UNEX Wins Food Logistics Green Supply Chain Award

 

UNEX Manufacturing, Inc., the trusted industry leader in providing innovative order picking solutions, win the 2018 Food Logistics Green Supply Chain Award. Food Logistics’ annual Top Green Providers recognizes companies whose products, services, or exemplary leadership is enhancing sustainability within the food and beverage industry.

“Using green supply chain technologies within your distribution operations will help to lower energy costs and decrease your carbon footprint to address consumer concerns about sustainability,” said Brian C. Neuwirth, VP of Marketing and Sales at UNEX Manufacturing. “We are pleased to once again win this prestigious award.”

“The agricultural sector and food supply chains at large have long recognized the importance of environmental stewardship for long-term sustainability in both business and for future food production globally,” notes Lara L. Sowinski, editorial director. “Food Logistics remains committed to promoting those in our industry who understand their leadership role in sustainability and work to raise the bar with new products, services and strategies each year.”

Each year, the criteria for earning a spot on the list become more stringent for applicants. For example, the editorial staff evaluates a company’s participation in such programs as the EPA’s SmartWay and other recognized sustainability programs; facilities that are LEED-certified, and/or feature solar panels, LED lighting and other energy saving installations and retrofits that produce measurable reductions in GHG emissions, to name a few.

UNEX provides a number of cost-effective, flexible solutions that help distribution operations with green supply chain initiatives to keep products flowing through fulfillment. UNEX boosts storage capacity and accessibility to storage areas, allowing companies to keep their same footprint, which reduces energy consumption.

About Food Logistics

Food Logistics is published by AC Business Media, a business-to-business media company that provides targeted content and comprehensive, integrated advertising and promotion opportunities for some of the world’s most recognized B2B brands. Its diverse portfolio serves the construction, logistics, supply chain and other industries with print, digital and custom products, events and social media.

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source https://www.unex.com/green-supply-chain-2018/

Adapting NextGen Technologies- What’s Stopping You?

Back in 2014, when the MHI Annual Industry Report was titled “Innovations That Drive Supply Chains,” 84% of supply chain execs predicted that they would adopt inventory and network optimization tools within the next 3-5 years. Yet, now that 2018 is here, the actual adoption rate is a full 40% less than predictions! The same is true for the rest of 2014’s “transformational” technologies: adoption rates are roughly 20-50% lower than expected.

These figures come from the 2018 Annual Industry Report, which is appropriately titled “Overcoming Barriers to NextGen Supply Chain Innovation.” So what’s the holdup?

According to this year’s respondents, there are 3 main barriers that stand in the way of adopting NextGen technologies:

• Making the business case. Justifying the costs of implementing innovative new technologies is difficult because the potential value is unknown. On the other hand, the costs of inaction – and falling behind – can be dire.
• Addressing the skills gap and workforce shortage. Attracting talent with technical and analytical skills is not a new challenge, but solving it becomes even more critical as NextGen systems replace physical work with insight based tasks that require multi-faceted expertise.
• Building trust and ensuring cybersecurity. Even the most casual observer knows that new technologies come with new risks, no matter how large or small the company. Building in robust, multi-layered security features at every point along the supply chain is vital to building trust among all partners and stakeholders.

So how do you tackle these barriers? That answer depends on your own specific culture, partners, workforce, industry and markets. But there’s no doubt that you must tackle them. As MHI CEO George Prest put it in the 2018 report, “While the transition to NextGen supply chains is complex, inaction is not a strategy. Ignoring these important developments may leave your supply chain at a severe disadvantage in the future.”

UNEX Manufacturing has materials handling, storage and order picking solutions that tackle many of the barriers of adoption, such as helping with the labor shortage by speeding fulfillment and reducing amount of labor needed. Our solutions are cost-effective, yet made of the highest quality materials, so you get the most value for your investment. Contact your UNEX Pickologist today.

