The National Retail Federation (NFR) held its annual Big Show conference and expo January 13 – 15, 2019 in New York. Show organizers boast 38,000 people attended the show over the three-day event.
It was a good chance to stay up to date on new products and services relative to supply chain solutions.
Three major themes were emphasized:
- Robots
- Cloud
- Omnichannel
Talk of robots and automation is everywhere
Retailers face huge issues dealing with peak volumes and building capacity into their distribution networks that essentially go unused for 48 weeks of the year. This problem is further exacerbated by the labor shortages in general and concentrated demand for labor during peak periods. Vendors were bringing forward robots and related automation to address both of these concerns.
Retailers face huge issues dealing with peak volumes and building capacity into their distribution networks that essentially go unused for 48 weeks of the year. This problem is further exacerbated by the labor shortages in general and concentrated demand for labor during peak periods. Vendors were bringing forward robots and related automation to address both of these concerns.
There were a number of vendors demonstrating warehouse robots to eliminate labor requirements as well as improve labor efficiencies by reducing non-productive time (e.g., walking from one pick location to another). There were a number of proof cases where these robots had been deployed in warehouse operations with fairly significant results. WMS solutions need to adapt to inventory that is moving to assign tasks to both robots and people to operate smoothly and to realize productivity improvements.
Deployment of this technology is currently at the infancy stage and requires steadfast due diligence in selecting vendors in all stages. Crimson and Co has dedicated team members staying up-to-date on what robot solutions are applicable to our client’s needs and the promises of these technologies.
Cloud capacity for software providers the norm?
Every software provider touted its ability to install their solution with a cloud provider (e.g., AWS, Azure, Oracle, private cloud) enabling sites and users to access their solution on any device with simply a web-connection. This capability appeared to resonate with retailers as they could minimize local site hardware investment and provide access to data and applications on any device. The only software solution that avoided this discussion were warehouse control and execution providers that said that they could not guarantee the responsiveness needed to control highly automated solutions due to issues with network latency. We have helped clients understand how to take advantage of this architectural design and how it is applicable to a customer’s current technology road-map.
Omnichannel and information across network
A conference hot topic was Omnichannel and the ability for a consumer to access and execute a transaction at any interface point with a retailer – on-line, instore, kiosk, buy online/pick up in store, etc. The key enabler to these solutions is accuracy and visibility of inventory information across the entire network, including inventory in transit between points. It was noted that customers and software providers need to design their omnichannel solutions with a clearly defined system-of-record for inventory – this appears to be not a trivial decision especially when there are multiple systems with inventory information.
This inventory information in combination with a robust order management solution (OMS) would ensure (a) that a full assortment of SKUs and inventory would be available to the customer, (b) high assurance that a customer’s order would be fulfilled complete and on-time, (c) provide accurate information when the order would be available to the customer, and (d) provide the detailed data for analytics to understand customer behavior and position inventory at the right locations at the right time.
In addition, a distributed order management engine to send orders to a specific fulfillment location based upon network dynamics and specific business rules is a critical enabler to address the omnichannel challenges. This capability is often outside the feature set of an order management solution.
One of our many consultants’ abilities is to help our clients understand the impact of omni-channel upon its fulfillment channels and how best to select and implement the right technology and solutions to address these business needs.
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