Planning for continued success
By Raymond A Kulwiec -- Modern Materials Handling, 5/15/1999
One word characterizes today's business climate-pressure. Some of the customers your company serves are probably among the largest, most successful, and most demanding companies in the world. They have survived the battles of mergers and acquisitions and are among the dominant players in a more concentrated marketplace. As such, they are in a stronger position than ever to dictate terms and conditions involving service, delivery, inventory management, and quality requirements.What can your company do to remain profitable and competitive under such conditions, especially if the costs of servicing demanding customers cannot always be passed on elsewhere within the supply chain? A good part of the answer lies in the application of smart materials handling concepts and leading-edge use of information technologies.
That's where this current Plant and Warehouse Planning Issue comes in. In the following pages you will find the latest thinking on improving your facilities and operations with the aid of materials handling and related information technologies.
The format is to move you, through a series of how-to articles, from the receiving function all the way through to the shipping dock. As you travel along this journey through the plant or warehouse, you will see how the activities in individual departments (receiving/putaway, staging/storage, manufacturing, order processing, and shipping) can be made to dovetail with any of six operational models that we believe have to be factored into your planning. Introduced in last year's Plant and Warehouse Planning Issue, the six are: order assembly centers, value-added service centers, adaptable manufacturing, crossdocking, flow-thru warehousing, and postponement systems. We have identified these six emerging practices as ones that will change the way you operate from receiving to shipping. And, their impact goes beyond the four walls of your facility and affects your suppliers and customers in the supply chain.
In essence, the series of articles in this issue can provide you with a good stepping-off place as you plan your company's operations-and its future-in the next millennium. Be sure you have your plan in place.
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