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Do you want to know how to turn around your supply chain in 90 days? Join this must-watch session with Supply Chain Now and 3SC.

We'll explore how to utilize AI/ML in your supply chain in 90 days through a combination of the right tools, people and process. Projects that don't deliver on this commitment are too big or complicated. They also likely don't use an updated toolset to help minimize the time to value. The world is getting faster and technology is getting better. Your customers are getting more complex and demanding. Huge efficiencies can be gained and a lot of money saved through proper planning, a practiced approach and a modern, modular technology footprint. There is no barrier to 90 days and that should be the standard.

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Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Its Application to Supply Chain Labor A RADIX CONSULTING POSITION PAPER

OVERVIEW: The intent of this document is to summarize the three (3) SCM enabling technologies being harnessed by AI to better optimize labor resources within a supply chain operation. The convergence of On-Demand Labor Scheduling & Labor Management Systems under the guidance of Artificial Intelligence is a quickly evolving and creative answer to today’s labor challenges.

Companies Highlighted in This Series:

1. AutoScheduler.AI

2. TZA

3. Veryable

On-Demand Scheduling & LMS Use Thus Far

Newly emerging On-Demand Labor Scheduling solutions are designed to help managers identify, plan and schedule part-time associates to achieve operational goals while maximizing productivity and minimizing costs. These systems provide real-time insights into workforce data, such as attendance, absences, and employee schedules. These tools are typically used to engage with a qualified work pool and allow the labor talent to self-schedule based on their availability, the facility expertise called for, the individuals personal needs.

Labor management systems (LMS), on the other hand, focus on the labor planning, monitoring and optimization of employee productivity and labor costs while on-the-job. LMS systems track employee performance and work activity against defined labor plans, measure productivity metrics such as pick rates, and provide feedback to employees and supervisors to improve efficiency.

The combining of these two solutions allows for a more holistic approach to employee management, enabling warehouse managers to better understand and optimize their labor resources. By integrating an on-demand labor pool and an LMS system, warehouse managers can gain a more complete picture of labor availability, employee performance, resource utilization, and labor costs. They can use this data to optimize staffing levels, adjust employee schedules based on demand, and identify opportunities to improve productivity and reduce costs. The combination also improves the morale and work environment for the associate who can now match their life scheduled to the available work opportunities of the employer.

As businesses have become more complex, managing workforce and labor resources have become increasingly intertwined. As a result, many companies are realizing the benefits (and competitive advantage) of integrating these component solutions into an overall labor program.

The Benefits of An On-Demand Labor Pool & LMS Joint Solution

Overall, the convergence of On-Demand Labor Scheduling and LMS applications represents a shift towards more comprehensive and integrated approaches to managing the workforce and labor resources to improve the employee satisfaction levels and thus retention while still optimizing the performance of the workforce. When employees have this greater degree of control over their work schedules their job satisfaction is increased. Then pair this with the employee engagement and coaching included in an LMS and overall morale improves as the company embraces a performance-based culture.

By combining the two types of software, companies can achieve better alignment between staffing levels and labor requirements, reduce labor costs and optimize productivity. Additionally, integrating these applications can help companies gain better visibility into their workforce and labor data, making it easier to identify areas for improvement and take action to address them.

A great example of this integration is when utilizing a dynamic workforce scheduling tool that supports a “gig based” employee scheduling environment – such as from Veryables, Inc. - where the employer and employee work together in the on-demand labor scheduling solution. The employer posts available jobs and the employee, comprising the contingent or variable labor needs of the employer, elects specific roles and hours that align with their lifestyle or other personal requirements. This flexible work arrangement replaces the traditional use of temporary, untrained workers with a pool of resources pre-qualified for the roles. In turn, the labor management system – such as provided by TZA, Inc. - not only measures work productivity relative to expectations but now also establishes employee development goals and tracks each associate’s coaching and training needs to make sure they feel engaged and valued. Many companies are also creating employee incentive programs that go beyond money to incorporate prizes and other types of compensation to recognize high performers.

A popular trend in these labor management applications is gamification, or incorporating competitive and reward elements as incentive for desired performance. In an LMS, gamification can be used to motivate employees to perform better, increase productivity and deliver on performance goals. This is typically achieved by introducing elements such as points, badges, leaderboards and challenges into the labor management system. For example, employees can earn points for completing tasks on time, and those points can be used to unlock rewards or access to higher levels of the system.

Gamification can also be used to promote healthy competition among employees, as they compete for the top spot on the leaderboard or to earn the most points. This can create a sense of camaraderie among employees and encourage them to work together to achieve common goals.

By incorporating gamification into an LMS, organizations can improve employee engagement, motivation, and productivity. Ultimately this can lead to better overall performance and help the organization achieve its business goals.

