Peak season is a difficult time to manage picking in a fulfillment center. It’s a given that orders will spike, but how high and precisely when can be a guessing game. Except this game can have serious consequences on your bottom line, especially since holiday retail sales have continued to grow yearly since 2008. The traditional method of dealing with peaks is to hire more workers. More hands to pick with makes it easier to fulfill more orders in less time. However, people are expensive to hire, and seasonal jobs aren’t as appealing to the labor market as they used to be.  Since the ..read more

We sat down with Stacey Connors, Head of Strategic Innovations at InDro Robotics, to talk inventory accuracy, warehouse labor retention and their new AMR-tethered drone. She shares best practices for cycle counting and the key to maximizing ROI from robotic automation. 1. How long have you been working in supply chain, and what drew you to the field? Following post-secondary with a student loan in my mind, I worked with a headhunter who connected me to a magnetic leader at one of the largest global supply chain companies. Without any deep understanding of the industry, I decided to give it ..read more

Women’s History Month is a time to reflect on the accomplishments of women across nations, cultures and time. And that doesn’t mean limiting ourselves to the past or even the recent past; history is a thing that continues to be made, and every contribution towards progress should be recognized and celebrated.  Through a series of LinkedIn posts, we’ve taken the opportunity to feature women who have made an impact on the supply chain and retail industries. Below is a brief overview of each woman we spotlighted this year, and we encourage you to look at their careers and successes (and may ..read more

Picking is one of the most labor-intensive processes in the warehouse. Some estimates state that order picking alone can add up to 55% of operational overhead for a warehouse, so it stands to reason that warehouse operators need to do everything they can to optimize picking processes. There are many types of picking, but one that often gets left out of the improvement conversation is case picking. Why is that? In case you didn’t know, case picking refers to taking entire cases or cartons off of warehouse shelves and placing them on pallets to be shipped to customers. Contrast this with, say ..read more

Results matter. Whether your responsibilities lie within operations, supply chain, innovation or engineering, results like productivity, units per hour (UPH), on-time shipments and SLA adherence are constantly top of mind.  Where are we now and how do we get where we want to be?  That’s often the question prompting retailers, third-party logistics providers (3PLs) and other fulfillment-heavy operations to consider deploying or expanding robotic automation in the first place. GreyOrange’s approach to automation is based on an overarching mission: to help retailers worldwide bui ..read more

The retail industry has never been more challenging than it is today. With many problems to solve, such as inventory inaccuracies, inefficient processes, lack of real-time inventory visibility and subpar in-store operations, retailers are often left feeling overwhelmed. At the same time, customers expect a seamless omnichannel experience and fast fulfillment of click-and-collect/BOPIS and same-day delivery orders. Here are five ways you can improve your inventory management and, by extension, improve the customer experience at your store.  1. Boost your accuracy Inventory is the mos ..read more

In the world of warehouse management, each step in the intralogistics process plays a pivotal role in determining efficiency. At the heart of these operations lies the seemingly simple yet crucial process of putaway. This action, involving the placement of received goods into storage, often proves to be a bottleneck, consuming valuable time and resources. In this blog, we explore the transformative effects of intralogistics technology on the putaway process, unraveling how innovation can optimize this component of warehouse operations. When it’s done right, it’s like music to your operators ..read more

For auto parts manufacturers, the ability to process and ship orders swiftly and accurately can make or break a business. At Dorman, a surge in sales brought a daunting challenge: manual forklift operations were struggling to keep pace with demand. With forklift costs soaring to a staggering $5 million annually and errors causing delays and damages, Dorman needed a solution that could enhance efficiency, scale operations and adapt to their growing business needs. Enter the intelligent orchestration of intralogistics bots. Dorman’s transformation began with the integration of 25 Ranger Intra ..read more

It’s no secret that warehouse automation is at the forefront of revolutionizing the retail and ecommerce industries, with the global market expected to reach $41 billion by 2027. While the decision to embrace robotic automation may be an easy one, the implementation process isn’t always quite so simple. To help guide you through the complexities of adopting automation, this blog post explores the four key elements of site preparedness, offering tips and best practices to optimize your facility and maximize the benefits of warehouse robotics. 1. Establish the optimal working environment T ..read more

Thanks to the internet, someone’s always shopping. However, now that the holidays are over and a new year has started, here’s hoping that you’ve got some time to slow down, step back and think about what direction you’re heading in with your store (or stores). While geopolitical, climate and lingering inflation problems are still market considerations, consumer confidence reached a five-month high in December, which will hopefully continue to increase throughout 2024. Using increases in activity like this is pivotal for retailers, and the trick to capitalizing on it is understanding your cu ..read more