Expert Insight: Sorting it Out
By Cliff Holste
Date: Feb. 19, 2009

Logistics Perspective:  The Distribution and Materials Handling World Looks Different Depending on Where You Sit

 

After 30 Years With Various Vendors, I see Lots of Opportunities to Help Companies Improve Distribution Systems and Results

I have spent more than 30 years in the distribution and materials handling world, in many functional roles (consulting, engineering, sales) and several different types of companies (consultants, large equipment OEMs, systems integrators).

However, as you can gather from the above, it has been exclusively from the provider side of the equation, not the “end user” (which is, as you may or may not know, how vendors of all sorts refer to real companies and professionals out there that buy their equipment and services).

In that time, I have gained a deep level of understanding of materials handling equipment and applications, distribution center best practices, project management, and the dynamics of any major systems implementation. I have worked closely on system designs and projects with dozens of excellent distribution and industrial engineering practitioners, from senior executives to young but talented professionals looking to make their mark.

Having said that, since becoming SCDigest’s Materials Handling Editor last year about this time, I have gained an expanded perspective. My new career in “journalism” began January 31, 2008 with the publishing of my first ever “Sorting it Out” blog in SCDigest, and it has been a great first year.

I still do a small bit of consulting on the side to keep me fresh, but this really is my new avocation – and being outside of the constraints the provider side has allowed me to take stock of things in a number of areas.

For example, I have always held the belief that the industry in general does not serve small and medium businesses very well, but that opinion has strengthened as I have talked to some companies and had more time to consider how the industry works. At many of the firms I have worked for, I might have talked to a medium sized distribution company at a trade show or elsewhere which really did have an opportunity to reduce their logistics costs, but may have been too small a fish for the company I was working for at the time to really help.

I understand the economics of why that is, but I am convinced there is an opportunity for Supply Chain Digest and our new Distribution Digest - and some materials handling vendors - to help medium sized companies take advantage of opportunities. As an example, I wrote a piece in 2008 on “the Poor Man’s Sorter” that showed a simple, relatively inexpensive but effective approach for medium-sized companies to make improvements in order picking productivity.

Another idea I have had for some time but have not previously had the chance to bring to fruition is a very different approach to planning, designing and procuring major distribution systems. It sits somewhere between the traditional “bid to spec” and less used “Design-Build” approaches that are the two primary choices right now – something a lot more collaborative between buyers and providers.

You will see more of that very soon on these pages.

Finally, I have had more time to look at the broad spectrum of equipment, technology and concepts that are out there in the industry – and there is a lot more out there than I realized. I’ve had the chance to find many such tools and ideas over the past year that in my old positions I probably wouldn’t have been exposed to.

From my work with distribution and engineering managers, I am convinced, busy as they are with their day jobs, that many of them can’t possibly follow all these developments either. We have and will continue to save our readers time and improve their knowledge by filtering all the “noise” out there and find what developments and products are really worth knowing about.

Over the past, I have received lots of great feedback and encouragement from readers as well as past associates.  I am looking forward to providing more insight on current trends and new technologies that could contribute to improved levels of distribution and materials handling system performance. 

I would love to have your thoughts on this.

Agree or disgree with Holste's perspective? What would you add? Let us know your thoughts for publication in the SCDigest newsletter Feedback section, and on the website. Upon request, comments will be posted with the respondent's name or company withheld.

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profile About the Author
Cliff Holste is Supply Chain Digest's Materials Handling Editor. With more than 30 years experience in designing and implementing material handling and order picking systems in distribution, Holste has worked with dozens of large and smaller companies to improve distribution performance.
 

Holste Says:


I have always held the belief that the industry in general does not serve small and medium businesses very well, but that opinion has strengthened as I have talked to some companies and had more time to consider how the industry works.


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