The post Adapting NextGen Technologies- What’s Stopping You? appeared first on Carton Flow and Order Picking Solutions from UNEX.

source https://www.unex.com/adapting-nextgen-technologies/

NextGen Supply Chains: Are We There Yet?

NextGen seems to be the supply chain industry’s favorite new terminology. But what does the term actually mean?

As buzzwords go, NextGen is pretty broad and nebulous. We’ve seen NextGen supply chains called “connected commerce,” described as “unified commerce solutions,” and defined as “the creation of complex yet seamless supply chain networks.”

What we haven’t seen is much on NextGen’s specifics. Can incremental improvements lead to NextGen? Or does NextGen require a completely new process? How do we know if and when our supply chain has officially become NextGen?

While the 2018 Annual Industry Report: Overcoming Barriers to NextGen Supply Chain Innovation doesn’t define the term, it does help refine the NextGen vision and put it into an industry context by listing the 10 Key Attributes of the NextGen Supply Chain. These characteristics, existing contemporaneously and operating seamlessly, set the stage for NextGen:

• Digital: Data-gathering sensors and smart devices transform reams of data points into actionable insights by feeding information to artificial intelligence technologies for analysis and direction.
• Connected: Seamless sharing across all links throughout the supply chain enables operators to tighten up plans and processes in ways that minimize waste and increase speed and accuracy.
• Collaborative: Unlike the traditional competitive supply chain model, NextGen supply chains are collaborative, removing barriers to achieve shared benefits, including lower costs and better service delivery.
• Always-on: The Internet never sleeps, and now that customers can order online any time from anywhere, neither can supply chains. Even raw materials suppliers, manufacturers and vendors must mount round-the-clock operations in order to meet market demand for fast turnaround and seamless service.
• Driven by forward-looking analytics: Historical data will always have its place, but as companies adopt and apply emerging predictive analysis capabilities, they discover unexpected ways to improve performance and gain a competitive advantage.
• Transparent: From sourcing and production through order placement, fulfillment and delivery, NextGen supply chains provide not just visibility – but full transparency and access – to all stakeholders, including customers and end users, in real time, creating connection and avoiding unintended silos.
• Secure and trusted: In a digital, interconnected, transparent network, security is a vital characteristic, not only to identify threats and manage risks, but also to build in the level of trust that’s needed to ensure enterprise-wide participation.
• Agile, adaptive and responsive: Across-the-board connectedness gives partners the insights they need to anticipate and adapt to market demand in unison, working hand in hand to optimize outcomes.
• Effective and efficient: Efficiency vs. effectiveness has long been the supply chain dichotomy, an ongoing strategic competition between resource management and service delivery. NextGen helps eliminate the need for tradeoffs by simultaneously improving both, based on a customer-centric perspective.
• Safe and sustainable: The supply chain’s role in promoting and protecting workplace safety, societal responsibility and environmental sustainability faces scrutiny like never before, and consumers punish those who ignore issues of health and sustainability. NextGen’s flexible connectedness helps companies find ways to incorporate automation to eliminate safety hazards, increase use of recycled and repurposed materials, minimize water and energy usage, even cut back on unnecessary travel, as tangible demonstrations of brand values.

Chances are, your supply chain operation already includes at lease some NextGen characteristics. The challenge is to continually build upon these capabilities, leveraging the resulting information and insights to prepare for the future. Yes, technologies will continue to evolve and capabilities will continue to improve. It’s called progress, and in every generation, that’s something to look forward to.

NextGen supply chains are digitally enhanced and connected via smart devices and sensors, creating a seamless network of information that can be used for continuous improvement and creating a lean environment. UNEX Manufacturing engineers understand that in order to remain competitive in today’s environment, businesses must harness this data for better transparency. UNEX helps companies survive in the 21^st century by meeting customer expectations and speeding fulfillment. Contact your UNEX Pickologist today.

The post NextGen Supply Chains: Are We There Yet? appeared first on Carton Flow and Order Picking Solutions from UNEX.

source https://www.unex.com/nextgen-supply-chains-yet/