MHI Solutions Community Annual Meeting Panel
Sleeping better: How warehousing and distribution practitioners tackle today’s challenges
When talking about the challenges of warehousing, there is a fine line between input and output, efficiency and practicality, pleasing stakeholders and pleasing customers, and everything in between. Tying all those threads together can be the stuff of nightmares for today’s practitioners. Understanding these issues and how solve them is the focus of the 2024 Solutions Community annual meeting panel moderated by Bob Bowman, Editor-in-Chief of SupplyChainBrain.
Before talking about solutions, however, we need to understand the issues. So, what keeps these folks up at night?
For Shannon Bishop, Maintenance Manager at ecommerce retailer Backcountry.com, it’s employee training. “Getting up to speed with new equipment and getting them the information and technology they need to do their jobs.”
For Sarah Clang, Vice President of Operations at lifestyle brand leader RG Barry Corp., it’s handling the whims of the buying public. “We have what we call a ‘violent peak.’ Increase in peak goes up 2000 percent. We know it’s happening, but you can’t just throw labor at it.”
Meagan Fitzsimmons, Chief Compliance and ESG Officer for global logistics company GXO Logistics, says the beast that keeps her awake is data, not just getting data, but making sense of it. “How do we corral all that data for our internal and external stakeholders?”
Vikram Kolluru, Industry 4.0 Leader of Advanced Engineering for global life science and clinical research company ThermoFisher Scientific, wants to connect the dots – from purchasing and installing equipment and technology in the beginning to training and maintaining equipment that hopefully leads to smooth output with little downtime at the finish. “One ties into the other.”
While there is a solution to every warehouse and distribution problem, the panelists say that those solutions will be unique to each company, and for companies with multiple warehouses, solutions can be unique to each warehouse. With that in mind, how can equipment and consulting vendors help practitioners?
For Bishop, that means taking more time to train operators on new equipment and systems. “It seems like they’re in and out,” he said. “As soon as they get the machine in and prove it runs, they try to get gone … I’d like to see some real-world time on the machine, especially if it’s new.” He suggests staying for a month to make sure the equipment can handle day-in, day-out workloads.
Fitzsimmons notes that while vendors are great at providing her data, it’s not always the right data. “A lot of it is anecdotal or case study. I recognize there’s a lot of new innovation, new products and services, so we’re not going have a ton of data. But at the same time, I wish that vendors would start tracking as soon as they can.” She also would like information on other aspects of the equipment besides up front productivity data and costs. “We want to have a safe environment (for our employees); We want to have a sustainable environment for our customers. Give me safety data. Give me energy efficiency data, not just short term, but long term.”
Kolluru says he would like to see more digital and virtual reality training of operators, both at the beginning and ongoing. “The idea is to digitize this training to an extent where the new trainee is going to work on that and hit the road running with less time and expense.” He is also interested in creating instructional guides using AR technology for repairs and maintenance. “We want to establish knowledge that can be transferred.”
Clang prefers seeing the technology or equipment in person and talking to other users for their opinions. To do that, potential vendors need to be transparent. “I love to go and see the equipment or solution in action. And listening to other customers that person has. Word of mouth is huge … Be good to your existing partners because they will sing your praises.”
For everyone, the key to solving these nightmares is for vendors and OEMs to work with businesses instead of just touting the latest bells and whistles. Practitioners want a true partner to create specific solutions for specific problems. They also agree that while new technologies will pave the way for better solutions, tech alone won’t solve everything.
While Bishop wants to learn about new technology, he says vendors can’t always explain how it will benefit his operation. “Looking at new equipment or upgrading, they’re quick to tell you theirs is better, but they can’t tell you why. I want to know why. I’m always looking and seeing what’s new in the industry, but if they tell me this machine is better than what I already have, they better be able to back it up.”
Kolluru agrees. “When I go to ProMat or MODEX, I feel like a kid at Disneyland. What I expect from new approaches is that I want to know how do you stand out from the competition? If I see the same form factors, how are you differentiating yourself from the others that will get my attention?” As Bowman points out, technology is often sold as a competitive advantage, but if everyone is buying the same technology, it’s not an advantage anymore.
“It’s about educating yourself on the business and not presuming anything,” notes Fitzsimmons. “Listening is just as important, if not more so, than talking. The ability to not push a one-size-fits-all solution because all of our thousand sites are different.”
“I would really like to see the partnering, the listening, and the open-mindedness to different solutions,” adds Clang. “My favorite (vendor) approach is at a conference, having that face-to-face conversation and explaining what it is they do and why it would be helpful. Cold calls are not great. You don’t know anything. Don’t assume you’re going to make (my problem) better without those conversations.”
For more information about the Solutions Community: mhi.org/solutionscommunity
For further articles from the Solutions Community:
Don’t Overlook the Condition of Handhelds
Integrating New Automation- Part 1
Implementing a Warehouse Control System (WCS)
Is it the Right Time to Automate Your DC?
Condition Monitoring is Expanding
Warehouse Execution Software Implementation
