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Supply
Chain by the Numbers |
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- Feb. 16, 2017 -
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Walmart Makes Changes to Procurement Organization; Tens of Thousands of US Bridges Need Repair; Lululemon Sees Big Gains from RFID; Another State Goes Right-to-Work, More Coming |
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20 Million |
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98%+
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That's the level of in-store inventory accuracy specialty apparel retailer Lululemon is now achieving with item-level RFID tagging, far above previous levels, according to a recent blog post on LinkedIn by one of the company's IT managers, Jonathan Aitken. The retailer has developed smart phone apps for both store associates and consumers themselves to see where inventory is for a given item across its store network. Consumers can now feel confident that the inventory will be where the system says it is because "RFID Don't Lie," Aitken says, repeating the mantra of Lululemon's RFID operations team. At the recent NRF show in New York City, Aitken said that before the RFID program, the company internally tested its buy on-line, pick up in store service in New York City. More than half the time, Lululemon was unable to fill the test orders because the store inventories were wrong. Now after RFID, it only has inventory issues on 1-4% of on-line orders, depending on the day. Vendor-tagged items are read as they enter a store, then also when sold at the POS system. Fast cycle counts using handheld RFID readers are taken once per week, Aitken said, driving the accuracy improvements.
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28 |
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That's how many so-called right-to-work states there are now in the US, after Missouri Governor Eric Greitens signed a bill changing the state's rules into law this week, after his elections in November gave Republicans control of both houses of the legislature and the governor's chair. That follows a similar action in Kentucky just a few weeks before that. In right-to-work states, employees at union shops cannot be required to pay union dues if they want to opt out, a provision bitterly opposed by labor. Nevertheless, recent years have seen a number of states in the Midwest - Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan - approve right-to-work rules, joining existing states in the South and Midwest, to create a growing majority of right to work states. New Hampshire is also on the verge of passing right-to-work legislation, likely to be approved by a new Republican governor, and there is a similar move in Ohio, also controlled all by Republicans, to do the same. That would leave Illinois as the only Midwestern state old out, as seen in the map above. |
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That's how many US bridges are "structurally compromised," as the U.S. Department of Transportation has released its 2016 National Bridge Inventory report. Of those 55,000 worrisome bridges, 13,000 require replacement, widening, or major reconstruction, the report found. About 1,900 of the compromised bridges are on the Interstate Highway System, affecting millions of Americans. The inventory of structurally deficient bridges decreased by just 0.5% over the past year. At that pace, it will take more than 20 years to address all of the problem structures, the report says. "America's highway network is woefully underperforming. It is outdated, overused, underfunded and in desperate need of modernization," said Alison Premo Black, chief economist of American Road & Transportation Builders Association. "State and local transportation departments haven't been provided the resources to keep pace with the nation's bridge needs." How many billions/trillions of dollars are needed to address the situation? The report does not provide a number for that, but SCDigest can s confidently it's a lot more money than there is available
