Cutthroat competition in the grocery industry has left DC managers searching for faster and cheaper ways to get orders out. But their own performance standards may be holding them back.
Georges Bishop, Professional Engineer, is senior vice president of LXLI International Ltd. of Toronto, a firm specializing in scientific time management. He has taught courses in work measurement and methods at l'?cole Polytechnique de Montr?al and l'Universit? de Sherbrooke. He can be reached at (416) 621-9292, ext. 226.
Yves B?langer, Professional Engineer and Master of Professional Engineering, is vice president of LXLI. He can be reached at (416) 621- 9292, ext. 224.
A trip to get groceries isn't what it used to be. When you go to the supermarket these days, chances are you pick up a few non-food items along with the frozen peas and chicken parts: hair gel, a pack of batteries or maybe a pair of athletic socks. And chances are even better that you buy a lot of your groceries somewhere other than a supermarket. More and more Americans are picking up food items at drug stores, discount stores, wholesale clubs, convenience stores, and—most commonly of all— mega retail centers. Today, the nation's number one food retailer is not Safeway, Kroger or Albertson's; it's Wal-Mart.
The same winds of change that are sweeping through the grocery business are shaking things up one stop back in the grocery supply line, the distribution center. DCs are suddenly handling not just cases of canned goods, but also home electronics or cosmetics—and they're using new types of equipment and software to do it. At the same time, cutthroat competition has meant DC managers are getting slammed with demands to rev up efficiency (often with scant investment dollars).
But all too often they're still managing things the same old way with the same old labor standards—metrics that don't reflect changes in product mix or equipment. Operating with obsolete standards can actually inhibit productivity: Set the standards too low and performance will reflect that (and leave you overpaying for performance incentives). Raise the bar too high, and you're setting your staff up for failure. And if your standards apply only to direct labor (like order picking), you could be missing out on a huge opportunity to boost productivity among the growing proportion of employees who work in areas like clerical support, maintenance and cleaning.
For these and other reasons, a lot of DCs in the grocery industry are abandoning their rough "guesstimates" and historical labor standards in favor of engineered labor standards (ELS)—metrics developed by using engineering techniques to determine how much time it takes a qualified worker, working at a normal pace, to execute a specific task under certain conditions. Simply put, creating engineered standards means designing efficient work processes developed not through history (which could codify inefficient practices) but through time and motion studies. These metrics may be time consuming to develop, but the payoffs can be impressive.
Trimming the fat
Although not everyone's convinced there's a need for formal labor standards, we've yet to see a grocery DC that wouldn't be the better for crea ting ELS. Not too long ago, we were hired by a grocery chain to boost productivity at its DCs. As we worked our way down the chain, we encountered one holdout : A DC whose management team had negotiated with its workers to raise the previous average of 100 to 110 cases per hour up to 135, with an incentive for more. Now, some workers were pushing 160 to 170. Things couldn't get any better, the general manager argued.
Under pressure from the head office, the manager eventually opened the door to our team of industrial engineers, who had a pretty good idea of how to improve operations based on our experience with other DCs in this group. We first arranged for the staff to be trained in more efficient ways to pick cases, so that an average of 10 steps per case dropped to three. We also provided management training that emphasized the importance of making sure the DC was in top shape—with all equipment working—when the floor workers arrived each morning, as well as the importance of making sure each employee knew what he or she was expected to do, so they'd be productive from the moment their boots hit the DC floor.
Managers rose to the challenge and began to expect more from their direct reports, who in turn demonstrated their ability to do more. With no changes in equipment or layout, floor workers in this DC were soon processing 210 to 215 cases per hour—all for about seven days' worth of consulting time and some work from management. The overall project took 10 weeks to implement, with payback in less than two weeks.
This is not an isolated case. Introducing engineered labor standards to a grocery DC typically boosts productivity by 50 to 75 percent. Other potential benefits include less overtime and a reduced need for capital investments in equipment and facilities. With more efficient employees, we sometimes find we can eliminate the need to add another shift, and this saves on salaries for both hourly staff and management.
