Blog Posts Speed to Customer: Industry Execs Weigh In
Key Takeaways
- Today’s fulfillment operations must surmount a variety of barriers in order to improve speed to customer.
- In a recent Think Tank hosted by Multichannel Merchant, participants discussed how they’re rising to the challenge.
- Key focus areas for 2022 include automating fulfillment processes, and determining the actual value of technology and labor investments.
How are you improving speed to customer in today’s challenging environment? Multichannel Merchant recently assembled a group of operations executives from top companies for a Think Tank forum to address this question.
During the virtual discussion, participants from Best Buy, Crutchfield, DSW, GNC, Saddle Creek Logistics Services, and Vermont Teddy Bear discussed their experiences and shared best practices. Highlights of the conversation are compiled in a new report.
Following is an excerpt from “Improving Speed to Customer: Winning in the Face of Headwinds”…
We’re utilizing goods-to-person and autonomous mobile robots, testing robotic arms, and investing in voice picking where it makes sense. We’ve also opened up several new locations and expanded in several markets to help our clients hit that 2-3-day delivery for ground.”
– Bobby Hays, Regional Vice President, Saddle Creek Logistics Services
TOP OPERATIONAL PRIORITIES IN 2022
Some key focus areas were automating fulfillment processes and determining the actual value of technology and labor investments. The calculus: Do they result in actual performance improvement, and at what cost, from there determining which initiatives can be cut back or eliminated, and which stepped up.
Bill Monk, VP of distribution for GNC, said the company is looking at a new WMS that will allows its stores and DCs to be on a similar platform.
“With 2,300 stores performing like micro DCs, speed is at the forefront,” Monk said. “With that many stores and the amount of inventory we can leverage across them, we can deliver orders in as little as one day in most cases from stores, or usually within 2-3 days from DCs.”
Chris Groseclose, chief fulfillment officer of home and auto electronics retailer Crutchfield Corp., said his main challenge is lack of space, as he prepares for a deluge of product once the semiconductor shortage frees up and hits his crimped stock levels. But two things have helped: Having access to a former Sears store in a defunct mall in central Virginia for overflow space, and an infrastructure expansion of his current building in March 2020, before equipment shortages became acute.
“Once this chip shortage clears up, we’ll have a real problem of where to put it,” Groseclose said. “Luckily early on we had a plan B if needed to boost capacity of our existing DC we thought we’d never use.”
Katie Langrock, VP of operations for Vermont Teddy Bear, said her 2022 priorities include figuring out where to automate to help with staffing challenges, a move to paperless picking, and building up core staff to avoid an over-reliance on seasonal help.
Bobby Hays, a regional vice president with Saddle Creek Logistics Services, said the company is investing heavily in technology, including robotics, to augment its labor capacity, and using smarter waving and batching methodologies.
“We’re utilizing goods-to-person and autonomous mobile robots, testing robotic arms, and investing in voice picking where it makes sense,” Hays said. “We’ve also opened up several new locations and expanded in several markets to help our clients hit that 2-3-day delivery for ground.”
Read the full report for insights on a wide variety of topics, including technology, labor, shipping and more. (Registration required.)
Related to: Increasing Productivity, Managing Growth, Selling Online