Shop Talk
Warehouse Process and Layout
How is the process and layout in your warehouse?
It’s important to evaluate your process and layout individually and in respect to their interaction. Looking first at process evaluation, start by tracing both product flow and order fulfillment flow through the warehouse to identify all areas where bottlenecks or backlogs occurred.
Here are some key process functions to review:
Receiving and put-away
Did you meet your time standards for getting received product into shipable-status condition? Were you able, at minimum, to clear the receiving dock of receipts every night, or did congestion hinder receiving efficiency?
Picking
During picking, how frequently did your order selectors arrive at an empty pick slot or encounter “can’t finds”? Determine how often this occurred as a result of inadequate inventory or quantity-count inaccuracies, versus product aisle mapping problems or products being in the wrong bins/slot locations. Were picking delays caused by other problems, such as congestion in the aisles, equipment issues, unexpected order spikes, or below-par picking-employee productivity?
Packing
Were you able to keep packers busy consistently, avoiding idle periods? Did you schedule packers to start their shifts later than pickers, to ensure ample available packing work?
Returns
Use your analysis of reasons cited on returns reports to pinpoint non-vendor, internal issues, such as packing methods, that may be contributing to excessive returns. Also analyze where the process can be streamlined to eliminate unnecessary or duplicate efforts.
Were you able to keep up with the returns volume, avoiding excessive backlogs? Did returns processing times meet your performance standards? Were customers refunded or credited for returns in a timely fashion?
Separately, analyze the layout-specific issues identified while tracing the product and order flows, such as aisle congestion, back-tracking flow, and inefficient or obstructive floor-space usage.
Get input from employees on both process and layout issues, and make sure you’ve thought through how specific solutions in one area may affect the other. Summarize the changes in each that should result in improved efficiency and reduced costs.
As always, if you have questions or comments, contact Adeptiv Solutions.
www.adeptivsolutions.com
(Source: multichannelmerchant.com)
Google. A Simple Example of Cloud Computing
You use it. I use it. You can find out almost anything you want to know. Google is the search engine most people are familiar with and use. However, one thing that not everyone knows a lot about is Cloud Computing. To simplify and explain Cloud Computing better, I’d like to use Google as an example.
What happens when you type and search something on Google?Have you ever thought about this? Does your PC goes through all that information, sorts it out for you and display all the relevant results? No, it doesn’t. Otherwise, you would wait much longer for a simple results page to display. A simple PC can’t process all those billions of websites in a fraction of a second, like Google does. Your PC only serves as a messenger to tell Google what you are looking for. Everything else is done by some of Google’s powerful computers located somewhere, Who-Knows-Where in the world.
Now, did you ever care about how or where that comes from? Why would you, right? Exactly. That’s a great example of how cloud computing is used.
Have more questions about Cloud Computing?
Contact Adeptiv Solutions today!
www.adeptivsolutions.com
Why Customers Prefer a Live Chat Service
The business world is competitive. In order to succeed, your business needs to be…..well, the best! Excellent customer service has been the defining facet in business in increasing customer base and attaining customer retention.While, businesses would spend millions of dollars in a marketing campaign just to launch a product, find a niche in the market and establishing branding of its products, others would sometimes take it for granted.
In the present world of social media marketing, it is not only essential that a business establishment put-up an online shop or a website to increase product awareness rather that just be contented with walk-in customers. Besides, having these social media tools would also increase the business’ market base.
Studies show that among the top parameters for customers to consider a customer service to be excellent are the accuracy of information, quality of interaction and timeliness of the response. The first two can easily be attained for as long as all the needed information of a customer service agent is on hand. However, timeliness of the response is a different story.
While most websites provide telephone numbers to call, live chat customer service can be a more convenient and alternative way that the customers can experience as they need not grab a phone but rather inquire immediately at the point of browsing the website.Customers who browse on the internet would prefer that any query or complaint is addressed upfront.
This is probably not surprising to many of you. It’s just easier in many ways to just speak to a live person and have that human interaction. Getting first class service and having your questions answered or issues solved is even better!
www.adeptivsolutions.com
(Source: Glazel Pett Espejon)
Palletized-Freight vs. Single-Package Packaging Materials
Operations and fulfillment personnel have many issues to consider with respect to packaging. Not only is it important to choose the correct type of container to ship your product in; the appropriate materials and package testing are also essential elements in the process to make sure your customers are getting product that is undamaged.
