3 Ways to Leverage Mobile Solutions for Warehousing and Fulfillment

3 Ways to Leverage Mobile Solutions for Warehousing and Fulfillment

Jim Dempsey

The “Amazonification" of the supply chain is transforming B2B and B2C marketplaces alike, requiring all parties in the supply chain to digitize. The pressure is on to create an omnichannel, seamless, and high-quality customer experience. In order to deliver on consumers’ increased expectations, e-commerce companies and retailers are demanding capabilities like drop shipping from their suppliers.

Manufacturers, distributors, and 3PLs (third-party logistics providers) are joining retailers in the quest for real-time inventory and fulfillment data. In order to maintain a competitive edge, they are leaving behind stand-alone siloed systems and embracing technology that offers transparency across the supply chain. Various supply chain management systems, paired with rugged mobile devices, serve as a critical enabler of this digital transformation—helping fulfill buyers' omnichannel expectations.

How mobile solutions support supply chain transformation:

1) WMS on the warehouse floor

In the warehouse or distribution center (DC), managers spend most of their time managing staff and managing exceptions. Many supervisors have to return to their offices to generate operational reports because most of their staff rely on pen and paper to pull stock, manage inventory and complete other tasks. In fact, an estimated 80 percent of warehouse workers worldwide still rely on pen and paper. But in an increasingly competitive environment, legacy technology solutions or pen and paper may not be enough to maintain a competitive edge.

Many WMS and labor management system providers such as JDA and Manhattan Associates offer affordable mobile apps and cloud-based solutions, available on vendor-agnostic mobile devices. Rugged mobility solutions, such as handheld devices and hybrid laptops that convert into tablets, allow managers to more actively manage staff and allow pickers, packers and yard jockeys to do their jobs more efficiently, both on and off the forklift. Efficiencies include a reduction in errors due to manual data entry, increased fill rates, improved workflow, and planning of work in the warehouse.

2) Fulfillment at the store or satellite location level

Some retailers struggle to reduce stock outs. Many are expanding their assortments. Consumers want the option to order online and pick up in store. For faster deliveries, online purchases can be fulfilled directly from a local store or another that has the item in stock. Amazon is experimenting with shipping lockers, in addition to locating DCs in major U.S. cities for faster deliveries.

To keep up, retailers are opening pop-up stores to handle seasonal peaks and serve as temporary fulfillment centers for order pickup and overflow distribution. All these hybrid fulfillment models demand an accurate view of real-time inventory across stores, storerooms, warehouses, and DCs. Retailers are taking steps to integrate their back-office technology and upgrade inventory management and order generation systems, among others, to improve the accuracy of inventory across distribution nodes.

No matter where retailers are with their integrations or technologies, mobile solutions help retailers turn stores and satellite locations into fulfillment centers. Solutions include in-store inventory management to receive deliveries and capture adjustments. Fulfillment applications enable shipping from the store and managing in-store pick flows. It’s a win-win when store associates can access and update inventory and fulfillment information on mobile.

There are many types of retail solutions such as in-store fulfillment, category management, and point-of-sale. For example, Panasonic provides Toughpad FZ-N1 rugged handheld devices with barcode scanners to regional supermarket and hardware store chains who run direct-store-delivery (DSD) applications and other in-store receiving and fulfillment solutions. 

3) Last-mile solutions

Last-mile solutions are essential to accurately service and invoice customers, with real-time updates, tracking and prompt invoicing. Electronic confirmations that provide e-signatures in real-time to show proof of delivery or ePODs, are among the capabilities available today on mobile delivery solutions. Among the many benefits of bypassing paper forms with ePODs are faster order-to-cash cycles when invoicing is immediately triggered to accounting and ERP systems.

In the food and beverage sector, for example, distributors face challenges in managing product and delivery data-capture at the point of delivery. Sometimes, these are cash businesses. DSD professionals armed with rugged handheld devices can easily scan barcodes, track lots and send real-time data to the back-office before they even leave the customer location.

Mobile last-mile solutions show real opportunity to not only improve the customer experience but the supplier’s operations by increasing efficiencies and standardizing delivery processes. Field delivery solutions, such as those offered by Descartes, can be highly customized to the vertical sector or vendor.