Food for thought
Given the complexity of developing engineered standards, it's no surprise that many times DC managers call in outside help. But all too often, the "experts" they bring in are less than qualified. How do you avoid that trap? Here are some things to watch out for:
Solutions that set the bar too low. In developing an ELS system, it's important to get things right from the start. If you set the standards too low, it's very difficult to change them later on. In many cases, we have found that unqualified advisors will do just that, in part because they want to avoid a challenge from the union.Make sure the consultant you hire has a good track record working with unions.If the candidate lacks credibility with unions, you could face a tough time when it comes to getting acceptance for the new standards from the floor.
Solutions that are light on the details. When you evaluate bids from consultants, look for a detailed proposal. A single-page proposal that is vague on the details could be a sign that the bidder has no real value to offer. Insist on a detailed plan.
You should also be wary if the advisor is unable to explain his or her plan in terms you can understand. That could be a signal that the bidder is unable to work through the process in a logical manner. Good advisors can provide a clear explanation of what they propose to do.
Solutions that call for hiring more people or buying more equipment. Some managers believe that if orders aren't being filled quickly enough, they need to hire more workers. By the same token, they think if the DC isn't clean enough, the best solution is to hire more staff.
That's not necessarily true. We recently worked with a DC that was close to being shut down because of sanitation and cleanliness issues even though it employed a cleaning staff of 25. Problem was, there was very little oversight. Once we developed an effective ELS system,this DC's cleanliness ratings soared even though the cleaning staff was reduced to 14. Sometimes, we've learned, hiring more janitorial employees doesn't guarantee a cleaner facility … just larger poker games!
Supply chain planning (SCP) leaders working on transformation efforts are focused on two major high-impact technology trends, including composite AI and supply chain data governance, according to a study from Gartner, Inc.
"SCP leaders are in the process of developing transformation roadmaps that will prioritize delivering on advanced decision intelligence and automated decision making," Eva Dawkins, Director Analyst in Gartner’s Supply Chain practice, said in a release. "Composite AI, which is the combined application of different AI techniques to improve learning efficiency, will drive the optimization and automation of many planning activities at scale, while supply chain data governance is the foundational key for digital transformation.”
Their pursuit of those roadmaps is often complicated by frequent disruptions and the rapid pace of technological innovation. But Gartner says those leaders can accelerate the realized value of technology investments by facilitating a shift from IT-led to business-led digital leadership, with SCP leaders taking ownership of multidisciplinary teams to advance business operations, channels and products.
“A sound data governance strategy supports advanced technologies, such as composite AI, while also facilitating collaboration throughout the supply chain technology ecosystem,” said Dawkins. “Without attention to data governance, SCP leaders will likely struggle to achieve their expected ROI on key technology investments.”
The U.S. manufacturing sector has become an engine of new job creation over the past four years, thanks to a combination of federal incentives and mega-trends like nearshoring and the clean energy boom, according to the industrial real estate firm Savills.
While those manufacturing announcements have softened slightly from their 2022 high point, they remain historically elevated. And the sector’s growth outlook remains strong, regardless of the results of the November U.S. presidential election, the company said in its September “Savills Manufacturing Report.”
From 2021 to 2024, over 995,000 new U.S. manufacturing jobs were announced, with two thirds in advanced sectors like electric vehicles (EVs) and batteries, semiconductors, clean energy, and biomanufacturing. After peaking at 350,000 news jobs in 2022, the growth pace has slowed, with 2024 expected to see just over half that number.
But the ingredients are in place to sustain the hot temperature of American manufacturing expansion in 2025 and beyond, the company said. According to Savills, that’s because the U.S. manufacturing revival is fueled by $910 billion in federal incentives—including the Inflation Reduction Act, CHIPS and Science Act, and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act—much of which has not yet been spent. Domestic production is also expected to be boosted by new tariffs, including a planned rise in semiconductor tariffs to 50% in 2025 and an increase in tariffs on Chinese EVs from 25% to 100%.
