Labor management software in the age of omnichannel retail
The omnichannel revolution has ushered in sweeping changes for DCs and the people who work in them. It's also changing how retailers use performance-tracking systems.
Ian Hobkirk is the founder and managing director of Commonwealth Supply Chain Advisors, as well as a blogger for DC Velocity. His blog, "Getting it right in the distribution center," can be found here.
Omnichannel commerce is becoming the new norm in retail. Consumers expect highly personalized shopping experiences with the ability to buy and return products interchangeably across all channels. As retailers scramble to align their distribution centers (DCs) to optimize omnichannel processes, they are relying ever more heavily on technology to drive efficiency. One such technology is labor management software (LMS).
"We are definitely seeing more interest in labor management solutions in the era of omnichannel commerce," says Christine Hirtz, territory manager at technology company HighJump Software. "Retailers are experiencing the challenges of handling this new complexity of how orders need to be fulfilled. Driving efficiencies with, and promoting the productivity of, a valuable work force is critical."
As e-commerce sales rise and retailers offer more buying options such as "order-online-pick-up-at-store" or "buy-in-store-and-ship-from-the-DC," their distribution centers are picking and preparing an ever-greater number of customer-ready shipments. The result is an increase in the labor-intensive and time-consuming processes of "each" (individual item) picking and order packing.
Until recently, the each-pick, direct-to-consumer business was a relatively small part of a retailer's overall mix. Companies could outsource the function to a third-party logistics service provider (3PL) or relegate it to a small area of an existing distribution center. Today, however, these types of orders have reached a critical mass for many retailers. In response to this sea-change, companies are pulling all channels into one distribution center, which allows them to leverage efficiencies associated with sharing the cross-channel labor pool, fixed costs, and inventory.
The distribution center is today home to a new mix of activities such as each-picking, packing individual orders for parcel shipping, more quality checks on order accuracy, returns, and value-added services such as gift-wrapping. All of this requires more labor. Labor management software can be an effective way to drive greater levels of productivity from the work force to improve omnichannel's profitability.
"The retail industry has always been a heavy user of LMS primarily because of the high level of process uniformity in the distribution center, the high number of employees, and the reliance on seasonal workers during the holidays," says Chuck Fuerst, director of product strategy at HighJump. "The shift to omnichannel is changing the reasons why retailers need labor management and in many cases, magnifying the need for it."
Retailers that had used rudimentary standards without the help of an LMS find themselves needing a more formal program and system. Those companies already using a sophisticated approach and system for labor management are realizing the need to change and expand how they use it. Below are a few examples of how the omnichannel distribution center concept is changing how retailers use labor management software:
Tighter controls on quality and accuracy: Without the store as a middleman, the omnichannel distribution center has a bigger role to play in the development and preservation of a retailer's brand. Thus, quality has joined speed as an important key performance indicator for retailers. "A mis-pick or a delayed order has the ability to truly impact the customer experience," says Brad Anderson, director of supply chain services at Fortna, a firm that helps companies improve their distribution operations. "Retailers that historically focused on labor standards tied to speed and individual worker productivity are adding standards to encompass quality and accuracy or using factored performance standards, which deduct from an individual's overall productivity score for errors."
Shared work force across channels: Using engineered labor standards, LMS calculates the precise amount of time it should take to complete each task. When most workers in a facility are performing the same type of work for most of the day, it is easy to compare performance on an apples-to-apples basis without sophisticated technology. However, when multiple channels share a single building and a single work force, the lines get blurred. An individual worker might perform a variety of tasks across multiple channels during the day. Labor management in an omnichannel facility requires that the warehouse management system (WMS) understand what an individual is working on at a given time. It must be smart enough to equate that work to an engineered labor task and communicate this information to the LMS so that it can attach the correct standard values.
Many companies are upgrading their WMS technologies to enable this. Commonwealth Supply Chain Advisors recently conducted a poll of distribution companies to understand what factors are driving them to upgrade their WMS software. For companies that already had a best-in-class WMS solution, functionality gaps were cited as the main driver, with labor management being in the top three.
Real-time performance visibility: With a larger work force and a greater reliance on temporary labor during the holiday season in particular, more companies are using real-time reporting on labor metrics to help with training. "Visibility to individual employee performance in real time allows for on-the-spot training and behavior correction, which can be more effective than giving feedback after the fact," says Anderson of Fortna. Not long ago, real-time performance visibility required a tightly integrated tier one WMS/LMS combo. However, as the tier two LMS systems have evolved, most are capable of communicating with the WMS in frequent batches, enabling near real-time information availability.
Labor in the store: More retailers are experimenting with filling e-commerce orders from their stores. This is causing stores to behave much like DCs and be concerned with pick methodology, inventory locations, and labor productivity. "In-store fulfillment is getting a lot of attention, and while we're not seeing many companies implement full-scale LMS solutions in the store yet, we're definitely seeing companies start to pay close attention to store labor statistics," says Fuerst of High Jump.
The advent of omnichannel commerce has created a more complicated supply chain. It is becoming more important to measure labor efficiency at the point of order fulfillment—whether at the store or in the DC. Labor management software will continue to be a key enabling technology to allow retailers to operate profitably in this new environment.
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 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.
Serious inland flooding and widespread power outages are likely to sweep across Florida and other Southeast states in coming days with the arrival of Hurricane Helene, which is now predicted to make landfall Thursday evening along Florida’s northwest coast as a major hurricane, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
While the most catastrophic landfall impact is expected in the sparsely-population Big Bend area of Florida, it’s not only sea-front cities that are at risk. Since Helene is an “unusually large storm,” its flooding, rainfall, and high winds won’t be limited only to the Gulf Coast, but are expected to travel hundreds of miles inland, the weather service said. Heavy rainfall is expected to begin in the region even before the storm comes ashore, and the wet conditions will continue to move northward into the southern Appalachians region through Friday, dumping storm total rainfall amounts of up to 18 inches. Specifically, the major flood risk includes the urban areas around Tallahassee, metro Atlanta, and western North Carolina.
In addition to its human toll, the storm could exert serious business impacts, according to the supply chain mapping and monitoring firm Resilinc. Those will be largely triggered by significant flooding, which could halt oil operations, force mandatory evacuations, restrict ports, and disrupt air traffic.
While the storm’s track is currently forecast to miss the critical ports of Miami and New Orleans, it could still hurt operations throughout the Southeast agricultural belt, which produces products like soybeans, cotton, peanuts, corn, and tobacco, according to Everstream Analytics.
That widespread footprint could also hinder supply chain and logistics flows along stretches of interstate highways I-10 and I-75 and on regional rail lines operated by Norfolk Southern and CSX. And Hurricane Helene could also likely impact business operations by unleashing power outages, deep flooding, and wind damage in northern Florida portions of Georgia, Everstream Analytics said.
Before the storm had even touched Florida soil, recovery efforts were already being launched by humanitarian aid group the American Logistics Aid Network (ALAN). In a statement on Wednesday, the group said it is urging residents in the storm's path across the Southeast to heed evacuation notices and safety advisories, and reminding members of the logistics community that their post-storm help could be needed soon. The group will continue to update its Disaster Micro-Site with Hurricane Helene resources and with requests for donated logistics assistance, most of which will start arriving within 24 to 72 hours after the storm’s initial landfall, ALAN said.