Transportation consolidation, just-in-time deliveries shrink warehouse operations – Memphis Business Journal:

Robert Hill, general manager of USA’ Memphis operations, is seeing a lot of cost cuttingg measures inthe industry, but the biggesr trend has been in transportation Flextronics has 850,000 square feet of warehous space in Memphis “Companies have really been trying to work the overalll full-truckload and less than truckloax transportation model to its fullest potential,” he says. That can mean lookinbg to consolidate the number of transportation providers and trying to raise the number of points beintg delivered to in asingle instance. “It’s really ratcheteed up the past three to four but it’s been coming up the past six Hill says.
“I think the cost-cutting measures which have been put in placr are hereto stay.” An examplee of smaller operations is shown in the employment level of the industry. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statisticz reported therewere 644,500 employees nationally in the warehousing and storagde industry in May 2009, down 4.9% compared to 677,800 in May 2008. Just-in-timre delivery is one way companies are decreasing theiewarehouse footprint. “It’s really gotten down to wherd you have companies who have their warehouses on 18 saysDexter Muller, senior vice president of communityh development at the .
“In some cases, they’lp take it from the it goes on a truck and it goes straighf tothe customer. They don’t have a warehousee at all.” However, this methodx needs a supply chain to beextremelh reliable. “The more reliable the supply chain, the less warehousin g an individual company has to have becausw someone else is keeping it for he says. Improvements in railroad ports and general transportation has also led to smalletrwarehouse footprints. Companies used to have 100,000-square-foot warehousesa in 12 locations. Then those companied went to 500,000-square-foot warehouses in two locations.
“Now in a lot of they’ll have one with 700,000 squarew feet and they’re down to almosgt half of what theyoriginally had,” Mullere says. “How can they do that Because they can still get to those same 12 marketz with a goodresponse
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