Harnessing the Power of AI with AutoScheduler.AI to Intelligently Orchestrate Labor

Where On-Demand Labor Scheduling and LMS solutions focus on the planning, monitoring, and potential maximization of labor resources, companies like AutoScheduler.AI add an additional layer using artificial intelligence to tackle the daunting task of warehouse optimization and ensuring that all personnel are in the right place at the right time. By planning the complexities of distribution tasks and constraints, this optimization not only ensures efficient distribution - with the right inventory leaving the right door at the right time - but also orchestrates the best use of labor resources, minimizes costs, and maximizes productivity. This ties into the execution system, most frequently the warehouse management system, to ensure that all customer deliverables are being met and balanced with the finite labor & equipment capacity levels working at the facility.

How this works in practice is that all data is extracted from the existing system of record, such as a Warehouse Management System, and passed into the orchestration platform for optimization. After the complex constraint optimization is run to determine the appropriate sequence of activities, location utilization, and personnel assignments, a plan is pushed back into the warehouse management system to automate the planning of work, personnel assignments, and positioning inside of the building. This optimization is then constantly updated to account for varying or unexpected factors (like a late shipment or personnel call-off) to ensure that the site is always optimized.

When paired with an On-Demand Labor Scheduling solution and an LMS, this can provide a more comprehensive and robust labor management approach to dynamically plan and direct work to the floor. This convergence aids managers in maintaining a complete picture of labor availability, performance, resource utilization, and costs, and using this data to further optimize staffing levels and schedules. These 3 solutions enable distribution facilities to maximize all phases of productivity: ensuring they have the personnel, getting those personnel to work to

the highest level of their capabilities, and optimizing the work they’re doing to drive productivity. This highlights how innovative technologies can streamline labor management processes, reduce costs, and increase productivity, ultimately enhancing the performance culture and employee satisfaction.

Conclusion

As firms wrestle with finding, attracting, and keeping labor within their supply chain operations, there are new approaches being discovered. Several of the best supply chain consulting firms have practices dedicated to guiding their clients on this journey to a high-performance culture. They are helping clients achieve performance improvements previously unattainable, all while making it easier to hire staff and train employees. Even in highly automated facilities that are leveraging advanced material handling or robotics equipment, firms still need to build a strong employee performance foundation before investing even more in robotics. Human capital continues to be a company’s most important asset!

Overall, the convergence of on-demand labor scheduling and labor management systems in the warehouse can provide managers with powerful real time tools including advanced business intelligence (AI) and analytics to improve operational efficiency, reduce labor costs, and enhance overall performance.

Radix encourages the downloading of information from this Resource Center page in order to more fully understand how these enabling technologies work.

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Two supply chain and warehousing experts from Radix Consulting Alliance join us: Founding Principal John Pearce and Radix Demand & Supply Planning Consultant Gregg St. John. Radix is an independent consulting firm offering a variety of consulting, staffing, and support services to support supply chain

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Unfortunately, it is very easy to waste money deploying autonomous mobile robots (AMRs). We ask the experts how you can best prepare and roll out warehouse automation.

Two supply chain and warehousing experts from Radix Consulting Alliance join us: Founding Principal John Pearce and Radix Demand & Supply Planning Consultant Gregg St. John. Radix is an independent consulting firm offering a variety of consulting, staffing, and support services to support supply chain operations.

John and Gregg guide us through how they consult their clients considering an investment in AMRs, which typically includes:

Synchronizing demand and supply plans

Assessing needs by asking the right questions

And taking 3 key steps to adopt a holistic approach

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Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies are struggling to strike a balance between increasing capacity while facing ongoing labor shortages. Companies are increasingly turning to automation solutions to address these challenges.

What does this mean for the future of the human workforce?

Discover how to build an automation strategy that leverages humans and machines, reduces operating costs, creates rewarding job opportunities, and delivers impactful results to boost your bottom line.

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Körber Fully automated FIFO storage for pallets

Körber Supply Chain Stay in touch with us here: Website: https://www.koerber-supplychain.com/

Radix Consulting Alliance Supply Chain Recommends:   Todd Kovi, Radix Consulting Alliance Co-Founder   John Pearce, Radix Consulting Alliance Co-Founder   Website: https://www.radixconsultingalliance.com   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/radix-consulting-alliance   Twitter: https://twitter.com/RadixAlliance   Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/radixconsultingalliance

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Why choose for Slimstock's inventory optimization solution.

Radix Consulting Alliance Supply Chain Recommends:   Todd Kovi, Radix Consulting Alliance Co-Founder   John Pearce, Radix Consulting Alliance Co-Founder   Website: https://www.radixconsultingalliance.com   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/radix-consulting-alliance   Twitter: https://twitter.com/RadixAlliance   Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/radixconsultingalliance

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https://www.koerber-supplychain.com/downloads/g/unleashing-your-potential

Radix Consulting Alliance

@Koerber_BA_SC

Unleashing your potential

Using simulation technology to drive process improvement in your warehouse.

