3PL Panacea: The Flexible Mobile Supply Chain Platform

The third-party logistics (3PL) business is tough, because it covers a wide gamut of service offerings, that include some combination of: Just move my boxes and/or pallets. Move my boxes and/or pallets and store them in your warehouse. Move my boxes and/or pallets and operate my facility. Own all the labor and activities in my facility. Offer all distribution services for my product (All I will do is download my orders into your system/supply chain)….

Best Practices in Warehouse Dock Door Appointment Scheduling

Another best practice that you can implement in your distributions center is something called appointment scheduling. So basically what this means is when the truck drivers are arriving to your DC or when when they’re about to come to your DC they call ahead through their transportation companies and say “hey please give me an appointment, and I’m going to be there at this time, this date”. Booking the appointment makes it easy to make…

Tracking America’s Cannabis Supply Chain Challenges

  Canada has declared Cannabis or Marijuana a legal medicine. United States is following suit, however here in the US, it is being done state by state, Colorado has done that for quite some time, many states are following, for the latest states please google as it is changing every time you read this article. So naturally there are a lot of Cannabis vendors that are going to set up shop and start selling them….

Taking Distribution Operations Communication Beyond Email

When email works, it’s effective, but when it fails it can be a big problem. At times, emerging social media capabilities may provide a more effective way of sharing information and collaborating in real time. Let’s take a small example: Have you ever held a meeting and everybody showed up except that one team member that was off sick without a back up? Maybe you had to postpone and send everyone away because key information…

Google Glass Could Change the World, But Especially Distribution Centers

When I first saw Google glass, it took me back to 1995 and the release of the action film Terminator 2 – Judgment Day. A bunch of us sophomores got all excited about the movie and went to see it as a big group with much anticipation. The scene that got deeply engrained in my mind was the Terminator Arnold Schwarzenegger entering the bar scene, starts scanning the objects around him to find an outfit that…

Automation Smooths Out Seasonal Peaks & Valleys

It’s surprising but huge warehouses with several sophisticated systems are not immune from sending their warehouse operators home in the middle of the day due of lack of work. Planning is especially hard in peak holiday seasons. Often, it seems warehouse managers have no effective tools to accurately forecast labor demands based on outstanding orders waiting fulfillment. If you take a step back to see the historical evolution of the labor management systems, it all…

The Startup Phenomenon: How 3PL’s Can Use it to Increase Value & Capture Market

It’s true that necessity is the mother of invention. Creativity, though, is the father, and knowledge is the midwife. As people, we are wired for survival. When we are in tough times, our creativity and persistent shine through. By staying focused and thinking creatively, we can come up with solutions and take advantage of each opportunity as it arises. I know that from experience. When I graduated from college as a mechanical engineer, I was…

Windows CE – End of Life – Why is Now The Right Time to Take a Look at Your Scan Gun, Not Just Scan Gun but Entire Data Collection Strategy & Tactic?

Replenishment involves moving inventory from reserve location to active location so that it may be picked, packed and shipped. In the case of the item can’t be located quickly, or there is an error in finding or utilizing it, this small mistake can cause the entire workflow to break down. By setting up a dedicated replenishment team with agile strategies as listed in this article, you could avoid these kinds of scenarios in your slowdowns…