2021: Resilience is the new mantra

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.

To respond, warehouse and DC professionals now need to leverage diverse systems and new ways of thinking to improve operations efficiencies and increase fulfillment speeds, and, of course, prepare for the next disruption.

This month, the editorial staff of Modern has put together a collection of articles that puts the focus on best practices, systems and technologies that retailers are putting to work to push the pace of change inside their organizations—and ultimately build resilience into their framework.

Some systems have been around for a while and are evolving to meet new demands, while others are “states of mind” baked into a company’s culture (GAP Inc.). No matter where they fall on the evolutionary scale, savvy warehouse/DC managers are either re-visiting or quickly adopting these concepts that will meet today’s fulfillment pressures and prepare operations for the future.

Senior editor Roberto Michel takes a look at the impact that rapid e-commerce growth has made on the conveyor and sortation market. As Michel reports, conveyor and sortation systems are still very much at the heart of automated material flow in many warehouses, but the way they’re being put to work is morphing in front of our eyes.

“A recent report shows that with the growth of e-commerce and faster delivery cycles expected for store replenishment, the conveyor and sortation systems market will continue to grow at a compound annual growth rate of more than 5% through 2024, so the market is moving at a healthy pace,” says Michel.

However, the solutions and the way they’re being put to work are changing to adapt to new types of packages and processes. “Some vendors are even using mobile robots with tilt trays or other attachments on top to mimic the functionality of fixed sortation, while some conveyor suppliers have products that address emerging niches such as micro-fulfillment,” says Michel.

No matter where you look, innovation across many technology sectors is being accelerated by the current environment, and it’s only preparing operations to be more flexible and resilient. Michel offers us a look at how operations are applying new software to tighten up their inventory management—a practice that was put under unthinkable pressure during the pandemic.

Editor at large Gary Forger dives into the state of data capture technology and its new role in retail’s more powerful and ever-connected information chain.

“The idea today,” says Forger, “is to use data capture to improve processes through improved deployment of people and assets. It’s evolved from providing transactional visibility to constant visibility. In short, these tools can now capture the data that’s at the very foundation of a flexible, resilient supply chain