “walk the aisles” or get a bird’s eye view of your facility.  And if you double click on a rack location, you can get information on the inventory stored there (e.g., source, SKUs, age of inventory, etc.).

Video Game tech comes to WMS
Screen shot from Accellos’ solution
Screen shot of Consafe Logistics' solution
Screen shot of Consafe Logistics’ solution

The power of this type of system will come when it is used to detect and act upon current events or problems.  For example, if you have an “aged inventory” alert, the system does not print out tabular data that could cause your eyes to glaze over.  Instead, you execute a query, the warehouse and yard 3D layouts are displayed, and every location with aged inventory lights up and begins to blink.  You can then zoom in on particular pallet locations and look at that inventory.  At this point, you might tell a supervisor to immediately unload the trailers with aged inventory and move them to a priority use location.  Similarly, aged inventory in the warehouse could be re-slotted into forward pick zones to be consumed more quickly.

Other queries that can be “visualized” include partial pallets in full pallet locations, high-velocity product in slots that should contain slow-moving inventory, and consigned inventory by customer.  Of course, some of these queries can be automated with a traditional WMS reporting tool, but reporting tools can be difficult to use.  Slotting is currently an add-on module that several WMS companies offer.  What we may see in the future is that some forms of advanced functionality, like slotting, are not necessary when robust visualization tools exist.

In summary, I love the look and feel of these innovative products, and I believe their intuitiveness and ease of use will increase a manager’s productivity.  Also, the fact that three different WMS companies came up with the same idea and developed similar products leads me to believe that visualization technology will ultimately become standard in WMS.

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