Panasonic Toughbook solutions are driving digital transformation in the warehouse and beyond. Visit us online to learn more about our portfolio of enterprise-grade and reliable rugged handhelds, tablets, and laptops which fully enable omnichannel fulfillment in the warehouse, shipping yard or store. 

Technology’s impact on your summer ice cream parlor

icecreamblog

Technology’s impact on your summer ice cream parlor

6 minute read

While consumers may spend their summer seeking exotic ice cream flavors—Lobster, Cheetos and Spruce Tip are whipped up, ready for the adventurous eater—savvy businesses are bringing on new technologies to help figure out things like what new flavors will sell. 

Just south of Cincinnati, across the Kentucky border, vegan and vegetarian ice cream and sandwich shop Piper’s Cafe is leveraging big data to keep up with its customers: “We are growing and we can't remember all of our customers by name and face any longer. I'm looking forward to seeing what patterns my new regular guests fall into and adapting," says co-owner Chip Atkins in a report from The Week. Cloud and mobile technology mean that ice cream shops and other small restaurants can take advantage of the kind of big data insights that large restaurant owners have been using to lower costs and boost operational efficiencies. 
 

How the restaurant industry is reading tech disruptions

Not all restaurant innovations come in the form of new flavors or food items. Some important breakthroughs arise as solutions to common problems plaguing restauranteurs—from high labor costs to declining traffic. How to use breakthroughs such as big data and other disruptive technologies dominated our conversations at the 2018 National Restaurant Association trade show. 

In a recent research study conducted by Panasonic, nearly four out of five respondents stated they believed competitors in their own industry will pull ahead if they do not adopt or invest in disruptive technology. Seven in ten said they felt companies outside their industry could disrupt them. 

And these ideas were more pronounced in the food service, hospitality and retail industries. These sectors are more likely than others to say disruptive technologies are critical to the future success of their companies.

Connected restaurants

Across all industries, three of the top five adopted disruptive technologies are cloud, IoT and robotics. Each of these technologies plays a role in the connected kitchen, where appliances all sync to the cloud, communicate over a network, can be managed remotely and even using predictive analytics. Spyce, a new restaurant in Boston, is built around a robotic kitchen, and relies on cloud and IoT. The robotic kitchen “wirelessly collects multiple orders from a bank of self-service menu kiosks, displays the names of the guests whose orders are being prepared, pipes the various ingredients from refrigerated hoppers into a wok to be cooked and tossed, and dumps the hot meal into a compostable bowl waiting on the counter below,” according to a review in Salon. 

Labor is one of the costliest elements of running a restaurant and can eat up as much as 40 percent of a restaurant’s gross revenue, according to estimates. Software that has the capacity to collect and analyze data will the connecting element of automated processes and are already making it possible for labor intensive industries across the board to run more efficiently. MaryPat Sullivan, chief nursing officer at Overlook Medical Center in Summit, New Jersey, told Healthcare IT News earlier this year that the hospital network was able to save $70 million on operational costs by successfully employing predictive analytics. Software programs such as Panasonic’s Clearview platform have helped franchise owners of some of the largest QSR chains grow at a faster rate than their corporate-owned counterparts that still operate on legacy software. These functionalities integrated with the automation capabilities of PanaCIM are already changing the landscape of kitchen and back office interoperability.

icecream infograph

Personalizing experiences

Last month, we wrote about how the hospitality and retail industry are turning to artificial intelligence to create an increasingly nuanced personal experience for their customers. Of all the industries polled in our research, 90 percent say personalization is important to the future success of their company. Furthermore, they believe that the first step is to simplify the customer experience. But there is also a divide about what personalizing the customer experience entails. According to 40 percent of respondents, “personalizing” means making it simpler for customers to engage. Only 20 percent interpret this as “being able to customize services and offerings” by using customer data analytics to predict and impact purchase behavior. 

