http://www.komintlblog.com KOM International Blog Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:07:01 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en The focus in the backroom is to do more with less, and retailers are looking to logical layouts and space-saving strategies and equipment to help accomplish this. According to industry figures the amount of space devoted to backrooms has steadily declined over the past several decades.  In the 1970s backroom storage ... http://www.komintlblog.com/archives/32 KOM International invites your company to participate in the 2010 Productivity Benchmarking Survey.  2010 marks the 27th year KOM has undertake an annual benchmark survey for grocery retail, wholesale, and foodservice with client companies and others alike.  2010 is also the first year the survey is being extended to manufacturers. A ... http://www.komintlblog.com/archives/31 In many North American distribution centers, it is not uncommon to have 30-50%, or higher, direct labor force with a mother tongue other than English.  This can lead to difficulties training new associates who may be forced to deal with English language instructions or paperwork.  Voice technology offers some benefit ... http://www.komintlblog.com/archives/30 Transportation management software applications typically consist of several related modules that cover the following tasks:   Outbound delivery network.  Planning and routing of deliveries from the warehouse to the stores.  This portion would interface with the warehouse's order management system, which has information about the size and number of pallets or cartons ... http://www.komintlblog.com/archives/29 The following questions are intended to help diagnose your need for a retrofit. 1) Is your distribution operation running close to capacity? 2) Is your ability to efficiently handle inventory increasingly compromised? 3) Are you able to handle new items as they are introduced? 4) Are your costs for forklift operators and other direct ... http://www.komintlblog.com/archives/28 Facility slotting is a dynamic process. Facilities that have implemented logical slotting and that maintain it on an ongoing basis are always more productive both on direct and indirect labor. Basic Slotting can be best described as the placement of Stock Keeping Units (SKUs) in a storage location. These locations can ... http://www.komintlblog.com/archives/27 More than ever companies are reducing costs to remain competitive, while keeping an eye on further improving their responsiveness to customer demand.  Supply chain improvement is a way for companies to keep increasing efficiency, making it one of the last frontiers on which companies can compete to reduce cost and ... http://www.komintlblog.com/archives/26 As the supply chain moves to a leaner, demand driven model, the trend is towards less inventory in the system, in general.  This is a change from the traditional model which was essentially an inventory driven supply chain.  With fewer inventories in the system, we see that product assortment and ... http://www.komintlblog.com/archives/25 In a need to shed operating costs, particularly in an environment of high volatility, companies are turning attention to their distribution networks.  In the knowledge that distribution networks can offer competitive advantage in a marketplace demanding ever higher levels of customer service they're asking how to optimize current infrastructures.  No pre-established ... http://www.komintlblog.com/archives/24 Manufacturers' warehouse requirements for finished goods are far different from warehousing requirements of retailers and wholesalers found downstream in the supply chain.  Characteristically manufacturers stock fewer items and more of them.  The result: large inventories per item create the need for high-density storage systems. There is an implicit danger in investing ... http://www.komintlblog.com/archives/23