The world is flat and Pick-by-Light is expensive

Pick-by-Light seems like a really old chestnut, so why bother writing about it on the SSI Blog? Before we deal with a new, more economic approach to Pick-by-Light, let’s first take a quick look at the underlying principle.

Pick-by-Light is a generic term for a group of applications that guide order pickers to the requested items, by using lights or displays. Wherever something needs to be picked from the shelf or off the pallet, a display goes on. Let me show you, why Pick-by-Light is an interesting alternative for small applications as well.

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Walgreens: role model for integration … and efficiency

„Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.“

There’s a lot of wisdom behind this old Chinese saying. And it also holds true for people with disabilities. The rest of society pities them and supports them with charity. But what they really want is a fair chance to earn their living and the respect that goes along with it.

Randy Lewis at Walgreens understood. But he didn’t just have an idea. As Senior Vice President of Supply Chain and Logistics, he also had the means to put it into action. It all started with the setup of a new distribution centre in Anderson, South Carolina. How did Walgreens integrate people with disabilities? Read on!

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Logistics projects – the ‘right’ objectives

ZielscheibeWelcome to part 2 of our series on success factors, challenges and pitfalls of logistics projects. Like we mentioned in the first part (logistics consultants), every project begins with a definition of its objectives.

In most cases, people start discussing performance figures such as the number of SKUs, stock turnover, throughputs, costs per pick, etc. way too early. It’s true that these numbers become relevant during the project, and some even at the beginning. But oftentimes, these logistical figures, if discussed prematurely, only obstruct your view of the real business goals. How can you find the real goals of your project? Read on!

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Does Your Intralogistics Drive the Competition Crazy?

Impossible StaircaseYou might have read the book “How to Drive Your Competition Crazy” by Guy Kawasaki. As American authors prefer to use lurid titles, they manage to reach quite a large audience.

The book deals almost exclusively with a couple of non-standard marketing schemes that are supposed to make it impossible for the competition to gain the upper hand. But the way to achieve this is not by attacking your competitors head on. Instead, the author suggests that your primary objective should be to please the customers.

The idea is that a company with a loyal following of customers will make it extremely tough for the competition to lure them away. The reader might easily get the impression that Kawasaki sees the world through marketing glasses. This would explain why he considers other factors in a company’s success hardly worth mentioning. Which companies are driving the competition crazy with their intralogistics? Read on to find out!

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Logistics Projects – The Part of the Consultant

LogistikberaterIn a series of articles throughout this year, we will talk about the challenges, pitfalls and success factors of logistics projects. In the first part, we take a look at the launch of these projects and the role a consultant should play in it.

Only a few companies put a new distribution centre (or even several) in operation every single year. For most of our customers, setting up and working with a new logistics centre is an extraordinary event, for which the normal processes and structures of the company are not prepared.

Therefore, many deciders in business and logistics resort to hiring a consultant. But this leads directly to the first crucial point: what should be part of the consultant’s responsibilities and what shouldn’t? What are the objectives of the consulting firm? What might seem like a trivial question at first, is certainly worth a thought or two. How could you avoid the most common mistakes at the start of a logistics project? Read on to find out!

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The 3 R’s of Logistics: Returns, Reverse, Recycle

University of San FranciscoThe concept of logistics – moving and storing goods from acquisition to consumption – is fairly well known to businesses and their consumers. Logistics is how we make things happen, whether it’s in our businesses or in our personal lives. But what exactly does “reverse logistics” mean and why is it so important to a company’s success?

Read on to find out more about reverse logistics

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Happy New Year – Happy New Solutions

Topics 20122011 was the year of CeMAT, the world’s largest intralogistics trade show. And because there’s only one CeMAT every three years, the exhibits shown there are a good indicator for the innovations we can expect in the months and years ahead. This time, the large variety of new concepts and solutions for intralogistics was particularly remarkable.

They are going to bring additional dynamics into the market, because newly developed solutions and concepts usually lead to higher performance in goods distribution. A couple of years back, the focus was on the efficient picking of cartons and pallet building. What we now see is a stronger emphasis on single item order picking. Click here to read the complete article

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Ending the year with a highlight reel

SilvesterOnce again, it’s time to say good-bye to the old year and move on. But before we start 2012, let’s look back on some issues we covered in 2011.

The world we live in is full of intralogistics. With this blog, we are offering readers the opportunity, too look behind the closed doors of warehouses and distribution centres to uncover what lies hidden there. Granted, the matter may be quite complex. But we’re trying our best to shed some light on those aspects crucial to intralogistics. Take a look at the highlights of 2011

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7 Ways to Efficient Intralogistics – Part 2

The first part of this blog post dealt with 3 important issues, that are going to lead you to more efficient intralogistics. Of course, this was only the beginning, so stay with me for numbers 4 to 7.

4. Ergonomics in not a luxury

In the initial purchase, ergonomically optimised solutions are more expansive than conventional ones. But in the long run, it looks completely different. Your warehouse staff might easily become the weakest link in your supply chain, if a facility is not in line with ergonomic requirements. That would create a work environment which is detrimental to human performance instead of supporting it. Click here to learn more about efficient intralogistics

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7 Ways to Efficient Intralogistics – Part 1

What might keep a company from investing in efficient intralogistics solutions to gain an advantage over the competition? I think that there are often a lot of doubts about the right course of action. From an outsider’s point of view, the intralogistics industry can be confusing in many ways. There are plenty of different systems, processes and technologies available on the market. Some of them are complementary, others are mutually exclusive. This leads to uncertainty and hampers further actions, sometimes as far as consolidating the status quo.

This happens although the objective is already clear: efficient intralogistics. It means achieving your goals with the most economic use of your resources. But which ways are going to lead you there?

To provide some means of orientation here, I listed 7 ways to efficient intralogistics. These points are basically a suggestion, to think critically about your company’s intralogistics. They will be most useful to those, who don’t deal with this topic on a daily basis, yet can’t ignore it completely. Would you like to know, where to look more closely when investing in new intralogistics? Read on!

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