September 7, 2017 - DJ Products

Top Technology Trends in the Logistics Industry

The newest logistics technology is radically reshaping the way we buy groceries, shop for clothes, and even how we do our own jobs. Warehouse managers today are quite likely to rely heavily on technology that didn’t even exist just a few years ago.

A look at the top five trends in logistics technology covers everything from software to your friendly neighborhood robots:

• Warehouse robots have been popularized by Amazon, but other companies continue innovating their own solutions. Most prominently, motorized equipment can assist human workers with faster, safer fulfillment.

• Augmented reality for pickers and other warehouse workers can be used in smart eyeglasses to assist with finding items accurately and quickly.

• Predictive analytics up to and including “anticipatory shipping” before a customer actually buys and Uber-style trucker-to-shipper matching will continue to revolutionize the warehouse data game.

• Autonomous vehicles may be the solution to the truck driver shortage while lowering the cost per mile.

• Drones are poised to fulfill their destiny as the solution for last-mile delivery.

Data and Equipment, Working Together

Data shapes decisions in logistics, and your warehouse equipment supplier has the tools to put that data into action.

At DJ Products, our industrial cart movers help with the human side of the equation. Heavy stress from pushing loaded carts and repetitive stress in warehouse jobs both contribute to productivity loss and worker injury.

Powered material handling equipment, from our CartCaddyLite cart puller to the WagonCaddy industrial power mover, enable your workers to move at the speed of modern logistics. Get a free demo from DJ Products, your warehouse equipment supplier for powered cart movers and more.

Direct-to-Consumer Sales Turn Stores Into Local Warehouses

Facing pressure to match the e-commerce giants, more retailers have begun using brick-and-mortar locations as fulfillment warehouses. With the right adjustments, stores can deliver faster, cheaper shipping than using a remote distribution center.

For warehousers, this ups the ante for efficient and affordable third-party fulfillment services. For retailers, it creates a new need to alter retail space and train employees differently.

Pymnts.com recently examined the direct-to-consumer warehouse trend by looking at how Kohl’s has invested billions of dollars to turn its big box stores into warehouses. It may be just what traditional retail needs to keep up.

Businesses need to invest wisely with a warehouse equipment supplier for the right tools to make brick-and-mortar locations as effective as fulfillment centers. A recent Wall Street Journal op-ed questioned whether retailers are prepared for the challenge.

Challenges for turning a store into a warehouse include:

• Customer shopping replaced by the new labor of employees picking

• Retail employees need different skill sets for warehouse work

• Small storage space can be difficult to maneuver boxes, carts, forklifts

As a warehouse equipment supplier, DJ Products understands the challenges of workers picking items and moving cart loads of boxes and inventory items around tight spaces. Employees face high injury risk when maneuvering loads around corners and carrying heavy packages in and out of the warehouse.

An industrial cart mover can transform your storage room into a high-functioning distribution center. The CartCaddyShorty motorized cart puller, for example, pulls up to 3,000 pounds and can be operated safely by virtually any employee.

Contact DJ Products to speak with our helpful warehouse equipment supplier team today.

Blockchain Technology is Changing the Logistics Market

Blockchain has been called “the new Internet” due to its potential to revolutionize commerce just as significantly as the web did. Created for Bitcoin financial transactions, blockchain technology for logistics holds the key to open new trends for the logistics market.

From improving your record keeping with each warehouse equipment supplier to tracking your goods while they’re out on the truck, your company’s data can do more with blockchain technology.

What Is Blockchain Technology?

If you’ve used peer-to-peer downloading or Bitcoin, you’re familiar with blockchain technology already. Data gets stored across multiple stations rather than one central server. Imagine a single spreadsheet of all your inventory data— and that it can be accessed anywhere, updated in real-time, and stored with heightened security.

Benefits of Blockchain for Logistics

Blockchain makes logistics smoother, cheaper, more agile, and more future-proof. Specifically, just a few of the significant improvements and benefits of blockchain for logistics:

• Share unused space in a warehouse, trailer, or intermodal container

• Optimize truck routes and shipping logistics

• Create an easily accessible, constantly updated database of transactions

• Provide status updates on goods in transit

• Use “smart contracts” to handle transactions without lawyers

• Eliminate errors and missing data from paperwork issues

Logistics Technology Trends

At DJ Products, we keep up with the latest logistics news to help you stay informed. As a warehouse equipment supplier, we also bring you solutions for better warehouse productivity. Our industrial cart movers, trailer tows, truck pushers, and other material handling solutions help your team move at the new speeds made possible by improved logistics.

