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Most Recent Articles

The Future of Retail Careers

Technology continues to innovate various industries, but it doesn't come without a mixture of enthusiasm and fear. Businesses are understandably excited about the prospect of greater efficiency, while some workers worry they'll be replaced by robots.

Topics: Retail Trends Automation

2020’s Short-Term E-Commerce Response is Your Long-Term E-Commerce Strategy

How has your business responded to the rapid changes in the distribution and logistics industry this year? Chances are that the rapid evolution of your processes and how you supported them are not just a band-aid for making it through to 2021, but the blueprint for your current and future facilities well beyond this crisis and into the future.

Topics: Trends ECommerce Planning COVID-19

Our Quick Take on Tesla’s Annual “Battery Day”

It’s hard to imagine during the heyday of lead acid batteries that anyone would have thought something called “Battery Day” could be seen as a futuristic, sleek, design-savvy symbol of innovation. But in case you missed it, yesterday September 22nd was the annual Shareholder meeting for Tesla, an event they have branded as “Battery Day”, and is used as a showcase for new innovations, ideas and plans coming out of Tesla.

Topics: Trends Mobile Power Lithium Power

What is “Industry 4.0”?


Photo by Franck V. on Unsplash

“Industry 4.0” is a term now in common use generally to describe the “fourth industrial revolution”, a term that it is used interchangeably with. But what does it mean, on a high level and specifically for what impact it might have on your business?

To get us all on the same page, let’s first go back to “Industry 1.0” and be clear about the other distinct eras of industrial revolution:

Topics: Technology Manufacturing Trends

Trends in Fleet Management You Should Know

As a major pillar of the distribution industry, shippers and logistics service providers are a critical element of any business’ customer satisfaction goals. But as a facility manager or a business that relies on a shipping partner to help you meet your service goals, how much information do you share between you in order to ensure you can make the relationship as productive as possible? A recent industry survey by Descartes Systems Group, a solutions provider for fleet management operations, provides some useful insights.

Topics: Trends Planning Shipping

The Rapid Ascent of Holograms in Manufacturing

There are a lot of innovations in manufacturing getting press in recent years, but most of them relate to the improvement of productivity through process improvement – continuous improvement, supply chain management, culture and developing talent. But there is one radically innovative technology that is flying under the radar but is already poised to bring the sci-fi future into today’s factories.

Topics: Technology Manufacturing Trends

5 Ways to Improve Warehouse Worker Retention

Despite low unemployment and a long-term economic growth streak with record profits now approaching a full decade, distribution centers and warehouses have continued to experience trouble retaining skilled or experienced staff. The problem lies more in how management values the contribution of their people in those facilities – which also makes it somewhat easier to resolve. Today we look into the problem with the help of some great research from ProLogistix through the WERC organization.

Topics: Distribution Center Trends Warehouse

5 Trends Manufacturing Leaders Shouldn't Ignore

What new technologies change the way products are made and delivered? How does the increase in urban populations affect manufacturing trends? What does the growing global economy mean for manufacturing leaders?

Manufacturers and logistics companies must keep current with the changes in their industry if they want their businesses to survive. Here are 5 trends that manufacturing leaders can’t afford to ignore.

Topics: Manufacturing Trends

Five New Trends in Lean Manufacturing You Will Want to Know About

While it’s important for lean consultants to stay on top of current trends in lean manufacturing, it is difficult to keep up with advances in technology and new opportunities. For instance there is new warehouse cart technology available that reduces waste. Here are five new trends in lean manufacturing we believe you will want to know about:

Get the free "NEW TRENDS IN LEAN MANUFACTURING THAT
WILL IMPACT THE FUTURE" White Paper Here.

1. Strength-Based Lean Thinking

Most applications of lean thinking begin with an assumption that there is a theoretical “perfect state” for each organizational process and that the current state deviates from the perfect state due to inefficiencies and waste.

The strength-based approach to lean has a different focus. Instead of focusing on what is not working and inefficient, it teaches how to identify what is already working efficiently and generates value in existing processes and systems (this is called “strength focus”).

The strength-based approach to lean is more natural to work with and more sustainable in the long term.

Leveraging current or past knowledge, and accessing experiences and successes from within the system, are great resources for the next generation of improvement initiatives. They also provide motivation for everyone to face the challenges and opportunities ahead.

Topics: Lean Manufacturing Trends IoT Green Manufacturing