Personalization in ordering has contributed to the widespread interest and adoption of kiosks in the restaurant industry. McDonalds see kiosks as part its digital growth accelerator that will expand choices for how customers order, pay and are served, according to its latest annual report. Similarly, Subway also announced it was planning to introduce kiosks. In Texas, a number of Dairy Queen restaurants are already reaping benefits of self-service kiosks. 

Brands that have been early adopters of kiosks have reported that the average check size is up to 30 percent higher than at the counter. These kiosks don’t just allow the restaurant to continually upsell through the entire ordering process, but customers are also given the opportunity to fully customize their order, which leads to an increasingly personalized experience.

Authors
Jeff Pinc - Director of Food Services at Panasonic

Inside next-gen manufacturing

next gen factory

Inside next-gen manufacturing

5 minutes

In mid-February, the National Association of Manufacturers kicked off a cross-country trip visiting plants in more than a half-dozen states. The trip started in Troy, Michigan at “Automation Alley.” 

Job growth from Michigan to Buffalo, NY

The trip began as the business of making things faces major changes. Today American manufacturers need to fill some 364,000 jobs, according to a report from Deloitte and NAM. Panasonic manufacturing jobs are among them. In Buffalo, New York, Panasonic is partnering with Tesla in the production of solar cells for roof tiles—a product that integrates high-efficiency photovoltaics with roofing materials—and we’re looking for next-gen workers.

According to the Deloitte/NAM report, over the next couple of years, the number of manufacturing jobs in this country is expected to climb to 3.5 million. What kind of jobs will they be?

Our findings show that most of these new jobs will be created by small to mid-size manufacturers. The majority of American manufacturers are considered “small,” with fewer than 500 employees, according the U.S. Census Bureau. Its data shows that in 2015, there were 251,774 firms in the sector and all but 3,813 were defined as small. 

Disruptive tech in manufacturing

When these manufacturers create jobs tomorrow, they’ll have titles like supply chain specialist, manufacturing execution system developer, electrical technician and analyst. These titles relate to changes brought on by everything from supply chain automation to advanced robotics to artificial intelligence (AI). A few years ago, consulting firm McKinsey identified AI, advanced robotics and IoT among two dozen disruptive technologies that would account for trillions of dollars in economic value. Panasonic is deeply engaged in the advancement of almost half of these technologies. That’s important because when you’re creating experiences, chances are, you’re going to need to stitch together many of them into an integrated solution. Our future is focused on finding ways to apply our disruptive tech expertise to make radically new experiences possible. 

Factory work is becoming a new experience. From Automation Alley in Feb., NAM CEO Jay Timmons talked about how innovation is changing work: “Some people may think ‘automation’ and ‘job creation’ are mutually exclusive. That’s simply not true. Innovation is expanding opportunities and what American workers can do."

Millennials bring new skills to manufacturing

Manufacturers must think about how disruptive technologies will change the way they do business, operate plants and train workers. Automation, for instance, means that a worker will handle more responsibilities and needs additional skills to fulfill them. Big Data skills, for instance, are important to advanced manufacturing. Panasonic’s award-winning PanaCIM is a manufacturing execution system that creates an ecosystem connecting disparate islands of data across an enterprise—production data, MRP/ERP and legacy systems. Understanding and applying such data is key to operating the system.  Millennials (often defined as those now aged 20-40) come to manufacturing with new skills like MES management, but experts say that's just the start. “Millennials have already started changing the manufacturing and supply chains -- and for the better," according to an IndustryWeek report.

In support of growing manufacturers, Panasonic has invested heavily in its vision of a new manufacturing landscape–one that supports companies regardless of size, product mix or skill level. For instance, it designed its MES Manufacturing Execution System software to optimize the supply chain as a full-blown package and as an easy-to-install express system for companies with limited infrastructure. Panasonic introduced pick-and-place equipment that addresses the need for smaller lot sizes and tighter control over work in process and scheduling. Additionally, the Panasonic cloud9 Innovation Center, just outside Chicago, is a comprehensive facility where manufacturers can try out new applications, speak with experts and explore production hardware and complementary technology. 

Learn more about disruptive technology and manufacturing. 

Authors
Faisal Pandit - President of Panasonic Factory Solutions Co. of America