WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT
Success Built on Process Improvement and
Partner Collaboration
From a strategic perspective, warehouse managers are faced with balancing competing objec-
tives. They need to get orders out of the door faster, keep inventory moving amid fluctuating
demand, and minimize costs. It will require not only process efficiencies within the four walls
but better collaboration with both upstream and downstream partners to keep these compet-
ing pressures in check.
—Scott Pezza, research associate, Supply Chain Management, Aberdeen Group
hile operating expenses are a main concern for warehousing professionals, they
are far from the only issue that needs to
be addressed. Participants in Aberdeen
W
house resources to respond to upcoming changes. By taking
these steps, they are not only helping partners improve their
operations, they are strengthening relationships that will pay
dividends in better times.
research also cite large pressures regarding customers’
Within the warehouse, managers are also concentrating on
demand for faster order-turnaround times, as well as fluctua- getting real-time visibility of inventory. They are using sup-
tions in demand that make it difficult to plan operations. So porting technologies to provide their underlying systems with
what are companies doing to address these pressures, while constant updates, and relying on those systems to integrate
keeping a constant eye on the costs?
and manage the data to improve operational flow in directing
Just like cost is a constant concern, process improvement fulfillment activities.
is always a potential source for savings. Beyond this
approach, companies are focusing on both upstream and
The Outlook
downstream collaboration for additional gains. They are On the systems side, we expect a focus on small upgrades,
looking to better collaborate with suppliers to improve visi- rather than new systems implementations. There is high inter-bility of inbound inventory, enabling better activity plan- est in labor- and task-management solutions to monitor and
ning. They are looking downstream for two reasons. First, improve workforce productivity. Similarly, companies are
they are helping their partners better plan their own opera- looking to business intelligence and analytics to drill down on
tions by providing information on outbound product and accumulated data to better understand trends that impact
taking on some value-added functions. They are also look- warehouse performance. For internal improvement projects,
ing to utilize information from farther down their supply Aberdeen’s community shows great interest in automated data
chain to foresee fluctuations in demand. This will let them capture to provide an information foundation for these
better position inventories and better allocate their ware- advanced analytic and planning processes.