How do packaging materials vary between the palletized-freight environment and single-package environment?
In the palletized-freight environment, most packaging engineers and shippers are packaging to protect from a possible one-time catastrophic event that can occur during shipping or when the customer gets that package home. For example, a customer buys a television and it is packed in hard, rigid polystyrene foam. That is a single-impact cushion. It absorbs the shock by cracking and breaking apart. A lot of packaging materials in the palletized-freight environment are not well-suited for the single-packaging environment, where shippers need to choose cushions that have better multiple-impact properties, such as polyethylene and polyurethane. You can manipulate these materials and they will bounce back to their original design position. They absorb the impacts that occur during the manual and mechanical handling process and provide protection through entire distribution cycle.
For more tips go to www.adeptivsolutions.com
(Source: multichannelmerchant.com)
Survival Tips for Supply Chain Professionals
As U.S. manufacturers face ever-increasing competition from the global market and an unstable economy, workers need to ensure that they are secure in their jobs – and that their companies are successful.
Recently, APICS The Association for Operations Management released a report outlining the top five ways manufacturing and supply chain professionals can succeed at their jobs and gain job security:
1. KEEP YOUR TRAINING UP-TO-DATE
Today, businesses must have employees who are continually enhancing their knowledge and discovering new ways to execute their jobs with greater productivity and flexibility. To stay ahead of the curve on innovation, technology and best practices, make sure you are up to date on all of the training and latest certifications that are available to you. Many times, your organization will even pay for you to receive the training or latest certification you need to ensure their business stays at the forefront of technology and best practices.
2. NETWORK
Reach out to other professionals in your field to find out what they are doing to keep ahead and succeed. Through venues like conferences, local chapters and forums like LinkedIn, organizations like APICS provide many opportunities for professionals to network with their peers. Networking will help you keep up to date with the latest trends in your field and your expanded network of relationships will both help you succeed at work and advance your career.
3. COMMUNICATION YOUR IDEAS
If you think you have a good idea to improve efficiency or productivity, the most important thing you can do is share it. Successful managers are always looking to improve efficiency and improve the bottom line and most are happy to give credit where it is due. Sharing your ideas not only lets management know you care about your job, it tells them that you are engaged and a valuable member of the team that works towards bettering the work environment and the company’s bottom line.
4. BECOME AN EXPERT
Today, companies are looking for motivated individuals who contribute on multiple levels. Familiarize yourself not only with what your company does, but also deepen your knowledge of the whole industry. By becoming an expert in your office on the latest trends, your competition, and the sector as a whole, you will be relied upon by your peers and management to provide valuable insight and will be on your way to becoming an indispensable part of your workplace and your organization.
5. TAKE PRIDE IN WHAT YOU DO
Now that you have invested the time to get the latest training and education, show your organization that you are proud of your accomplishments. Share your expertise with co-workers and management and accomplish your tasks knowing that everything you do reflects on you. Whether you are sharing ideas, being a mentor at work or showing others how to get the latest training and information, when you take pride in what you do, you will become a leader in the workplace and a valued member of the organization.
(Source: multichannelmerchant.com)
Best Practices in Third Party Logistics
Developing and maintaining a well-run warehouse that offers reliability and incremental growth as a Third Party Logistics provider in the ever crowded field of 3PL’s is no small task. Knowing what areas that can boost clients expectations is exceedingly helpful in strengthening your overall performance. Strategies are varied yet some core concerns surface when evaluating functions that may require improvements.
Here are some points of best practices for third party logistics providers. If you have anything to add, I’d like to hear your thoughts.
■Training: As a third party logistics provider it’s not enough to only do what you’ve always done. Both initial and ongoing training that promotes and maintains well-qualified staff’s ability to perform optimized daily functions, identify new trends, seek innovative solutions to unresolved problems, and resolves recurring logistic pressures is paramount to remaining competitive. Training can be done annually, quarterly, or with frequency that best suits your workloads.
■Analysis: It is critical to either have in-house staff or hire outside consultants who can re-calibrate market fluctuations due to elements as diverse as changing fuel prices, labor costs, changed distributions patterns and periodic customer shifts. Without identifying cost increases or loss potentials you can compromise your own profitability – and your clients – as a third party logistic provider.
