Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

inbound

Ann Drake featured on "Marketplace"

In a radio interview, the DSC Logistics chairman and CEO talked about initiatives to help women move up the corporate ladder.

Ann Drake of DSC Logistics
Ann Drake of DSC Logistics


Ann Drake of DSC Logistics was recently interviewed on public radio's "Marketplace."

If you work in logistics, warehousing, or supply chain management and were listening to "Marketplace," American Public Media's hip business-themed radio show, a few days before Christmas, you might have heard a familiar voice. On Dec. 20, Marketplace aired a chat with Ann Drake, chairman and CEO of the third-party logistics company DSC Logistics, as part of the show's "Conversations From the Corner Office" series of interviews.


In a session titled "Why aren't there more female CEOs?," host Kai Ryssdal spoke with Drake about what's keeping women from reaching the highest levels of business management. Drake is well positioned to answer that question. In addition to her own experiences as a female exec in a male-dominated industry, she's been deeply involved in initiatives to help more women ascend to executive positions. She is a past member of the Committee of 200, a women's business leadership organization, and in 2012 was the first woman to receive the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) Distinguished Service Award. Three years ago, she founded AWESOME (Achieving Women's Excellence in Supply Chain Operations, Management, and Education), a nonprofit that supports the advancement of women's supply chain leadership. In just a few years, AWESOME has grown to more than 900 members.

Drake is also active in a brand-new organization called Paradigm for Parity (P4P), a coalition of CEOs committed to achieving a "new norm" in corporate leadership in which women and men have equal power, status, and opportunity. In the interview, Drake spoke at length about what the group aims to accomplish and why such an initiative remains necessary in the 21st century.

To hear the interview, go to www.marketplace.org and click on "Podcasts," then choose "Corner Office." Or go directly to the interview with Drake.

The Latest

More Stories

Stampin’ Up!’s Riverton, Utah, distribution center

Stampin’ Up!’s Riverton, Utah, distribution center

Picking reimagined

What happens when your warehouse technology upgrade turns into a complete process overhaul? That may sound like a headache to some, but for leaders at paper crafting company Stampin’ Up! it’s been a golden opportunity—especially when it comes to boosting productivity. The Utah-based direct marketing company has increased its average pick rate by more than 70% in the past year and a half. And it’s all due to a warehouse management system (WMS) implementation that opened the door to process changes and new technologies that are speeding its high-velocity, high-SKU (stock-keeping unit) order fulfillment operations.

The bottom line: Stampin’ Up! is filling orders faster than ever before, with less manpower, since it shifted to an easy-to-use voice picking system that makes adapting to seasonal product changes and promotions a piece of cake. Here’s how.

Keep ReadingShow less

Featured

autostore AS/RS at toyota materal handling site

New AutoStore AS/RS at Toyota Material Handling’s DC will increase parts volume and fulfillment speed

With its new AutoStore automated storage and retrieval (AS/RS) system, Toyota Material Handling Inc.’s parts distribution center, located at its U.S. headquarters campus in Columbus, Indiana, will be able to store more forklift and other parts and move them more quickly. The new system represents a major step toward achieving TMH’s goal of next-day parts delivery to 98% of its customers in the U.S. and Canada by 2030, said TMH North America President and CEO Brett Wood at the launch event on October 28. The upgrade to the DC was designed, built, and installed through a close collaboration between TMH, AutoStore, and Bastian Solutions, the Toyota-owned material handling automation designer and systems integrator that is a cornerstone of the forklift maker’s Toyota Automated Logistics business unit. The AS/RS is Bastian’s 100th AutoStore installation in North America.

TMH’s AutoStore system deploys 28 energy-efficient robotic shuttles to retrieve and deliver totes from within a vertical storage grid. To expedite processing, artificial intelligence (AI)-enhanced software determines optimal storage locations based on whether parts are high- or low-demand items. The shuttles, each independently controlled and selected based on shortest distance to the stored tote, swiftly deliver the ordered parts to four picking ports. Each port can process up to 175 totes per hour; the company’s initial goal is 150 totes per hour, with room to grow. The AS/RS also eliminates the need for order pickers to walk up to 10 miles per day, saving time, boosting picking accuracy, and improving ergonomics for associates.

Keep ReadingShow less
US Bank truck shipments Q3

U.S. Bank: truck freight shipments and spending slow their decline

Truck freight shipments and spending continued to contract in the third quarter, albeit at a slower pace than earlier this year, according to the latest U.S. Bank Freight Payment Index.

“The latest data continues to show some positive developments for the freight market. However, there remain sequential declines nationwide, and in most regions,” Bobby Holland, U.S. Bank director of freight business analytics, said in a release. “Over the last two quarters, volume and spend contractions have lessened, but we’re waiting for clear evidence that the market has reached the bottom.”

Keep ReadingShow less
nimble smart robots for fedex

FedEx picks Nimble for fulfillment automation

Parcel giant FedEx Corp. is automating its fulfillment flows by investing in the AI robotics and autonomous e-commerce fulfillment technology firm Nimble, and announcing plans to use the San Francisco-based startup’s tech in its own returns network.

The size of FedEx’s investment wasn’t disclosed, but the company was the lead investor of Nimble’s $106 million “series C” funding round, announced last week. The round was co-led by existing shareholder Cedar Pine LLC.

Keep ReadingShow less

Logistics gives back: October 2024

For the past seven years, third-party service provider ODW Logistics has provided logistics support for the Pelotonia Ride Weekend, a campaign to raise funds for cancer research at The Ohio State University’s Comprehensive Cancer Center–Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute. As in the past, ODW provided inventory management services and transportation for the riders’ bicycles at this year’s event. In all, some 7,000 riders and 3,000 volunteers participated in the ride weekend.


Keep ReadingShow less