The smart warehousing for new-age supply chain and procurement conference 2020
5 key takeaways from the smart warehousing for new-age supply chain and procurement conference 2020
NextFirst and Bricspac jointly organized a thought-leadership conference to discuss the implications for warehouses in the new normal. Specifically, smart warehousing focused on appropriate automation, analytics, interoperability, emerging market dynamics on new supply chain business models, and procurement management in retail, manufacturing, and logistics sectors. The virtual event was a massive success with over 200 supply chain and procurement industry practitioners attending it.
This virtual business meet covered a diverse range of topics:
- Leading the new wave of warehouse automation
- Changing fundamentals in supply chain management
- Appropriate automation – your tool for the new normal
- Defining the new normal in supply chain and warehousing
Our speakers included eminent industry experts:
- Arif Siddiqui, Director of Coign Consulting
- Rajul Jain, Co-Founder & CEO of Increff
- Jayendran Balasubramanian, CEO of NextFirst
- Atul Holkar, Head of SCM, Varun Beverages
- V. Raju, SVP 3PL, and Contract Logistics, Avvashya Cci
- Kumar Gaurav, GM of Consumer Supply Chain, Infiniti Retail
- Samrat Ghosh, GM of Head Supply Chain, Welspun Group
- Jasmeet Marwah, Sr. Director of Supply Chain, Moglix
The five significant takeaways from the conference were:
Warehouse not a cost center but a necessity
It’s important to understand that efficient supply chains and smart warehouses are becoming critical to business in the new age. The reality today is that companies can no longer make solely economic-based supply-chain decisions but need to factor in various disruptions, including geopolitical, weather, and health.
Simulations must be conducted to address business continuity issues and determine the impact on plans. Proactiveness is becoming mission-critical, even if the current working environment is constrained.
Companies must capitalize on the evolving scenario to acquire a competitive edge and optimally calibrate their acts in building a forward-looking smart supply chain. More than ever, supply chains must react quickly and responsibly, having the right perspective at the right moment, and keep iterating. The right approach is to implement the appropriate strategies, exploit technological skills, and harness supply chain analytics. Such an approach will help businesses adapt quickly to the new norm and address delays, anomalies, and forecasting difficulties.
In this context, warehouses need to become smarter so that they can ably support the business. The smart warehouse will help companies to optimize the supply chain and improve efficiencies in say inventory management.
Impact on supply chain fundamentals
That supply chain today is mission-critical is a well-established fact. Cost, quality, scale, speed, and agility are the five fundamentals. But, over time, the priorities shift depending on the circumstances.
Ecommerce brought new nuances like infinite variety, speed of shipment, and delivery to many more addresses every day. The next big thing will be the rise of the hyper-local concept. Together, e-commerce and hyperlocal will disrupt the entire middle chain, ensuring that items do not involve multiple entities before reaching the consumer.
Hyperlocal the next big thing
Hyperlocal will regain importance, as it allows incredibly high delivery speed at relatively low costs. Decentralizing a centralized warehouse will also become a trend to cater to COVID related demands. In turn, decentralization will support e-commerce and hyperlocal trends too.
The new normal is looking different, and it is an exciting time for the global supply chain industry.
Agile and adaptable supply chains
As organizations make efforts to regain market share as demand recovers, they must watch out for overproduction and operating expenses. At the same time, they must be alert to new and emerging opportunities and adapt to them. The relations regarding supply chain strategy, vendors and procurement strategies, distribution networks, and warehouses need to be revisited.
In these situations, demand forecasting technologies and network realignment are useful for pre-planning. Companies must also address supplier risk management, as it will become a critical component for business continuity. In short, business flexibility will be the main expectation, and supply chains need agility, adaptability, alignment.
Key considerations for warehouse automation
The business case for warehouse automation gains is strong today. The four main factors to consider when studying warehouse automation are:
- Automation is not a binary option – there is scope for best-fit solutions based on your needs
- Automation is not an afterthought – instead, let automation be part of your growth strategy
- Automation can not be performed ad-hoc – it requires expertise, structure, and careful planning
- A warehouse management system (WMS) adds value – exploit the synergies of a WMS and a warehouse execution system to your advantage
Final thoughts
Warehouses are complex operations, overseeing various processes and tasks for inventory control, material handling, and distribution. Today, market dynamics are evolving faster than ever, dictating a whole new standard of efficient and reliable operations. Clearly, warehouse automation can support your business growth plans while uplifting efficiencies in operations.
NextFirst creates cohesive warehouse automation systems to address the most demanding supply chain and distribution channels. Our warehouse automation solutions handle your needs for speed, flexibility, and efficiency while reducing costs.
Reach out to info@nextfirst.com today to find out how we can help you tackle the new normal.