Compared to traditional forecasting models on spreadsheets, warehouse simulation gives you a holistic overview of both current and potential operations, with a user-friendly interface. It eliminates the risk of costly errors, while producing simulation models in a fraction of the time. This makes it exceptionally well suited to evaluating process improvements and technology, like voice and AMR.

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5 Shipping Software Tips - Do You Have A Good TMS?

If you already use a TMS, you know shipping software is invaluable on a day-to-day, per shipment basis. But the technology is swiftly moving forward. Evaluate yours today!

1) Shipping Automation

Undoubtedly automation was the first thing you looked for when selecting your shipping software, or Transportation Management System (TMS). But not all TMS automation tools are created equal.

The shipping automation tools you should have include:

Multiple tariff rate management

Multiple carrier type management

Sales order management

Customer shipping notifications

HAZMAT air & ground documents and codes library

Multi-leg shipping tools

NMFC management

“No dimensions” parcel processing

Returns processing management

International documentation

Claims management and timeline notifications

SO MUCH money is left on the table by shippers on claims due to the paperwork and follow-up involved. See our post on this here.)

Our shipping software automates shipping management to the point that many of our customers can reallocate personnel up to 20-30%.

One specific example of this was with a major online retailer that was able to move five staff from their shipping department into other areas of the business, as they were saving 200 man-hours a week due to the automation tools we provide. (To read more about this case see our post Grow Your Business With TMS.)

Ideally, your automation tools should be continually evolving. At FreightPOP, we roll out new features every quarter to ensure our customers have the best tools to allow shippers to "ship smarter, and ship easier".

THE BUYER'S GUIDE TO SHIPPING SOFTWARE

2) Shipping Software Connectivity

Robust connectivity will enable you to receive, update, and track orders from external applications inside the software. Much like how a smartphone is a centralized platform that allows users to interact with many data points seamlessly, a good TMS should offer that same user experience.

You need connection to multiple carriers, APIs, and to your own accounting, CRMs, and warehouse programs. All this data should come together in one shipping software interface.

FreightPOP’s connectivity includes:

Plug and Play (self-serve) ERP and WMS integrations

Multimodal connections to local carriers, parcel, LTL, FTL, intermodal, and international ocean and air

Freight invoice connection through EDI from carriers

We are currently connected to over 300 carriers - and we are constantly expanding our connections

Solid connectivity saves you time and gives you more control. You should be able to easily manage scheduling shipments for all modes and batch shipping. Routing guides and end of day manifests should also be readily available through your TMS.

3) Freight Rate Shopping

Bottom line: Rate shopping is a huge time-saving feature for shippers.

What would typically take a shipper up to half-an-hour in calling carriers or logging onto carrier websites to obtain quotes, can be scaled right down to an average of seconds per shipment.

Our TMS enables the below type of rate shopping in a side-by-side layout for ease of selecting and printing out shipping labels. You can shop:

Spot quote shopping can be a very tedious process of emailing carriers and often missing out on opportunities to get on a truck at the best rate. For more on this, please see our post 3 Tips to Get the Best Spot Quotes.

4) Freight Reporting

Good shipping software should enable shippers to isolate billing issues, audit carriers, and prove ROI to upper management. Analyzing your shipping data enables you to make informed decisions going forward. We offer freight reporting at the click of a button - or they can be automated to generate and email at specific times.

Something to keep in mind about our solution is that we are highly customizable and are rolling out additional features and reporting capabilities all the time.

5) Maintain Internal Compliance

Your shipping software should tell you if your shippers are shipping with the lowest cost available at the time of particular shipments, or if they might be shipping with a carrier at higher rates because they may be spiffing them gifts.  

With our “Lowest Quote Shipping Compliance” report, for example, you can see how much of your shipment was sent out at the lowest cost rate vs. how much you could have saved if a higher rate was selected instead. You can also set date ranges on these reports to see when overspending was occurring, which will assist you in pinpointing the cause of the inefficiency.

The primary objective of your shipping software is to help you save money and make shipping easier. This can be achieved through automation tools, connections to external data points, or even through reporting that shows you where you are leaving money on the table.

We created our TMS because we were shippers without the tools needed to save money on our shipping. We also found typical TMS solutions too cumbersome, not customizable enough to fit our business needs, and too expensive.

We created an exceptional solution that we are proud to offer other shippers. To see a demo of FreightPOP’s TMS, please see below.

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The Radix Consulting Alliance Advisory Board Member

Supply Chains and their supporting technologies are the primary focus of Radix – yet the supply chain ecosystem is constantly evolving. Sometimes the changes are slow but oftentimes, as recent events demonstrate, the changes are both rapid and unpredictable.

