The Fleet, Facility & Safety Roundup | Why You Should Be Reassessing Your Material Handling Right Now

Welcome to the Fleet & Facility Roundup! We’ve curated the latest, most practical news to help you keep up with material handling developments and insights.

Our takeaway this month? Inflation is up, lead times are still long, and the supply chain remains chaotic, so it’s safe to say that the end isn’t in sight yet. In short, it’s an ideal time to assess what actions you and your company have taken so far and see what efforts are paying off and which need to be redirected.

Supply Chain Insights
News from around the Industry 

Supply Chain Insights

• What you and your workers should know in order to be prepared for a surprise inspection by OSHA.
• Addressing safety can help employers hire and retain skilled workers. 
• Amazon’s top executive overseeing workplace health and safety will be leaving the company this month, as Amazon faces increasing scrutiny over its workplace safety record.

Efficiency Gains/Improvement

• As the sales gap between e-commerce and in-store shopping closes, companies can strengthen customer relations with timely deliveries by leveraging data. Real-time supply chain data is the key to visibility and transparency.
• With no end to supply chain issues in sight, retailers need a comprehensive last-mile strategy to make the holiday shopping season easier. Learn how this impacts you.
• Learn about 6 key steps to avoid fleet downtime due to supply chain issues.
• Companies are still dealing with inventory issues caused by misjudging seesawing pandemic demand. It’s time to evaluate your company’s inventory management and adjust as needed.
• Three ways manufacturers can overcome “quiet quitting.”

Automation

• Automation can help with labor issues, as companies struggle to attract younger workers deterred by the manual, physically demanding nature of warehouse work. It not only eases the workload, it also provides upskilling opportunities that can increase retention.
• Automation can—and should—be done in stages. Here’s a list of priorities. (Although we’ll caveat that, while it’s a valuable starting point, automation is not one-size-fits-all.) 
• ROI on digital technologies should also consider the measurement of a solution’s ability to compress time, i.e., achieve better results faster.
• Automation can help companies deal with an unpredictable supply chain by allowing real-time adjustments.

Sustainability

• Sustainability “upskilling” could be a key draw for new hires. In a survey, more than two-thirds of job seekers surveyed said environmentally-friendly companies were more attractive than other, less sustainability-focused companies, and almost half of those surveyed said they would accept a lower salary to work at such an organization.
• While consumer pressure on companies to be more sustainable is significant, investor pressure is even more compelling. This video explains how incentives can help get suppliers motivated to change their practices. 
• Automation can help boost sustainability by capturing valuable data insights that fuel increased efficiency and productivity across the supply chain. 
• While Corporate Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) is a top priority, the 2023 Annual Third-Party Logistics Study shows that companies are still struggling to excel in this area, suggesting that ESG implementation may be the issue.
• Learn how one of the largest global medical technology companies in the world used AI and big data to gain increased supplier visibility. 
• Concentric, an OnPoint Group company that often works in tandem with TFS, has launched its Clean Fuels Program. Start earning cash incentives for using your EV and other material handling electric equipment. Program is applicable in the states of California, Oregon, and Washington.

Resource of the Month
From the TFS Team

How to Combat Inflation Using the 5 Levels of Material Handling Efficiency Along with a Different Approach to Automation

If you're looking for strategies to help offset inflationary spend, this paper lays out the ways TFS helps clients think about fleet management.