A company briefing is a one-on-one conversation with an industry leader, analyst, consultant or vendor about the state of materials and information handling. It's a chance to have a candid conversation about the trends and direction of the marketplace today. en-us http://www.mmh.com/blog/1000000500.html?nid=4136 Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information. Subject to its Terms of Use July 18, 2008 http://www.mmh.com/blog/1000000500/post/460029646.html?nid=4136 "The green supply chain is a lot like high school sex," says John Clark, the marketing manager for Dematic. “Everyone is talking about it, but not a lot of companies are doing it.” Okay. I’ll admit it. I’ve been looking for a way to combine the supply chain… http://www.mmh.com/blog/1000000500/post/1950029395.html?nid=4136 The last time I spoke to Simon Ellis, he was the supply chain futurist – one of those titles I would kill to get - at Unilever North America (www.unilever.com), a manufacturer of brands as diverse as Slim-Fast and Vaseline. The other day, I had a chance to speak to Ellis in his new ro… http://www.mmh.com/blog/1000000500/post/1370029337.html?nid=4136 The first time I was contacted by NetSuite, about five years ago, they had an intriguing story to tell about offering ERP functionality in an on-demand, software as a service (SaaS) model targeting small-to-mid-size distributors. Still, it wasn’t a story that was quite right for… http://www.mmh.com/blog/1000000500/post/10029201.html?nid=4136 Will $5 a gallon diesel make offshoring obsolete? It’s not an idle question. Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal featured a front-page story on the slow down in manufacturing activity in China. The country’s base of low-cost labor has sought hire wages at the same time as glob… http://www.mmh.com/blog/1000000500/post/1850028985.html?nid=4136 A year ago, I attended a panel discussion on the state of the RFID industry at RFID Journal Live led by Drew Nathanson, practice director for AIDC, RFID and retail automation technologies at VDC. At the time, May of 2007, the mood in the RFID industry was pretty gloomy. That was reflected i… http://www.mmh.com/blog/1000000500/post/1630028763.html?nid=4136 “The distribution model we’ve used in this country for the past fifty years is dead!” Or so proclaimed the CEO of a company with nearly $20 billion in annual sales. I wanted to know more. I’m not a fan of anonymous sources. But now and then, my personal life… http://www.mmh.com/blog/1000000500/post/20028602.html?nid=4136 Apriso is one of those supply chain execution companies that has always fascinated me, in part because I never really knew how to categorize them. When you write about supply chain management software, you want to pigeonhole a company. Manhattan and RedPrairie: They do WMS. … http://www.mmh.com/blog/1000000500/post/1080028108.html?nid=4136 A couple of years ago, when everyone’s focus was on RFID, Steve Banker at ARC Advisory Group asked me what seemed to be a no-brainer of a question: Name the data collection technology first championed by Wal-Mart that’s really taking off in the supply chain. Of course I said RFID. Wro… http://www.mmh.com/blog/1000000500/post/1860027986.html?nid=4136 Here’s a quick question: Can you name the global retailer leading the way on RFID? And no fair peeking at the headline. If you guessed Wal-Mart you’d be close, but no cigar. That isn’t meant to take anything away from Wal-Mart. They got the ball rolling on RFID and continue to mov… http://www.mmh.com/blog/1000000500/post/1210027721.html?nid=4136 Here’s my question for the day: What ever happened to the 5-cent tag? If you’ve been reading my blog the last week or so, I’ve been writing a lot about what I like to think of as an RFID revival. Following a year or two lull, RFID technology is once again on the minds of m… http://www.mmh.com/blog/1000000500/post/1500027550.html?nid=4136 Last week, I wrote about the renewed energy I’m seeing in the industrial RFID space. For one, there is strong sustainable growth in a resurgent market, according to ABI Research’s Mike Liard. For another, vendors are telling me about a new round of innovative products t… http://www.mmh.com/blog/1000000500/post/1240027324.html?nid=4136 It’s clearly a good time in RFID Land. That was the takeaway from a conversation I had the other day with Michael Liard, research director for the RFID and contactless market for ABI Research. Liard had just forecast the RFID market growing