Managers under increased pressure to meet e-commerce demands

As e-commerce,
along with an
on-demand
culture, rises in
southern Africa, warehouse
managers are increasingly
under immense pressure
to get a greater volume of
goods shipped on time.
“Therefore, warehouses
are evolving from
simplified operations to
tightly integrated profit
centres. Logistics firms
and retailers are now
looking for innovations
to help them keep up
with changing consumer
demands,” said country
manager for Zebra
Technologies, Neil Gouveia.
He pointed out that
as the global economy
continued to recover, the
warehousing industry
would have to continue
to evolve and shift in
its fundamental ways of
working.
“Businesses
are all in
the position
of having
to quickly
keep pace
with today’s
increased
fulfilment
demands and
the industry
must also
anticipate
the areas in
which even
greater growth will occur
in the next five years and
beyond,” Gouveia told
FTW, highlighting that this
had “vast ramifications”
for both operations and
information technology
(IT).
“Of course, before you
start planning
for the
future, your
organisation
must first
identify its
current status,
honestly
answering
the question,
‘where are we
now?’ Once you
have a handle
on today’s
reality, you’ve
got to clarify
your vision of where you
want to be in two, three,
four and five years, and
make the critical decisions
of where to invest, and
what types of investments
should be considered,” he
explained.
To address clients’
operational challenges
hampering the fasttracking
of goods
through depots and
warehouses, Zebra
Technologies suggests
three key focus areas:
• Efficiency –
simplify operations
through
automation.
• Visibility – know
more about
your business
and customer.
• Productivity
– empower
workers with
the right
mobile tools.
INSERT & CAPTION
Warehouses are
evolving from
simplified operations
into tightly integrated
profit centres.
– Neil Gouveia