■“Mode & Load Optimization”: a vital subset of general analysis is a detailed determination of your network of transport providers. Identifying the most efficient way to transport shipments with arrival dates, shipping details that provide weights, dimensional information etc., speaks volumes to your client base as to your ability to provide the best service at the best price.
■Systems Support: The technology that connects all functions of your warehouse together is an accurate, easy-to-use Warehouse Management System (WMS). Selling your company’s IT expertise that demonstrates accurate inventories, shipping and receiving proficiencies that provide real time figures, as well as capturing all accounting components that eliminates billing loss, both preserves your current customer base and offers prospective customers compelling reasons to do business with your firm. The most reliable and economical WMS is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). It offers accessibility to all users without hardware expense, ongoing maintenance and support costs.
Knowing key areas of concern that can help you improve your warehouse efficiencies as a third party logistics provider while improving profitability, preserves your client/customer base and will strengthen your position in the marketplace.
(Source: 3plcentral.com )
Which Type of 3PL is Best for Your Business?
So, you know that 3PLs manage products and transportation for a company, but maybe you may not be aware that there are several different types 3PLs.
Third-Party Logistics Providers (3PLs) are organizations that provide logistics support for companies. This simply means that 3PL providers manage or control the movement and storage of products for the company that hires them. Depending on the type of 3PL, this management (and the 3PL’s involvement with the hiring company) can take on different characteristics.
Standard 3PLs perform basic logistics work. 3PLs in this category manage product storage, transportation, and distribution at the behest of the hiring company. Since these 3PLs only offer basic services, they often offer other services beyond logistics.
Service Developer 3PL
Service Developers offer the logistics support of a standard 3PL along with added infrastructure and management. Service Developers offer IT support, product tracking, and product security. Because of this added infrastructure and expertise, companies that hire Service Developer 3PLs can ensure the safety and reliability of their products.
Customer Adapter 3PL
A Customer Adapter 3PL in essence entirely runs the logistics at the behest of the hiring company. This type of 3PL inherits the logistical operation from the hiring company; it does not create its own operation. A Customer Adapter 3PL may enhance and improve the existing logistical infrastructure already in place.
Customer Developer 3PL
Similar to the Customer Adapter, the Customer Developer takes over the logistics of the hiring company entirely. But, unlike the Customer Adapter, the Developer 3PL integrates itself with the hiring business. While a Customer Adapter will run a company’s logistics department, the Customer Developer will in essence become the company’s logistics department.
Have other questions about types of 3PLs? Contact us at www.adeptivsolutions.com
Source: Types of 3PL Providers
By G.S. Jackson, eHow Contributor
Why You Should Outsource Your Fulfillment
There are multiple reasons why a business would outsource their fulfillment. In a recent article I read by Matt Konkle from multichannelmerchant.com, he gives four reasons to outsource fulfillment. I would be curious to know your thoughts or additions to this.
Every merchant wants the problem of rapid growth. But the issues that can arise from this scenario – delayed shipping, product backorders, and angry customers – are also every merchant’s worst nightmare. When the capacity of your operations is compromising the health of your business and the achievement of your goals, merchants should consider solutions that can put them back in control.
For many fast-growing companies, that solution is outsourced order fulfillment. Here are four reasons why:
Scalable Operations
Warehouse space isn’t free. As your business grows and you sell more product, you’ll need to stock more product – which will require additional facilities and staff. When you work with an outsourced fulfillment warehouse, you will have access to both without investing additional time and money on infrastructure or equipment. As your business continues to expand (via acquisition, expansion, or good old-fashioned sales increases), your fulfillment provider can scale with you.
Faster, better delivery options
Many outsourced fulfillment providers offer multiple warehouse locations, allowing a retailer to spread operations across a larger geographic area as their customer base continues to expand. By selecting a provider with locations central to its core customer base, a merchant can offer faster and less expensive shipping options to more buyers – and save on its freight costs as well.
Top expertise and vendors
Merchants who grow quickly often lack the leadership experience or knowledge to manage the challenges that come with that rapid growth. Partnering with a seasoned fulfillment outsourcer brings industry expertise to your retail team without having to seek out and pay for in-house talent. In addition, an outsourced provider also brings its clients a network of top vendors of everything from packaging supplies to freight carriers – all at a more economical cost than a stand-alone merchant can typically achieve.
