It's all about the delivery

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I planned to write on this topic before the Target incident. But once it happened, I felt its inclusion really highlights how getting shipping right is so essential for businesses today.

When was the last time you paid for shipping? Some would have to think a while for the answer because so many of us select the "free shipping" options available for online orders.  In truth, though, shipping services are never really free. Their cost can be quite significant, particularly for businesses that that operate in the supply chain.
Shipping is lifeblood of a supply chain business.....

We can see the difference in delivery services from retailers who optimize their shipping and those who don't in our own experience.  I ordered a few items on Target.com on May 28. The email confirmation gave a range for delivery for all the items of June 3 to 5. June 5 arrived, as did some of the items, but not all of them. The UPS tracking information provided still showed June 5 as the date of arrival, despite a notation of a delay on a truck, as confirmed by a Target representative on the phone.  The UPS man who delivered part of the order assured me that there was no way another shipment would come before Monday.

His prediction turned out to be correct, and that was the only insight I gained from UPS, which failed to give me a new arrival time despite my request for information via email.  (Note: Both Target and UPS claimed to want to help when I tweeted about it, but only Target offered some conciliation in the form of a $10 gift card.)

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Logistics Don’t Always Deliver Joy Thanks to UPS for inspiring the title with its own tagline

Robots are coming to warehouses

Today, we really do let our fingers do the shopping and click through to make our purchases that we want. Next day delivery has become standard for a host of consumer and business products. Keeping up with that expectation drives those in the business of logistics to press for greater efficiency in logistics. Robots can play a role in meeting that demand.

On April 29, Fetch Robotics unveiled new a robotic system made specifically for the logistics industry.  The system that consists of "Freight" and "Fetch" is based on ROS, the open source robot operating system. Freight refers to the mobile base, and Fetch to the mobile manipulator. In addition to working with each other, the robots are designed to work with people and with the warehouse software. 

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Robots Improve Logistics in the Electronics Supply Chain

The right words matter just as much as the right colors

I noticed that people who post interior decor shots started following me on Google+. I would guess they are doing so in response to the post in which I said this:

Anyone here connected to a paint company like Benjamin Moore or Sherwin Williams? I have a whole new concept for packaging and marketing colors that can truly revolutionize the consumer experience. It's the solution to information overload in which all the colors meld into a blur, and one can't remember which is which any more.

 I really do have a groundbreaking idea and another really brilliant approach that can be coupled together or used separately. It would make colors accessible, memorable, and particularly shareable on social media in a whole new way.

But to return to the matter of the people following me, here's the thing: I'm a words person. As beautiful as some of the pictures are, I get thrown off by the formulaic and clueless way the descriptions are written. Every single one of them starts with an adjective that is not really appropriate. It sounds like the person writing doesn't really speak English and merely selected words at random from some list. We have descriptions like this:

Astonishing big black tolomeo floor lamp mixed with small green living room apartment wall paint color plus brown wooden seating area set

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Appealing small brown living room apartment set with decorative table lamps also square crystal chandelier

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Amazing small living room apartment set with red cushions plus round black acrylic table under flush mounted ceiling fan

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Awesome sleek herringbone parquet floor mixed with small brown white living room apartment set plus pink floral window curtains

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Miraculous attractive undulating pendant lamps mixed with small grey living room apartment plus red sectional sofa and white coffee table

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Captivating comfy corner blue bean bag sofa with rainbow wall decal plus small white living room apartment set

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Trust me, the images don't match, and really, nothing I've ever seen in interior design deserved the term "miraculous."

Bringing Slavery in the Supply Chain to Light

hile human trafficking and slavery are criminal offenses, they still persist. In fact, our global economy tends to foster these crimes by keeping that labor component within the supply chain out of sight from the consumers of the final products. Now, lawmakers are betting that transparency, first on a state level, and, possibly, on a federal level, may help solve the problem.

On September 30, 2010, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the California Senate Bill 657, the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act of 2010 (S.B. 657). It requires businesses that operate in California to disclose what efforts they take to purge their supply chains of human trafficking and slavery. For the electronics industry, with its deep roots in the Silicon Valley, this is significant news, and it may be the seed of a bigger change.

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Transparency Combats Human Trafficking & Slavery in the Supply Chain

When efficiency, algorithms, and labor laws collide

Timeclock Wikipedia Commons

Flexibility is considered a virtue and an essential component an agile organization which can respond to changing needs in real-time. However, when that type of flexibility comes at the expense of employees, the company may not only be crossing the line of ethics but of law.

On April 10, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman directed his office to send a letter (posted by the Wall Street Journal) to 13 major retailers.  What Gap Inc., Abercrombie & Fitch, J. Crew Group Inc., L. Brands, Burlington Coat Factory, TJX Companies, Urban Outfitters, Target Corp., Sears Holding Corp., Williams Sonoma Inc., Crocs, Ann Inc. and J.C. Penney Co. Inc were all asked were to account for questionable scheduling practices known as “on-call” shifts.

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The Legal Limits for On-Call Shifts

IoT to boost supply chain to the tune of $1.9 trillion

"We're all connected" served as the tagline for New York Telephone back in the last century.  That was way before people envision the level of connection made possible by the Internet of Things.  We've come a long way and will go much further, according to the forecast of a recent trend report from DHL and Cisco on the positive impact IoT will have for supply chains.
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IoT to Deliver $1.9 Trillion Boost to Supply Chain

Big data alone is not enough for an agile enterprise

Ever get a promotional email or ad that has no relevance to you? We all have, and it’s usually due to the marketing algorithms used to analyze big data inputs responding incorrectly to the wrong signal. For example, eBay started applying algorithms to the tags used to track customers in 2007 to measure the relevance of search results on its site. After a couple of years of success, the results became less accurate and seemed more random and arbitrary. The algorithms no longer worked because one of the tags had shifted. Events like that one resulted in customers seeing search results or receiving marketing emails that made no sense to them.

“The algorithm is not a human brain and doesn’t realize that the parameters have changed when tags change,” Ratzesberger observed. If a change is made to a variable, everything “downstream” from that variable must change, too, or the complex results can backfire.

The solution to this entire problem of achieving agility at scale is the Sentient Enterprise, a concept that Ratzesberger developed with Dr. Mohan Sawhney, a professor at Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. 

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