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Achieving excellence in warehousing
Ken Ackerman Distribution & WarehousingThe emphasis of warehousing should go beyond cost-cutting to creating increased value for customers and shareholders. Unfortunately, some senior managers continue to refer to the warehouse as "the backroom," while others consider the hourly workers' job to be "kicking boxes and licking labels."
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The differences between B2B and B2C warehousing
Ken Ackerman Distribution & WarehousingPerhaps there was a time when warehousing was almost entirely "business to business," or B2B. Today, a growing number of warehouse operations are involved with "business to consumer," or B2C. Some in the industry have been slow to recognize the significant differences when the warehouse operator is dealing with an individual consumer rather than another business.
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What is your company’s culture?
Ken Ackerman Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementEvery organization has a corporate culture, defined by Harvard professor James L. Heskett as "the way we do things around here." Herb Kelleher of Southwest Airlines describes culture as "What do we want to be?" Perhaps culture is how we add value. One definition is inadequate, but clearly culture is more important to the health of an organization than strategy, market share, patents or trademarks.
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Why and how to prepare a warehouse operations manual
Ken Ackerman Distribution & WarehousingIt is possible to operate a warehouse in the absence of written procedures or a manual, and we have seen many that function well without them. Some employ seasoned operations people who carry the procedures between their ears, a phenomenon that we call "the biological database."
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The safety benefits of peer-to-peer observations
Michael S. Haro, Ph.D. Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementWe constantly demonstrate behaviors that are observable to others. In a workplace, these observations are significant for preventing accidents and injuries and need to be encouraged, supported and taken seriously. Peers (co-workers) are critical to the implementation and success of observation, feedback and safe work practices.
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Strategy, connectivity and measurement in warehousing
Ken Ackerman Distribution & WarehousingIf there once was a time when executives considered a strategic plan as a sacred document that is rarely revised, that day is certainly over. Today, such documents often lose value each month after they are published.
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Finding and keeping the right talent in the logistics industry
Ken Ackerman Distribution & WarehousingIn most metropolitan areas of the U.S. today, the unemployment rate is lower than it has been for many years. The result is that finding good people is a real problem. Logistics employers have some problems peculiar to the industry.
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High-tech trains to absorb future travel volume
Bambi Majumdar Transportation Technology & AutomotiveIncreasing population, urbanization and globalization will mean more travel on the cards. Studies have shown passenger travel in terms of miles will triple by 2050 — a volume that may not be possible to manage via roads alone.
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The TPP text has been released — Where does Canada go from here?
Katherine Radin Civil & GovernmentThis fall, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was signed by 12 Pacific Rim countries, creating a global trading block that represented about 40 per cent of the world's domestic product. At the time the TPP was announced, Canada's then-prime minster, Stephen Harper, stated that the document would be made available following the Canadian federal election.
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FedEx has big plans for Milan
Matt Falcus Transportation Technology & AutomotiveAt Milan Malpensa Airport, construction has begun on a new state-of-the-art facility that will form a new hub for freight and logistics giant FedEx Express once completed. The new facility will cover 35,000 square meters and will triple the size of the carrier's current operation at Malpensa. The site will include 15,000 square meters of covered warehousing, 1,000 square meters of office space, and 20,000 square meters of area for vehicle use. It will allow the carrier to handle up to 44 flights per day and 480 weekly land connections.
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