e-business changes things

In data rich order fulfillment, you control information on what really went out the door, not just what was forecast to be sold or scheduled to ship.

By -- Modern Materials Handling, 9/1/2000

Have you noticed that since all this e-business got started there is a difference in the relationship between materials handling professionals, like you, and others in your company or organization?

Are the information systems (IS) people wondering why you, a person very involved in materials handling, is so interested in the order entry, master schedule, and procurement aspects of the system and not just interested in the warehouse management system (WMS) or the manufacturing execution system (MES)?

Have you noticed that the marketing people are more interested in accurate and timely information about the shipments that you oversee and the inventory that you manage?

Maybe the new relationship becomes clearer when we realize that e-commerce has two sides: the "get the order" side and the "fill the order side."

Our profession is integral to the fulfillment of orders. It's as simple as this: No fulfillment, no payment; no payment, no commerce!

With that understood, then the logic can be followed that indicates that if you are going to fulfill an order, you must first receive an order, so you have to be concerned with the order management process. The same logic dictates that if you are going to ship something it must be taken from stock that your company either bought or made, so you have to be concerned with production and/or inbound shipments.

Since the activities that you control include the picking and shipping of the orders, you control the information about what really went out the door not just what was forecast to be sold or scheduled to ship.

In this new, active information age, one of the greatest values of a data-rich fulfillment process is that it can feed accurate and timely information (from use of bar codes and the like) into databases. The databases then can be mined for everything from replenishment orders to manufacturing scheduling to consumer buying habits and patterns. A data rich process also allows customer service to be proactive and to tell a customer if something that was supposed to ship for some reason didn't do so.

Although our talents and capabilities have always been recognized as important, since the realization developed that what we do can really make or break a company, things are different.

The change to a new relationship also means that we need to look at ourselves differently. And if you don't see a difference in the relationship, then perhaps you, yourself, are not looking for it, aren't ready for it, or don't understand your new role.

I've been told that authority is given to those who understand, and can express the value of what they offer. And our professional value is based on the bottom line value that a company can place on what we can offer. Your career and the future of your company might well be tied to your ability to express what you do in terms of bottom line results like telling how the activities and information under your control can:

• Increase company margin

• Reduce operating expenses

• Attract new customers or sell more to existing ones.

Take a minute to think about the new relationship. In your new role it is/will be expected of you. It might also be what you must do to get what you need from others.