at a compound annual growth rate of 15% over… http://www.mmh.com/blog/1000000500/post/1820027182.html?nid=4136 “RFID to become a $9.7 billion industry within five years.” That headline from ABI Research caught my attention last week. So did the forecast from Michael Liard, ABI’s research director for the RFID and contactless market, who sees a market enjoying a 15% compound annual … http://www.mmh.com/blog/1000000500/post/1890026989.html?nid=4136 If you’re like me, you probably don’t think of cement makers as trend-setters. You might want to think again, suggests Kelly Thomas, senior vice president of manufacturing industry sector for i2 Technologies. Turns out, the cement industry was an early adopter of sophisticated s… http://www.mmh.com/blog/1000000500/post/130026813.html?nid=4136 One of the fascinating aspects of covering the RFID market is watching the evolution of the market. Not too long ago, there was a one-size fits all approach to EPC Gen II passive tags for the supply chain. That appears to be changing. A couple of weeks ago, I talked to Bill Brown, tag produ… http://www.mmh.com/blog/1000000500/post/1970026597.html?nid=4136 Caveat emptor! That’s Latin for look twice at what this guy is selling. I bring up the phrase because I had a lengthy conversation the other day about the pallet industry with Ron Ringness, a part-owner and executive vice president of sales, marketing and technology for Millwood, Inc.… http://www.mmh.com/blog/1000000500/post/330026433.html?nid=4136 How do you know when an emerging technology is on the verge of going mainstream? When mainstream technology players start to get in the act. That’s one way to look at the recent acquisition of Multispectral Solutions (MSSI), a leading provider of Ultra Wideband RFID (UWB) technology, … http://www.mmh.com/blog/1000000500/post/1450025945.html?nid=4136 Just when I thought I’d heard and seen everything, I learned something new. Over the last few weeks, I’ve been talking to commercial aerospace and defense contractors like Boeing, Airbus and Lockheed Martin about how they’re applying RFID technologies, especially in their … http://www.mmh.com/blog/1000000500/post/1250025725.html?nid=4136 What’s the most critical issue facing the materials handling industry today? By my way of thinking, it’s not $100+ per gallon oil. No, I think it’s the changing demographics of the country’s workforce. Many industries are talking about the worker shortage they’… http://www.mmh.com/blog/1000000500/post/460025446.html?nid=4136 RFID in the retail space has been quiet for the last few years. But since Sam’s Club announced its plans for RFID, there is renewed energy and interest among suppliers who will have to meet the new requirements. There are at least two key differences this time around, compared to the … http://www.mmh.com/blog/1000000500/post/1010025301.html?nid=4136 Almost everywhere you turn, the economic news is grim. But when the going gets tough, the best companies often look for ways to improve their operations to save money today, and position themselves to take market share when things rebound. With that in mind, I asked three supply chain analysts for … http://www.mmh.com/blog/1000000500/post/760025076.html?nid=4136 How many engineers does it take to design a better unit load? Eight. That’s how many students are currently earning degrees in a systems-based approach to unit load design at Virginia Tech’s Center for Unit Load Design. “It’s not many,” says M… http://www.mmh.com/blog/1000000500/post/1660024966.html?nid=4136 Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door. Or, so the saying goes. Dr. Marshall White would like to build a better unit load. With luck, the world, or at least a few guys from places like Bentonville and Cincinnati, will beat a path to his door. As … http://www.mmh.com/blog/1000000500/post/1340024734.html?nid=4136 Let’s be honest: materials handling suffers from an inferiority complex. Far too many people think that most of us spend our time moving boxes or running lift trucks into pallet racks. I discovered this years ago when I worked in a family-owned industrial packaging business. Just call… http://www.mmh.com/blog/1000000500/post/1540024554.html?nid=4136 In a couple of weeks, I’ll head to Cleveland for NA 2008. I don’t know about you, but I get a kick out of visiting the show. You see, at heart, I’m a materials handling guy. I enjoy walking the floor and seeing conveyors, AGVs, lift trucks and palletizers in action. But wh…