Shop Talk
It’s Time to Evaluate Your Leadership Style
Have you reflected recently about your leadership style? Are you someone who you’d like to work for? As we begin the new year, think about how your employees see you as their leader.
Studies have shown that employees feel the most comfortable in a FAIR work environment. Performance tends to be a fairer way to measure workers. Steve Hopper of the Progress Group recently gave this for an example. He says, “Think about measuring the productivity of two people working on an order-picking line who were supposed to pick 220 lines per hour. If one is picking anvils and the other is picking feather pillows, it is not a fair comparison. But when we set up a standard based on the content of the work, the worker can be measured more fairly. Having a fairer form of worker measurement makes for a better work environment and happier employees, he says. Workers thrive in an environment where they feel they are being measured fairly and accurately and where they are rewarded and empowered to do their jobs.”
Hopper says there are three factors that determine the performance of a worker: the method, technique and tools that a worker uses to perform a function; the pace at which he works; and time utilization, or the amount of time actually working vs. engaged in other activities. Companies wishing to improve labor performance need to address all three, but remedies do not have to be expensive or complex, he says.
“Often companies don’t take the time to evaluate how a worker is going about a task,” he says. “Sometimes simple, little changes can improve a worker’s method at little or no cost.” Using industrial engineering or crowd engineering techniques can improve elements of the job without investing in software or systems, he says. “It’s about finding the smartest way to perform a job.”
Better training, proper incentives and labor management systems can all help, he says. “But the very best thing a business can do is talk to and spend time with their associates. Don’t sit in an ivory tower. Ask the associate what is the right way to do the job and what tools and techniques will make them more effective.”
(Source: Steve Hopper, supplychainbrain.com )
Warehousing and Logistics Make the List of Growing Businesses for 2012
With shifts and changes in the job market, many unemployed workers are turning to entrepreneurism– specifically owning a franchise or starting a business as a way to become self-sufficient. In a recent article by The Street, they mention FIVE industries that show promise to be in high demand in the the coming year. The industries mentioned are good news for a business like Adeptiv Solutions, which has many facets of expertise and continues to grow.
Here are the five industries with significant growth potential in 2012:
1. Elder care – The need for senior care services and products will become even more pressing in years to come. Not only are baby boomers’ parents living longer; as they age into their own sunset years, they too will need these services. And this group has money to spend.
2. Health and wellness – The trend toward a healthy lifestyle is producing ample opportunity for businesses from frozen yogurt franchises to create-your-own-salad eateries to fitness centers to benefits consultants.
3. Warehousing – Companies are looking to save money wherever possible, and cutting the costs of owning or leasing space to hold merchandise and products can add significantly to a company’s bottom line.
Providing warehousing services and space, particularly for small businesses, shows plenty of opportunity for industry expansion.
Balsam Hill, for instance, might ship thousands of artificial trees, the bulk of its business, during the peak season — and one a day in the offseason. The company contracts with a third party for its warehousing so “I’m not paying overhead to have warehouse space that I don’t need in February,” founder and CEO Thomas Harman says.
4. Shipping/logistics – Logistics is the management of moving packages or shipments. It includes all aspects, including insurance claims, packaging, the best way to ship and pricing. Unishippers franchisees specifically target small to midsize businesses that do not have the resources to hire a logistics professional.
The industry is growing as consumers continue to move to e-commerce for their shopping needs. Shipping companies will also benefit from planned cuts to the U.S. Postal Service that will leave a lot of smaller merchants looking for economical ways to send their products to customers.
5. Outsourcing/staffing
Businesses learned during the recession — some quicker than others — how to cut without hurting business output by “recognizing the true value of technology in their day-to-day [operations],” Generation Equity’s Mackin says. “They don’t need the bookkeeper anymore, there’s QuickBooks to do the inventory. Not only do they get leaner and meaner, but they don’t have to rehire.”
Source: The Street/Laurie Kulikowski
Global Manufacturing– Oh, how it changes…
In a recent article from Supply Chain Brain, it mentioned the key trends that are driving efforts by companies to reduce costs, boost product quality, and gain greater visibility into the key processes among all supply-chain partners.
The globalization of supply chains is causing companies to take a fresh approach to their manufacturing strategies and they are working to align capabilities with vendors based on common technologies, products and market clusters.
Leading organizations are also focusing on aligning metrics across their supply chains. And they are beginning to incorporate sustainability concerns into their decision-making processes. In addition to the traditional emphasis on maximizing the use of equipment, they are factoring in the usage of water and other resources.
They are beginning to collaborate more closely with vendors in areas such as customer demand and product creation. Their goal is to move beyond the old transactional relationship, with its sole focus on price.
Manufacturers today are doing a better job of aligning production with demand, but they still have problems reconciling sales and customer forecasts. Getting an accurate number requires full visibility into a vendor’s capabilities, constraints and costs. Assuming that the economy begins once more to grow, companies will resume their efforts to boost agility and responsiveness through improved collaboration.
Share with us how your company is changing with the times.
http://www.adeptivsolutions.com/index.php/order-fulfillment/order-management/
How Can You Make Your Channels “Subscriber-Centric?”
A multi-channel strategy demands personalization and a 360-degree view of the customer. The service provider holds a treasure trove of customer intelligence insights that are gleaned from the past activity of its customers. Service providers should use this information to analyze and understand buying behavior, and then leverage subscriber-specific information to raise the customer experience to a whole new level.
This includes a list of things:
customization of services
more personalized and intimate subscriber relationships
greater segmentation and self-selection of products
programs and plans
new pricing models
service packages
increasing bandwidth demands based on subscriber usage
customer desire for personal control and self-selection
But to pin down a personalized multi-channel retail experience, service providers need to apply and push intelligent personalization automatically across all of its channels, and influence service delivery in real time. For information on how Adeptiv Solutions can help enhance your business operations, feel free to contact one of our customer service representatives at sales@adeptivsales.com. (Source: Uri Gurevitz)
Third Party Logistics Providers are In Demand (Part 2)
As companies saw the benefits of outsourcing delivery and warehousing functions, the number of third party logistics companies began to rise offering an ever increasing number of services. The increasing numbers of 3PLs inevitably led to increased competition between these firms, which led to greater savings for the companies who employed them. The last decade has seen the 3PL provider transitioning from a local or regional business to one that offers national or global coverage. In the U.S.A, the 3PL market has been growing at an annual rate of 14.2% since 1996 and in 2006, 3PLs reported $89.4 billion in gross revenue. (Source: Martin Murray)
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“If It Ain’t Broke…Do You Fix It?”
Our team at Adeptiv Solutions has found it can be all too easy for a cataloger to become complacent when it comes to operations and fulfillment, adopting the attitude “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Indeed, if sales and profitability look good, and there aren’t any glaring fulfillment issues, you may conclude that your operations are running smoothly.
One question your management team should ask themselves is how often do they perform regular operations audits? If they haven’t done an audit in a while how can they be sure their operations are running smoothly? They may be missing out on an opportunity to increase the efficiency of their operation — and to add to the bottom line. Our experts at Adeptiv Solutions highly recommend companies perform regular operations audits to be sure their company’s operations are working at its best. There are many opportunities for cost saving as it relates to call center management, fulfillment and shipping. Our experts have helped many companies realize where they are losing money and we work with them to create improved efficiencies. We strongly encourage management teams to take a “time-out” to review their efficiencies or if they need to hire an outside company to do this. We strongly recommend doing a review to see how the organization can further tighten up and be more efficient and profitable.