A new day for warehouse & distribution

Businesses have never been under more pressure to keep their customers satisfied. They’re still contending with the after shocks of the pandemic, ongoing labor and supply shortages, and a never-ending string of disruptions. Those, however, are time limited and will pass. Other changes, like the exponential increase in e-commerce sales and direct-to-consumer deliveries, are permanent. It all trickles down to the distribution center, which is handling more individual items than ever, while having to do it accurately and with greater speed. The bar has never been higher for customer expectations. In short: Once taken for granted—and maybe even ignored—the DC is now a vital component of a company’s go-to-market strategy. “The last four or five years for supply chain leaders has felt a lot like the turn of the century did for IT leaders,” says Rob McKeel, the CEO for Fortna. “Before Y2K, IT was a backroom function and didn’t have a seat at the table. Post Y2K, IT was at the top of the boardroom agenda. The same thing is happening now with supply chain, as supply chain and order fulfillment in particular are more visible inside companies, and more stressful for the people in that function.”