This Month in Modern

It’s now clear that one of silver linings of the past year is that the pandemic has hastened the adoption of the software and automation necessary to streamline operations to meet rising e-commerce demands—especially in the face of shrinking labor availability.

. Our editorial team designed sessions to help operations harness the tools available—automation, software, robotics, mobility, advanced technologies—to help manage through disruption and prepare for what comes next.

While Modern readers are feeling the strains that the astonishing growth of e-commerce have placed on operations, a summary of statistics recently shared with me by Ian Hobkirk, founder and managing director of Commonwealth Supply Chain Advisors, put that explosiveness into context.

As this level of accelerated innovation continues to evolve, we’re going to start seeing more System Reports like this month’s featuring Bergen Logistics , an operation benefiting from early robotics and automation investment.

While some equipment category plans were a bit off from last year, this year’s respondents appear ready to invest in solutions that will help them get orders out the door quickly and more accurately—a silver lining indeed.

In conversation after conversation, we continue to learn of the deep changes that e-commerce has ushered into warehouse and distribution center operations, from implementing game-changing automation, robotics and software to tightening up labor and inventory management to elevating the importance of final-mile delivery and returns processes—and everything in between.

Gary Forger, who spent 23 years on the Modern editorial staff, offers us a terrific history of Modern through the years and reflects on the evolving composition of the materials handling equipment, technology and automation markets that the publication continues to invigorate and inspire.

This marks our 10th-annual Lift Truck Issue where we take readers inside an operation putting the latest lift truck battery innovation to work.

Not only do you want to be safe, but in able to maintain a new workforce, your operational culture will need to understand that automation is not just about the equipment, it’s about enabling a workforce to improve productivity on the way to setting new goals and achieving incentives that keeps them engaged for the long term.

While retail is the most obvious industry to adopt hyper-local fulfillment, Klappich says retailers are not alone in the need to provide an assortment of goods at the best price with delivery as fast as possible—and through channel options available at the customer’s fingertips.

I believe there’s going to be a lot of companies looking to revitalize their supply chains, each company will have their own journey to define the areas of operation that need to be strengthened.”

As we passed the threshold into the new year, how many times have you already heard that “uncertainty is certain in 2020?”

Over the past decade, Peerless Research Group (PRG), commandeered by 30-year research veteran Judd Ashenbrand, has been staying on top of the behaviors, attitudes and trends shaping the warehouse, distribution and supply chain management markets.