tED Magazine - October 2014

Software and technology resources roundup

Distributor Information Services offers ZIPLines, the newest market intelligence offering from its MarketTrack product suite.

ZIPLines helps electrical distributors and manufacturers more accurately size and predict their product potential and measure demand across vertical markets at the zip code level.

disccorp.com

ElectricSmarts creates industry marketing tools that make it simple to get products in front of the entire industry (sellers, users, and specifiers) with one program. Products include Distributor Content Packages, eNewsletter Builder, Smart eCat with IDW Data, Mobile Apps, and NetPak/ NetPricer. ElectricSmarts’s programs are also directly integrated into Contractor Estimating Software Packages, which offer contractors access to ElectricSmarts content and enables the import of IDW data into their estimating software database.

electricsmarts.com

Fortna is a professional ser-
vices firm helping compa-
nies with complex distribu-
tion operations meet cus-
tomer promises and com-
petitive challenges prof-
itably. Fortna develops a
solid business case for
change and holds itself
accountable to those re-
sults. Fortuna’s exper-
tise spans supply chain
strategy, distribution cen-
ter operations, material
handling, supply chain sys-
tems, organizational excel-
lence, and warehouse con-
trol software. fortna.com

Infor has announced the availability of Infor Distribution SX.e 10. 1, the latest version of the company’s industry-specific distribution management solution. New Infor ION components and integration capabilities help distributors save time and reduce costs for operations. Equipped with Infor 10x technology, Infor SX.e 10. 1 delivers a beautiful, collaborative experience designed to help users work faster, smarter, and more efficiently. infor.com

Innovo offers OE Touch, a mobile ordering application for electrical distributors. Available on both Apple and Android devices, OE Touch allows salespeople and customers to easily find product, see pricing and availability, create orders, and manage their accounts. OE Touch makes it easy for customers to place orders using the customer reorder pad, product groups, or bar-code scanning or by simply taking a picture of the product. OE Touch also brings marketing and customer stickiness to a whole new level with push notifications. goinnovo.com

InsiteCommerce is a B2B
e-commerce platform arch-
itected for enterprise orga-
nizations in manufacturing,
distribution, and retail. In-
siteCommerce provides an
e-commerce solution for
companies at all stages
of adoption and addresses
has to be the bottom line of any business that hopes to keep
moving in the right direction.”

COGS AND GEARS

The components of distribution are like the cogs and gears of a machine. When all components cooperate, they mesh. When they work against each other, they grind. Automation limits grinding and, under ideal circumstances, virtually eliminates it. This is particularly evident in the warehouse, where an operation sinks or swims based on the extent to which the processes, systems, and assets involved are understood.

The high end of warehouse technology examines all of
these elements, then streamlines them for greater efficiency.

How do functions ebb and flow? How are value-added ser-
vices such as wire cutting to a size prescribed by certain cus-
tomers performed, and are they done as well as they should
be? Where are the bottlenecks? Why are there bottlenecks?
Advanced warehouse systems augment functions and
push past bottlenecks. Conveyors and unit sorters trans-
mit SKUs from one region of the warehouse to another,
cutting back on travel time and enhancing processes from
receiving and put-away to pick and ship. Technologies col-
lectively labeled “goods-to-person” bring SKUs to workers
via robot or shuttle. A picker can be in two places at once,
metaphorically speaking: the person at one end of the ware-
house and his or her proxy in robot form—collecting material
for the same order—someplace else. Goods-to-person systems
are equally adept at put-away and, while in pick mode, know
the location of every SKU in the warehouse (having placed it
there in the first place). Walking, driving, and searching are all
deleted, resulting in greater accuracy and time reduction.
“Goods-to-person is a tool,” explained Chris Mehl, in-
dustry lead for high-tech electronics for Fortna ( fortna.com), a
provider of wholesale supply chain solutions. “Working in the
background is a warehouse control system [WCS] that allows
intuitive activity and manages everything like a traffic cop.”

WCS is the brains of a warehouse enhanced by top-of-the-line automation, and new technologies are growing up around it—smartphones and tablets, for example, that provide camera views of conveyor system bottlenecks such as jammed boxes. Then there’s Google Glass, literally a pair of spectacles that interfaces WCS with a worker’s eye and, based on a reading of a bar code, tells the picker whether he or she is picking the right SKU.

This, of course, isn’t the most practical technology investment for smaller distributors. Even conveyors and goods-to-person solutions may be overkill given the quality of current warehouse management systems (WMSs) designed to track the movement of inventory from entry to exit as well as recommend optimal inventory location based on real-time information, historical data, and trends.