Tag: business trends

Surviving and Thriving during Mergers and Acquisitions

Having to cutback, downsize or merge with a competitor has become the reality for many logistics and storage companies if the want to keep their doors open.  There just currently aren’t enough customers and enough money/product moving around in order to keep every company busy enough to justify, or even allow, them to operate at the level that they had prior to the economic downturn.

Mergers with competitors can pose a whole host of issues in terms of operations; the most obvious would seem to be the personal and computer program interactions.  Adopting a brand new and potentially very different system of daily operations and having to interact with a bunch of new personalities can be a daunting task, but few people view just how much difference their can be in the warehousing and storage aspect and it’s profound affect on the employees involved.

Differences in equipment, inventory control and shipping and receiving practices can be difficult obstacles to overcome.  In order for a newly developed company with employees from two different backgrounds to be successful, some operational changes may be a necessity.  Customers coming from both businesses will need to see accuracy and speed at least comparable, if not improved, to what they were used to in order to feel confident with the new situation.

Increasing speed and accuracy may require upgrade changes in equipment as well as operations.  Outdated, inefficient and unreliable machines could spell doom to a company who is attempting to keep current customers from leaving during a period of transition.  The proper material handling equipment will more than pay for itself in a very short period of time with reduced fuel/energy costs and increased employee productivity; and the capability of delivering goods quickly and accurately will keep customers loyal and could possibly increase your bottom line.

DJ products offers affordable, reliable and easy to use solutions for material handling, the exact type of equipment needed for a warehouse to maintain, or exceed customer expectations during the transition period of a merger.

Outsourcing Logistics Expected to Revolutionize Warehousing

A shift toward logistics outsourcing could spell revolutionary change for the warehousing industry that could result in leaner, more efficient business models. That was the conclusion of logistics industry experts speaking at the recent Warehouse Educational Research Council’s (WERC) annual conference in Chicago.

“In the 20th century the common business model was a large integrated company that owned, managed and directly controlled its assets,” Andy Dishner, senior director of client solutions for TMSi Logistics, told conference participants. “But in this new century we have seen a major cultural shift toward outsourcing many key functions. It really comes down to evaluating whether logistics is your core competency.”

Damian Burke, a principal with logistics consultancy Conveying Solutions Inc., joined Dishner in urging the warehousing industry to streamline logistics. Currently, companies are forced to split their resources by handling their own logistics, an area in which they may not have sufficient expertise. Burke said many companies are turning to third-party logistics providers (3PL) to solve their logistics problems. By outsourcing logistics, companies can concentrate on their primary business and leave the logistics to experts, thus streamlining their own operations.

While recommending the use of 3PLs to handle company logistics, both Burke and Dishner reminded conference participants that they could not afford to ignore logistics management. “We realize that a lot of manufacturers realize that it could be professional suicide if the choice [of a 3PL] doesn’t work out,” Dishner said. “Relationships and measurements are key,” Burke added. “We are certainly not advocating reckless investment in systems you don’t trust.”