Logistics Trends – Parcel Automation

Apr 28, 2016News

During the second quarter of 2015, U.S. retail e-commerce sales totaled nearly $84 billion, over a 14-percent increase from the previous year. This rapid increase in e-commerce sales has left retailers with increased needs for efficiency in their supply chain. The rise in e-commerce sales have left organizations with an opportunity for increased services and profits, but it’s also opened the door for missed opportunities, increased risk, and potential mishaps. Thankfully, technology has allowed for the new trend of parcel automation to help mitigate these risks and increase shipment speeds.

Parcel automation helps improve the accuracy and speed of e-commerce shipments without increasing the risk. Hand sorting e-commerce shipments can be a slow process and can induce many potential errors into the sorting process. Packages can be misrouted and mistakes can negatively impact delivery time, thus decreasing customer satisfaction and hurting an organization’s bottom line. The trend of parcel automation helps mitigate this risk thanks to automated sorting and the increase in traceability. When organizations and customers are fully aware of the status and location of the e-commerce shipment, everyone is left happy being fully aware of the delivery process.

The parcel automation technology also helps improve operations. As big data integrates itself into every facet of the supply chain, parcel automation works with analytics to help improve the efficiency and transparency of e-commerce shipments. As goods become easier to track, the data collected from these transactions can help organizations make informed decisions to become more efficient and effective with their allocated merchandise and shipping routes.

According to Supply Chain Digest, automation has helped organizations reduce the number of days inventory is on hand by over 20-percent. This helps streamline the supply chain process, reduce overhead and lead time, and help mitigate risk. While some supply chain trends may come and go, parcel automation has helped the increase in e-commerce shipments thrive and has given the supply chain areas to improve upon without taking on unnecessary risk.

At TOC Logistics, we believe in benefitting our clients’ bottom line. We believe in looking at the “big picture” and going the extra mile by continually analyzing our clients’ supply chain through evidence-based analytics. From there we make dynamic recommendations on how to improve their supply chain, reduce costs, and improve operational efficiencies.

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