Some markets and companies have remained fairly unaffected by the crisis and are even expanding their operations while others have been forced to scale down their activities. This has meant that many businesses have been forced to consider outsourcing their logistics and distribution functions in order to cut costs. The challenge here is who do you outsource to? First off it is important to carry out in depth due diligence before choosing your warehousing and distribution partner. Get a feel for their experience both good and bad. A potential warehouse and distribution partner needs to be able to demonstrate real knowledge and experience.
The economic climate has also meant that technology still plays a key part in staying ahead of the game, but it has made companies more vigilant in what they invest in. It’s all about spending money to save money. Warehouse management and transportation management systems along with the latest bar code scanners and related technologies all have to perform to the optimum. Competition and customer demands for order speed and accuracy just keeps increasing which in turn puts a burden on the way operations are run.
However, recession or no recession it seems as though technology is still pushing the envelope and forcing changes. For example while both barcode and RFID identification technologies are firmly routed in the warehouse and distribution market, how will their applications change in the future? For instance, with the recent introduction of the iphone barcode reader applications will consumers be able to interact directly with warehouse and distribution centres? Would this be a curse or just progress?
Posted by andrea 22nd July 2009 at 9:07am