Congress Pads Bills with Preferential Treatment for Military Sole Source Contractors

Much of the business world is moving toward greater transparency these days. Some clothing retailers even explicitly state their costs per garment while touting their openness. In the defense industry, things don’t work like that. In fact, sole-source contractors for the Department of Defense were just given free rein to sell more to Uncle Sam without providing any cost info for labor or materials.

Funding the military meets with wide agreement, even among members of Congress. As David Dayen of The Intercept recently wrote, the National Defense Authorization Act passes on-time more than any other recurring vote.

Cost data must be provided for competitive contracts as part of the bidding process. For supplies or services with a sole-source contractor, there was previously no need to share cost data for contracts up to $500 million. That just got quintupled up to a $2.5 million limit.

As you can imagine, this means that suppliers who already have a monopoly on their work can now do even more business without transparency.

Smaller contractors have to worry about the cost of DoD contractors’ equipment needs and labor while bidding competitively. One could argue that’s the best thing for taxpayers’ interests and for maintaining a free market.

As Dayen notes in his coverage, this preferential treatment for larger, sole-source contractors takes away focus on minimizing costs for DoD spending. It also lets certain players avoid disclosure to rig the system in their favor.

DJ Products serves DoD contractors’ equipment needs with trailer movers, powered cart movers, and more GSA-approved equipment. Browse our site for solutions that can help your firm stay competitive for DoD contracts.

Communities Focus on Reducing Solid Waste – Can You Help?

How quickly does your dumpster get filled up? Many communities are working to save the environment by focusing on reduction of solid waste. Here are some ways you can join the fight.

Tips to Reduce Solid Waste

1. Throw Fewer Things Away

Common sense dictates that the fewer things you throw away, the less garbage you’ll have. Get into the habit of thinking twice before automatically disposing of an item. Has it really outlived its usefulness? Maybe you can repurpose the item or pass it along to someone else who can put it to use.

2. Be Mindful of Packaging

Earthworks Group, a consulting firm that specializes in sustainability projects, says that packaging comprises approximately one-third of the contents of our country’s landfills.

Even if your business doesn’t actually package products, it uses items that come in packages. Look for suppliers that use minimal packaging made from recycled materials.

3. Promote Recycling

Recycling pays double dividends. It keeps items out of landfills and reduces the need for natural resources.

Some of the more common recycling programs include:

• Curbside recycling containers for widely-used items such as newspapers, glass bottles and aluminum containers

• Community recycling centers or recycling zones

• Composing programs that gather organic waste for mulch or landfill cover

Improve Operations with an Electric Dumpster Pusher

No matter how heavy your dumpster gets, a single employee can move it safely and efficiently using a dumpster pusher from DJ Products. Call 800.686.2651 to learn more about products like our best-selling WasteCaddyLite, which can move loads of up to 2,000 pounds.

What to Know About Dumpster and Trash Fires

According to the National Fire Protection Association, dumpsters and trash rooms are among the primary sites of reported fires. Use these tips for preventing dumpster fires to reduce risk of loss and injury in your workplace.

Keep Hazardous Waste out of Dumpsters

Dumpsters are not a catch-all for any type of waste. Gasoline, oil and other flammable liquids don’t belong in the trash room. This rule also applies to sealed or empty containers and items such as rags that are saturated in chemicals.

Not all hazardous waste is liquid. The Environmental Protection Agency cites ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity and toxicity as the primary characteristics that define hazardous waste. Their website includes detailed information regarding identification and disposal.

Watch for Signs of Spontaneous Combustion

Fires don’t always require an accelerant. Organic waste generates heat as it decomposes, which can result in temperatures sufficient to cause combustion.

Many locales have regulations governing disposal of grass clippings, compost and other dead plant matter. Check with your local community to make sure you’re in compliance.

Always Secure Dumpsters

Unfortunately, dumpsters often attract vandals who cause destruction simply for its own sake. If it’s not possible to store the dumpster in a fenced, locked area, be sure to lock down the dumpster lid.

WasteCaddy: “Like Having Another Employee on Staff”

Fires are only one of the reasons why trash rooms are the most dangerous spot in a workplace. Our popular WasteCaddy reduces injury risk factors such as pushing heavy dumpsters or pinching fingers in the lid.

Visit our website to learn more about the WasteCaddy and other battery-powered tugs, pushers and movers from DJ Products.

Day: September 7, 2017