Our last regular article of 2019 was about the major challenges we see coming in Manufacturing and Distribution, particularly in the food industry. This year we wanted to start with something that drills down a bit deeper into one of those challenges – Inventory Management. The good news on this topic is that most of the challenges you will have in 2020 are the same as the ones you were having in 2019. The bad news is that they are just getting harder is the speed and complexity of transportation and logistics continues to evolve, and there is one important new one.

Today we’ll cover FOUR challenges you need to be monitoring and solving for if you are not already doing so:

1. Knowing Your Inventory
2. Inefficient Processes
3. Customer Demand
4. The Coming Packaging Revolution

It’s that time of year when we are all revving up the household fib generator to ensure we preserve the mythical story of Santa for our children, as we hide presents, bake cookies, decorate, wrap presents and hide them again, customize playlists to avoid too many versions of “The Little Drummer Boy” per hour, and for some of us, start packing for the holiday visit or prepare the spare rooms when we become the destination.

The Food & Beverage Industry is always one of the fastest-moving in regards to the changes that come every year in terms of consumer tastes, preferences, packaging, manufacturing, storage and transportation and more. For every familiar item that seems to have remain unchanged for generations (see “ice cream” or “eggs”), there are dozens of others ways it evolves visibly and invisibly and constantly creating new opportunities – and challenges. “Regenerative vertical farms” in the aquaponics industry, Plant-based substitutes for meat, but , coconut and oat-based dairy products and more are all creating challenges up and down the supply chain from the logistics supplying the manufacturers, the packaging, storage and even the marketing. In 2020, we expect to see some of these challenges create bigger obstacles than others. Which ones should you be paying attention to?

This week we are sharing a guest blog from a local partner here in Pennsylvania, Vizinex, with some pointers on the do’s and don’ts of RFID that we found compelling as well.

You’ve heard about the amazing benefits of RFID technology and are eager to get started. You just need tags, readers and reader software, right? Wrong. RFID is not a plug and play technology. Implementing RFID requires careful consideration of the systems and environments within which the technology will be operating. Here are 5 things you must consider first.

Like much of the warehouse and logistics industries, the cold storage aspect of it is growing rapidly as well in almost every major KPI. Driven by the continued growth of the frozen food industry, cold storage has been evolving and adopting many of the same technologies and process innovations as standard warehouses and is expected to grow about 3.4% in 2019. However, the fact that the room is required to be cold, means that there are a long list of other process adaptations, equipment, uniforms and other accessories that are required to run a cold storage facility and make it function for the purpose it was designed for.

Today we’ll review some of the basic features of a cold storage warehouse that set it apart from a more typical one.

“Warehouse modernization” is an evergreen term that businesses use regularly as a reference to their intentions. However, intentions don’t necessarily equate to serious action. While incremental improvements are easily embraced, there are four major improvements that many businesses are less enthusiastic about. These updates aren’t glamorous, but they’re essential for operation continuity and profitability.

While Wi-Fi connectivity is generally ubiquitous throughout the workplace, our homes and even in most public spaces where we dine or travel, wireless technology evolved from warehouse and distribution centers. Given the origins of wireless networking, providing reliable wireless connectivity in this environment is not entirely mastered by many businesses in the same way it is in the front offices.

Large open facilities like warehouses, distribution centers and their adjacent yards pose specific challenges coming from the building materials, the distances (and height), interior equipment and infrastructure and the types of wireless devices in use.

Order fulfillment continues to become more efficient as warehouse automation technology evolves. Voice collection is one of the most recent technological advances to disrupt the order fulfillment status quo. Vocollect is a hands-free order fulfillment solution that tackles the problems traditionally encountered in complex order fulfillment to offer a simple, user-friendly solution. The result is a comprehensive lineup of organizational benefits across varying use case scenarios that increase profitability, employee retention, and customer satisfaction.

Coming out of Zebra’s annual kick-off meetings with Resellers, we wanted to share highlights of new products and product refreshes for 2019 spanning multiple verticals. As a Zebra reseller, we have insight into some of the year’s most anticipated applications in grocery, quick service restaurant, healthcare, warehousing, and manufacturing verticals.

Like most use case applications, there is an intention that aims to increase efficiency, reduce errors, and improve communications with an ever-evolving suite of products to meet today’s and tomorrow’s challenges. This year’s new handheld devices, printers, and other new technologies are components of increasingly innovative solutions.

Just as the holiday season got underway just over a month ago, NASA’s InSight Mars Lander became the latest successful attempt by we earthlings to explore our universe a bit more. The scenes of the landing and the operation of the Lander itself were inspiring. And the mission – dedicated to investigating the deep interior of Mars – is ambitious, even though just getting there may have seemed ambitious enough. But have you ever thought about one of the unsung hero details of this operation? There are actual LABELS on Mars now!