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Thursday, August 31, 2006

Fishbone Aisle designs can decrease picking costs 20 percent

University of Arkansas researchers have identified that laying out a picking warehouse in a fishbone design can reduce costs by over 20%. Historically, warehouses were desined from the perspective of a cost center and were setup to maximize the amount of goods capable of being stored within a space.
With the advent of electonric internet stores and just in time distribution models, designing warehouses for efficient picking can reduce costs of storage and processing together to achieve more efficiency and faster service.

If its Broke Fix it.
Historical setups for warehouses are basically configured with row after row of parallel 2,3, & 4 rack high systems. So what's broken?
It takes warehouse crew too much time to get from one corner of a warehouse to another to pick goods. Its simple to understand that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line and that driving on a grid will create situations where the straight line to a destination is not possible.

So how do you reconfigure a warehouse such that an optimum amount of travel between picks is possible?  Researchers have determined that a fishbone aisles design is the optimal layout to deliver a 20 percent reduction in picking costs.

Even this new method serves to provide an optimal use for existing picking methods, but overlooks the obvious issues inherent with terestrial based picking equipment.

Still 20% saved for minimal warehouse redesign is nothing to ignore.


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Written by: Brett Bumeter, President

www.softduit.com

Friday, August 25, 2006

BJ's Distribution Center live in Uxbrdige, Mass

BJ's opened up its new distribution center in Uxbridge, Mass this summer. Ground broke on the distribution center in November of 2005. This Distribution Center(DC) will employe about 128 employees supporting 61 existing BJ's Clubs and capable of growing to cover 25 more. Its one of a group of three DC's supporting 159 clubs. The DC is over 600,000 sq feet and could hold 11 football fields. More Info: Ground Breaking, Early Activity

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Written by: Brett Bumeter, President

http://mavemappers.blogspot.com www.softduit.com

Friday, August 18, 2006

Splitting up the Sales Force into Special Teams

More often than not as a channel or product line matures, the existing sales team or component members are going to track in one of two different directions.

Some people are going to start to get board as the new product and channel turns into the older, aging, maturing channel and they are going to bring less energy to the table.

Some people are going to keep improving in their efforts to run and manage a maturing channel developing longer running relationships with the key customers, buyers and groups in the channel.  This group's sense of ownership and expertise will continue to grow and they will take on the role of mentors to both new sales people as well as to new buyers.

Now many companies cannot continue to push the same old product through the same old channel without bringing in some fresh products.  As the product life cycle matures, things need to be balanced out.  So at some point a natural need to split and reorganize a sales team will occur when new products and channels appear on the landscape.

New products and channels means new challenges for the salesforce.  This is an excellent opportunity for the portion of the force that is getting burned out on the older channel.  It also gives the part of the salesforce that remains with the older line, room to grow and expand their area of influence and develop better processes and mechanisms and to cycle new sales talent into the company.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Wal-Mart and Home Depot Showing Weakness

Problematic economic symptoms combined with potential bad timing are showing up at Wal-Mart and Home Depot. Wal-Mart is taking a one time charge of $863 million related to the pull out and sales of stores in Germany. Wal-Mart is also retreating out of South Korea. To compound problems, Wal-Mart is undergoing store resets that can take up to 13 weeks before the remodelling is completed and the old products are replaced with new. These resets disrupt the flow in stores and distract employees and are occurring as energy prices are spiking around the world. Home Depot is facing stiff competition from Lowe's on one hand and a visibly slowing housing market on the other. Yet, CEO Nardelli is not cowering from the storm, he's running head long into fight off the elements with what he hopes is a good offense. Home Depot has experience some distractions of its own as many companies have been bought by Home Depot to add to the Home Depot Supply group. Now Home Depot is working to reset its own stores, and instead of decreasing the number of associates on the floor for the fall Home Depot is going to maintain the same levels going into the Christmas season.
Monday, August 14, 2006

PepsiCo's Reaction to Indian Ban - Indian CEO takes Helm

PepsiCo anounced today that Indra K. Nooyi, formerly the chief financial officer and a director for PepsiCo will take the helm as the new CEO replacing Steve Reinemund.

Wall Street was surprised by Reinemund's decision to step down.  Recently, India decided to ban many PepsiCo (and Coca Cola) products on fears of pesticide contamination.  The ban has proven to be highly controversial.  Claims have been made that the India government is protecting local markets by blocking interntational business.  The Indian public has reacted very negatively against the potential of pesticide contamination.  The companies themselves have made claims and offered evidence to show that they are in compliance with both local and international standards.

Now, a Indra Nooyi makes headlinse by taking the helm of PepsiCo.  She makes headlines in the US for becoming the head of the 2nd largest company under CEO control by a woman.  The true headline that seems to be overlooked is PepsiCo's decision to put an Indian born CEO in control of a US multinational amidst the turmoil that embroils PepsiCo in the World second most populous country India.

The decision seems very pragmatic and shows a level of political sophistication at PepsiCo that reflects positively on the company, its former CEO and the companies future.