To better understand where we have come from – and where we are headed – Radix management draws from a rotating group of seasoned Supply Chain professionals for understanding trends based on their unique perspectives. These individuals are accomplished visionaries and actively engaged in the supply chain field.

Scott Eggenberger – Facility Automation & Material Flow

Scott brings 25 years of experience across the Supply Chain to the Radix Alliance, with specific expertise in optimizing material flow/throughput and minimizing cost within the “four walls” of a facility. He and his company have delivered hundreds of successful projects, ranging from simple redesigns of workflow to turnkey installations of highly complex, fully automated Material Handling systems.

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The Radix Consulting Alliance Advisory Board Member

Supply Chains and their supporting technologies are the primary focus of Radix – yet the supply chain ecosystem is constantly evolving. Sometimes the changes are slow but oftentimes, as recent events demonstrate, the changes are both rapid and unpredictable.

To better understand where we have come from – and where we are headed – Radix management draws from a rotating group of seasoned Supply Chain professionals for understanding trends based on their unique perspectives. These individuals are accomplished visionaries and actively engaged in the supply chain field.

Gregg St John – Demand / Supply Planning / SIOP / S&OP

Gregg has over 27 years’ experience in both consulting and industry which spans a plethora of supply chain areas including deep exposure to the planning aspects of a business.  He has held both CFO and COO positions while part of industry which gives him a unique platform from which to understand and address inventory planning and synchronization challenges. Gregg has the rare ability to look holistically at the supply chain from planning/procurement and down through the distribution side of the value chain.

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The Radix Consulting Alliance Advisory Board Member

Supply Chains and their supporting technologies are the primary focus of Radix – yet the supply chain ecosystem is constantly evolving. Sometimes the changes are slow but oftentimes, as recent events demonstrate, the changes are both rapid and unpredictable.

To better understand where we have come from – and where we are headed – Radix management draws from a rotating group of seasoned Supply Chain professionals for understanding trends based on their unique perspectives. These individuals are accomplished visionaries and actively engaged in the supply chain field.

Peggy Tschudin – Logistics & Global Transportation

Peggy has 20 plus years of extensive logistics experience involving manufacturing and distribution disciplines – from both an industry and consulting perspective. She has strong skills in human resource strength identification and working with teams to develop those skills and interests. Peggy has a hands-on understanding of how-to setup transportation processes to move product most efficiently on a global and national scale.

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Client is a start-up manufacturer and supplier of bio-chemical derivatives involving the international food chain industry needing a logistics infrastructure to be put in place

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Logistics Improvement - Radix Consulting Alliance

Radix takes logistics and transportation seriously with a strong nation-wide presence of senior strategic and tactical capabilities. 

Case Study:

International Business Start-up - Logistics Centric

Client is a start-up manufacturer and supplier of bio-chemical derivatives involving the international food chain industry needing a logistics infrastructure to be put in place.

The Challenge:

Soil Scientists developed a soil enhancement product to support the Agriculture/Farm Industry for increased crop yield.  As a start up Project, a Third-Party Manufacturer and Logistics Partner were selected in the US.  Chemicals for the Product were globally sourced, to be imported for this Manufacture and Logistics Process. The Product Developer did not have International Commerce knowledge to import the base chemical raw materials into the US and provide Transportation from the Global Supplier to the Third-Party Manufacturer and Logistics Partner.  Requirements for Import, Duties, Tariffs, Transportation and costing were unknown.

The Solution

Radix provided a Senior Consulting Resource with the International Commerce expertise and Supply Chain experience to partner with the client to provide education, design the Importing process, understand the financial requirements, involve the necessary Customs Coordination and Logistics Team to put this part of the Business Development Project in place.  Steps taken included (1) initial interviews to understand client’s needs, (2) identification of Global Forwarding and Logistics Providers, (3) process flow definition by way of bringing the parties together to understand the Process Flow and (4) implementation of the Optimal Process.  After design and during the implementation, regular Global Team meetings were held to ensure the Process was properly in place and validate all needs were being met.

The Value

For this startup project to succeed, the Global Sourcing costing was a critical business requirement .  International Commerce is complicated and has many moving parts.  By using one Resource with both Global Industry Knowledge and Logistics Partnerships, this final step in the Business Development was completed and managed till performance was proven – all on an acceptable timeline and budget.  Additionally, costly mistakes were avoided, shipments arrived on time with no damage, Customs Compliance was in place and the Product Production was a Success.

Client is an innovative / international manufacturer and supplier of agri-business products to the global food supply chain.

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The Radix Advisory Board

Peggy Tschudin – Logistics & Global Transportation

Peggy has 20 plus years of extensive logistics experience involving manufacturing and distribution disciplines – from both an industry and consulting perspective. She has strong skills in human resource strength identification and working with teams to develop those skills and interests. Peggy has a hands-on understanding of how-to setup transportation processes to move product most efficiently on a global and national scale.