Focus on growing your business
The day-to-day process of running a warehouse is hard enough – scaling labor, maximizing space layout, organizing and tracking inventory, etc. These tasks are multiplied when orders are coming in faster than they can be sent out. With a third-party provider, operational issues are addressed and handled by the operations team (makes sense, right?). This leaves the merchant’s management team to focus on more long-term initiatives and additional opportunities for growth.
www.adeptivsolutions.com
Tips to Reduce Wait Time in Your Call Center
In order to compete and grow your business by positive word-of-mouth, customer service is KEY. I recently found this article by Barbara Burke from www.multichannelmerchant.com called “12 Tips to Reduce Customer Hold Times.”
I found these tips applicable and interesting. I’d like to share her tips with you:
Reducing the amount of time your customers stay on hold will not only result in shorter handle times, but will make your customers more satisfied and your agents a lot happier.
Here are 12 tips to reduce the amount of time your customers wait on hold in your contact center:
1. Expand your agents’ authority to make decisions. Customers detest waiting on hold while an agent tracks down a higher authority to make a simple decision.
2. Create a robust on-line knowledge base agents can access quickly and easily. The best way to get the resource used is to involve your agents in the design.
3. Update the information in the knowledge base. Agents won’t use it if they can’t trust the information to be accurate.
4. Include the agent’s efficient use of the on-line knowledge base as a basic requirement of their job.
5. Coach agents on call control techniques to enable them to manage their customer interactions efficiently.
6. Have zero tolerance for agents who put customers on hold so they can chitchat with their neighbors. (It happens!)
7. Avoid relying on new agents to “learn on the job.” It’s not fair to customers to sit on hold while an under-trained newbie turns to a co-worker or supervisor to get the right answer.
8. If your customer satisfaction surveys reveal a trend in complaints about having to hold too long when working with an agent, dig into the root causes.
9. Have a sense of urgency yourself. When you take an escalated call make sure you handle the interaction as quickly as possible.
10. Train your agents to always give the customer the option to hold or to receive a call back. Giving your customers a choice makes them feel more in control.
11. Make sure that the ability to manage hold time during the call is included in agents’ call quality criteria.
12. Get internal departments to be more responsive. Too often when an agent puts a customer on hold so they can ask another department a quick question, no one is available to help.
Do you have any other tips to add? Feel free to comment. www.adeptivsolutions.com
Gauging an Appropriate Response in Your Call Center Customer Service
There’s no argument that there’s always room for improvement in every business. As times change, new practices seem to emerge that are more efficient and work better than the ones in place before them. There are many ways one can improve customer service in your call center.
While many companies look for ways to increase sales, only a few might actually be interested in retaining customers. When it comes to making big time profits, no one can underestimate the importance of recurring customers for more sale volume, as compared to just one sale to a single a customer each time. This loyalty can only be achieved if an excellent, memorable and welcoming customer service, accompanies core service or product. Just a satisfied customer is never as good as a truly delighted customer.
Call center outsourcing services can be improved, monitored and used to your best advantage. Whenever there is a call for example, the customer agents can be asked to have a generalized short discussion to judge the tone of the person because a customer might just be having a bad day and the agent should know a few things before he can start his appropriate response.
Call Center Service representatives should always make a good start; a good first impression at the start of the conversation which is a confident, dependable and affirmative one would make the customers feel that they have arrived right at the hands of a dependable person. It would also be very important to develop practices that encourage customers to call back again.
Rapport in call center service can be developed by catering specifically to the type of person of that person that you hear on the phone. For example if you hear an elderly person with very basic questions, or if you hear young, professional, questioning and a clear minded businessman, you would definitely respond differently in both circumstances.
It is an art in itself to understand how to respond to the versatile nature of the needs and concerns that these people have regarding the same service or product that you offer.
So basically you need to take the lead and learn how to explain the same information in various ways to people and master to improvise on ways to helping out in new occurring situations with the call center service. It would also be very helpful if you can speak very clearly, each phone call is like a separate presentation and agent`s voice tone for each call should be perfect so it provides best standard.
Summary: One of the best ways for an agent to respond in call center customer service is to try finding ways to predict the actual state of mind of the customers before response. Delighting customer service will bring your customers back because they will always remember you.
It will do well for all if each customer is understood and responded to as a separate individual and entity so that they are more inclined towards telling you what they are actually feeling about your service.
www.adeptivsolutions.com
(Source: By Meri Johns)