Tag: distribution center management

How much loss can you absorb from shipping damage? Getting to zero might be an impossible task, but it’s worth making every effort to reduce the risks. Air bags and strong tape help, but everyone along the supply chain needs the right warehouse equipment and plenty of knowledge for how to prevent product loss.

Reduce Freight Claims, Boost Profit

By using powered warehouse carts from DJ Products, your staff can better manage inventory and load shipments onto trucks and trailers. From a motorized cart pusher to more specialized warehouse equipment like the PartsCaddy or CarpetCaddy, there’s a tool for every job.

Logistics experts recommend taking even more action to prevent shipment damage:

– Test shipment methods before rolling out a new product

– Cube stacks of boxes to prevent damage during transit

– Train workers on proper use of box-cutters

– Apply shock and tilt indicators to fragile packages

– Make customer return supplies easy to use

Focus on What You Can Control

Whichever leg of the supply chain your company handles, there are many factors out of your control. From the factory to the last-mile delivery service, many hands touch each package. To prevent damage from shipping, focus on your own warehouse equipment and identify the places and situations that can cause damage.

Crushed box corners and shattered products are signs that employees might be overwhelmed at the warehouse. Does your team have the right material handling equipment for the weight, size, and volume of packages they handle?

DJ Products offers powered cart pushers and tugs for loads ranging from 1,500 pounds to 50,000 pounds. For every application, we have warehouse equipment that can save time, prevent worker injury, and make it easier to deliver the goods intact. Contact us for more info.

As a key cog in the machine for retail and industry, distribution centers can make an enormous impact by going green. Yet it’s hard to justify investing in something for the environment if it doesn’t improve your own bottom line. So let’s talk about how going green with smart warehouse equipment and energy-saving choices can help the planet, your employees, and your business.

The Basics: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Businesses can reduce their footprint by going digital to use less paper and implementing recycling bins for bottles and glass. Warehouses can go green even more by reusing and recycling pallets, cardboard boxes, packing materials, and more.

Try charting your progress to boost employee morale, and make it known to customers that you’ve gone green so they can feel good about doing business with you.

Less Carbon, More Comfort

Any steps to improve heating and cooling efficiency can also make the warehouse more comfortable for hardworking staff. Try these:

– Add insulation

– Install industrial fans

– Insulate ductwork

– Paint the roof white

– Switch to cooler LED lighting

Better ventilation, cleaner air, and a healthier work environment make your employees more productive. That’s good for retention, reducing sick days, and thus being more profitable. Lower utility bills help, too!

Electric Warehouse Equipment

Smart warehouses use less energy because they’re more efficient. If you’re using a diesel forklift, an industrial cart mover can potentially replace it. If you send out less-than-full truckloads, smarter logistics can fill the truck and get more out of every gallon of fuel.

DJ Products makes ergonomic, battery-powered warehouse equipment for today’s needs. While helping you go green, our CartCaddy and other material handling equipment will also help make your warehouse a healthier, more injury-free zone. Contact us for more info.

As technology continues to impact warehouse equipment and other facets of supply chain, artificial intelligence (AI) is seen as the next wave of the future. AI is being used to pilot industrial vehicles and make predictions based on data gathered from containers and machinery.

Some predict the eventual arrival of a fully autonomous supply chain, but is that actually possible or even desirable? Experts say a hybrid AI model is the best solution for optimum efficiency and productivity.

The Role of AI in Supply Chain Operations

While the popular concept of AI is tied to machine learning, supply chains have already been using AI in applications such as operations research and fuzzy logic. The common denominator is that all involve gathering and processing historical data.

Where AI comes up short is decision-making. Based on the quantity and high level of data amassed, AI can make accurate predictions related to customer demand and other variables. But making a final decision requires context, something only humans can provide.

Combining AI and Human Intelligence

Analytics fall into four broad categories with increasing degrees of difficulty and importance:

– Descriptive (What happened?) and Diagnostic (Why did it happened?) are where historic data comes into play.

– Predictive (What can happen?) and Prescriptive (What should we do?) involve processing available data to determine how best to move forward.

AI is invaluable in the first three steps. When it comes to decision-making, a human can take data and apply external factors, such as weather or season, to determine the optimum course of action.

Cutting-Edge Warehouse Equipment for Today’s Supply Chain Operations

Make sure you have the right warehouse equipment to implement more productive processes. Contact DJ Products for information about our selection of electric tugs, movers and pushers.