Q – How has retail fulfillment changed over the years and evolved to the point where it is today?
Jerry – Collaboration between supply chain partners is higher than it has ever been. The level of information shared between supply chain partners has evolved to a point whereby both parties are focused and driven to achieve common goals. We are collecting and analyzing more data than ever before to identify process improvement opportunities that add value for our clients. In today’s world, it is imperative that you have the ability to drill down to the lowest level of detail to identify potential root causes and develop the appropriate action plan to improve your operational performance. In addition, we are currently evaluating various ‘Dashboard’ applications to further enhance the real time sharing of key operational data with our clients.
Q – How does Assured add value in
the retail supply chain? Why should retailers outsource?
Jerry – I could give you the conventional, ‘canned’ answer that “We are experts at fulfillment and our clients are experts at their core competency, so there is value in outsourcing this part of their business to us” (which is true). Working with Assured does allow them to free up significant capital that could be invested in other parts of their core business.
But what really sets us apart is our culture! We have created a team based culture that has all team members focused and aligned to a common mission and set of goals. Our people are highly engaged because of how we train them, involve them and openly communicate with them. Many organizations are faced with the huge challenge of trying to change the culture within their operations. This is a monumental task that often takes 3-5 years before you see any progress. We’ve built an operational culture that companies can take advantage of now! Simply stated, our team is both willing and able to consistently deliver superior customer service to any client.
Q – What are the key indices for success? Accuracy? Speed?
Jerry – Those and many others, but that’s just the start. Shipment Accuracy has always been very important in this industry however it is absolutely critical in the Business to Consumer (B2C) channel. There is no room for error when you’re shipping directly to a consumer’s home. You create a huge inconvenience to an on-line shopper when you don’t fulfill their order accurately. The industry norm is above 99.90% and we are well above that on a consistent basis.
Inventory Record Accuracy is just as important for our clients as well as they count on us to fulfill every order sent to us so that they can meet their customer promise. If we cannot find the item on the shelf and short-ship the order, it is highly probable that the customer will buy it somewhere else. Cycle counting using Radio Frequency technology provides us with real-time accuracy data that again, is analyzed to help us further improve our overall Inventory Accuracy.
Q – How about reverse logistics?
Jerry – More and more companies are giving this process a lot more attention and focus. Speed in the processing of returns is critical because returns represents inventory that is tied up in the value chain. Through one of many systems interfaces, we are able to share real-time information with our clients as soon as the returns stock hits our dock, which in turn is used to determine the best course of action to take.
Q – Any examples come to mind of exceptional projects?
Jerry – We’ve had many successes in implementing a variety of projects in our business however the one that I’m most proud of is the launch of amazon.ca! We signed the contract in the late spring of 2002 and we basically had two months to build and execute our ‘Operations Plan’. Our first incoming shipments arrived in May, and we started shipping orders by the end of June. To have accomplished so much in such a short period of time is a real testament to the quality and commitment of our team.
Q – Tell me more about Assured employees. What sets them apart?
Jerry – We believe that attitude and behaviour are more important than skill level! It starts with hiring the right people that want to perform the type of work that we offer. Our ‘Training Specialists’ who are employees from our production floor, deliver the required training and sign-off when they believe the Trainees are ready to go. We’ve developed a comprehensive ‘Communications Plan’ that includes over 20 different methods of communicating which our team members openly participate in. Our recognition and reward program is linked to a number of ‘Key Performance Indicators’ (KPI’s) including safety, customer service, quality and productivity. This information is shared frequently via a ‘Visual Management System’ which our employees view daily. In the end, what really sets them apart is that they believe in our vision, they demonstrate our values and they understand why their work is important.
Q – What role is RF technology playing in the retail supply chain?
Jerry – RF is a key enabler in transmitting real-time data quickly and accurately throughout the supply chain. We use RF technology in almost every process within our facility which is one of the reasons why our accuracy results are so high. The next big innovation in the Retail Supply Chain is obviously RFID, which will provide even more real-time visibility of product movement. New technological advancements in this industry are being introduced often and it’s important to leverage such to help your organization stay one step ahead of your competition.
Q – What role does information technology play in the Assured-client retail fulfillment scenario?
Jerry – This area is absolutely critical for us as we have over 20 system interfaces with one of our clients and therefore uptime is a must! There is a constant flow of messaging between our systems that provides visibility of inventory movement as well as order status. It merely takes less than a minute to have the stock availability on our clients’ website updated after a product has been received in our facility. We’ve also built in a number of alerts on both sides should there ever be a failure in technology.
Q – How difficult or easy is it for Assured to handle more components or various package sizes?
Jerry – The ability to adapt to changing products/sizes is heavily
dependent on having flexible processes and a flexible
work force. For new product introductions, representatives from operations,
engineering and I.T. work together to design the most efficient process to
flow the goods through our facility. We engage as many team members as possible
to help us determine the best solution. It’s very important to utilize
the right material handling
equipment and not limit your flexibility by implementing too many fixed processes.
Having a flexible work force is also important when needing to adapt to
change. Most of our Service Representatives are cross-trained to perform
all 5 core processes and because they understand what we need to do and why,
it is very easy to shift people from task to task to achieve our objectives.
With everyone pulling in the same direction, there is very little we can’t
do for our clients.
Jerry Papetti,
Director of Operations, Assured Logistics