Author Archives: Robin Lamerson

Protective Barriers Reduce Product Damage and Accident Risk

People and equipment share the space in a warehouse with product inventory. When anything moves from one place to another, there is the risk of accidents, injuries or product, equipment and facility damage. By installing appropriate protective barriers, many of those negative consequences can be prevented. Protective barriers are typically installed to designate the edges of pedestrian walkways and paths ...

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Your Opportunity to Innovate and Collaborate

If you have not read the 2015 MHI Annual Industry Report, let me play the spoiler and give you the keys to where solutions reside. In the report, which is based on comprehensive surveys of more than 400 supply chain professionals ranging from engineers to CEOs, the following comment is made: “The number one barrier to investing in new technologies ...

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Changing Customer Expectations Drive Growth of Distribution Centers

Distribution centers are growing massively in size due to the explosion of SKUs and increasing demands to supply goods to customers as soon as possible. There are many reasons for this change. New online portals into supply chain visibility allow consumers to see inventory availability, order status, as well as product evaluation prior to the final purchase, says Brian Keiger, ...

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Making Cranes Clairvoyant: Advancements in Diagnostic Monitoring

Many of us, from early on, are captivated by the feats cranes can accomplish— from the monstrous machines towering over construction sites like modern-day sauropods to those swingy, jerky (and more than occasionally confounding) arcade claws. The earliest cranes date back to ancient Greece. Imagine what those industrious minds would make of today’s machinery, which has now evolved to the ...

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Europeans and the U.S. Roadmap

About a year ago, a copy of The U.S. Roadmap for Material Handling & Logistics made its way into the hands of supply chain leaders at P&G. After reading it, they had this to say: “You may think you have a U.S. Roadmap here, but you don’t. What you have is a global Roadmap.” To tell the truth, it was ...

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Creating Resilient Supply Chains

Ever since the 2011 Japanese tsunami shut down much of Toyota’s parts and manufacturing capabilities, logistics managers have been looking more closely at the vulnerabilities in their own supply chains and searching for ways they can quickly rebound from both large and small disruptions to them. It begins with assessing potential risks—economic, political, environmental and social. This can include everything ...

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Onshoring Vs. Offshoring

A number of studies document a growing trend of U.S. businesses bringing manufacturing operations back to the U.S.— often referred to as onshoring. In 2011, a report by The Boston Consultancy Group revealed that 24 percent of senior manufacturing executives were considering returning production to the U.S. and predicted that changes in China’s wage structure along with increased use of ...

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Utilizing Technology to Reduce Supply Chain

The use of radio frequency identification (RFID) and global positioning system (GPS) technologies is mitigating the risks within supply chains by minimizing financial losses due to downtime, reducing the chance for non-compliance with government regulations on product safety as well as corporate governance, and even protecting the physical safety of workers. But the use of such technologies to provide an ...

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Protecting Your Reputation

Passing the buck” doesn’t work when it comes to an outsourced supply chain. Here, whatever happens—no matter how far down the line—problems, challenges or missteps will be seen as part and parcel of the company’s image. Disastrous weather affecting production? Lack of compliance with international law? A different understanding of quality controls? Labor issues? In today’s demanding, transparency-seeking marketplace, outsourcing ...

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Not ‘One of the Guys’: The changing face of supply chain leadership

“How do you know you’re at a supply chain event? Because the women are walking straight into the restroom, but there’s a line for the men’s room.” – 25-plus year supply chain veteran Michelle Livingstone of Home Depot Admit it. You laughed because, well, it’s true. But the material handling, logistics and supply chain industry takes that observation very seriously. ...

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