Materials Handling Warehouse & Distribution Center Best Practices Virtual Conference

Bryan Jensen,
Vice President/
Principal

Even though economic growth continues at a snail’s pace, the Modern readers are seeing a slightly rosier picture in terms of equipment investment. According to the Modern 2010 State of Materials Handling Survey, 58 percent of respondents reported that they plan to increase their material handling investments over the next three years.

And while our keynote speaker Bryan Jenson believes this is great news, he warns that warehouse/DC managers must take a measured approach to targeting the areas of your operation that need the most investment. In his keynote session, Jenson, a 26-year materials handling veteran, will help managers put together a calculated plan of attack for improving their operations through targeted materials handling equipment investment.

Geoff Sisko, Senior Consultant,

Sponsor

Most companies think that the picking process is as simple as locating and pulling product from inventory and packing it into shipment containers to fill orders. But customer orders vary. They may be large bulk shipments, single-unit, or single-line orders sent to an end user. In turn, best practices may vary widely from company to company. However, best-in-class warehouse/DC operations use a set of fundamental picking and packing best practices to improve overall productivity. In this session, warehouse/DC guru Geoff Sisko will identify the four key drivers to picking and packing success and offer a more holistic approach to help managers:

• identify picking/packing weaknesses
• design more effective process improvements
• implement a set of holistic best practices 

John Folk, Executive Vice President

Materials handling automation used to be thought of as inflexible, complicated, and expensive. Today, warehouse/DC managers intent on getting the most out of their operations are discovering that automation targeted at specific processes can drive significant cost saving improvements in parts of an otherwise conventional warehouse. However, success in this area takes many steps. In this session, veteran materials handling systems consultant John Folk will help managers walk through the systems implementation process, from identifying the need to the actual integration process. By outlining a new set of practical best practices, Folk will help mangers:

• identify where automation makes the most sense
• understand the importance of system design
• put together a budget and ROI review

John Hill, Vice President and Principal

Materials handling professionals have always turned to their warehouse management systems (WMS) to get a better handle on their warehouse/DC operations. But according to several new research reports, more and more will be leveraging Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) WMS over the next few years. In fact, the ARC Advisory group recently predicted that the market for SaaS WMS will double between now and 2014. In this session, materials handling technology sage John Hill will explain:

• the fundamentals of SaaS WMS
• how SaaS WMS differs from traditional installed systems
• the benefits SaaS WMS can bring to an operation