Certain geographical regions will see greater manufacturing growth than others, since just eight states account for 47% of new manufacturing jobs and over 6.3 billion square feet of industrial space, with 197 million more square feet under development. They are: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Tennessee.
Across the border, Mexico’s manufacturing sector has also seen “revolutionary” growth driven by nearshoring strategies targeting U.S. markets and offering lower-cost labor, with a workforce that is now even cheaper than in China. Over the past four years, that country has launched 27 new plants, each creating over 500 jobs. Unlike the U.S. focus on tech manufacturing, Mexico focuses on traditional sectors such as automative parts, appliances, and consumer goods.
Looking at the future, the U.S. manufacturing sector’s growth outlook remains strong, regardless of the results of November’s presidential election, Savills said. That’s because both candidates favor protectionist trade policies, and since significant change to federal incentives would require a single party to control both the legislative and executive branches. Rather than relying on changes in political leadership, future growth of U.S. manufacturing now hinges on finding affordable, reliable power amid increasing competition between manufacturing sites and data centers, Savills said.
The British logistics robot vendor Dexory this week said it has raised $80 million in venture funding to support an expansion of its artificial intelligence (AI) powered features, grow its global team, and accelerate the deployment of its autonomous robots.
A “significant focus” continues to be on expanding across the U.S. market, where Dexory is live with customers in seven states and last month opened a U.S. headquarters in Nashville. The Series B will also enhance development and production facilities at its UK headquarters, the firm said.
The “series B” funding round was led by DTCP, with participation from Latitude Ventures, Wave-X and Bootstrap Europe, along with existing investors Atomico, Lakestar, Capnamic, and several angels from the logistics industry. With the close of the round, Dexory has now raised $120 million over the past three years.
Dexory says its product, DexoryView, provides real-time visibility across warehouses of any size through its autonomous mobile robots and AI. The rolling bots use sensor and image data and continuous data collection to perform rapid warehouse scans and create digital twins of warehouse spaces, allowing for optimized performance and future scenario simulations.
Originally announced in September, the move will allow Deutsche Bahn to “fully focus on restructuring the rail infrastructure in Germany and providing climate-friendly passenger and freight transport operations in Germany and Europe,” Werner Gatzer, Chairman of the DB Supervisory Board, said in a release.
For its purchase price, DSV gains an organization with around 72,700 employees at over 1,850 locations. The new owner says it plans to investment around one billion euros in coming years to promote additional growth in German operations. Together, DSV and Schenker will have a combined workforce of approximately 147,000 employees in more than 90 countries, earning pro forma revenue of approximately $43.3 billion (based on 2023 numbers), DSV said.
After removing that unit, Deutsche Bahn retains its core business called the “Systemverbund Bahn,” which includes passenger transport activities in Germany, rail freight activities, operational service units, and railroad infrastructure companies. The DB Group, headquartered in Berlin, employs around 340,000 people.
“We have set clear goals to structurally modernize Deutsche Bahn in the areas of infrastructure, operations and profitability and focus on the core business. The proceeds from the sale will significantly reduce DB’s debt and thus make an important contribution to the financial stability of the DB Group. At the same time, DB Schenker will gain a strong strategic owner in DSV,” Deutsche Bahn CEO Richard Lutz said in a release.
Transportation industry veteran Anne Reinke will become president & CEO of trade group the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA) at the end of the year, stepping into the position from her previous post leading third party logistics (3PL) trade group the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA), both organizations said today.
Meanwhile, TIA today announced that insider Christopher Burroughs would fill Reinke’s shoes as president & CEO. Burroughs has been with TIA for 13 years, most recently as its vice president of Government Affairs for the past six years, during which time he oversaw all legislative and regulatory efforts before Congress and the federal agencies.
Before her four years leading TIA, Reinke spent two years as Deputy Assistant Secretary with the U.S. Department of Transportation and 16 years with CSX Corporation.