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Tag: cloud computing

Cloudy Supply Chain Data

Posted on by David Priestman

There were many Davids at the Manifest convention. Logistics Business’ David met with 3 namesakes, including Blue Yonder’s Senior Director for Global Retail Industry Strategy.

Blue Yonder is a major global player in supply chain operating systems, offering specific products for WMS, TMS, Warehouse Execution, Order Management (boosted by the acquisition of Yantriks), Demand Planning, Inventory Optimisation and more. With a turnover of $1.28bn, 6000 employees and 167 new customers last year, representing 17% growth, it is a Microsoft Azure cloud computing partner and a division of Panasonic. The company has released a digital cognitive platform, ‘Luminate’, a generative AI capability, ‘Orchestrator’, and a new data cloud service with its partner Snowflake.

Dave Hamilton, pictured, has 30 years’ experience as a specialist in retail logistics in the USA, much of it at Best Buy. I asked him about the recent acquisition of Doddle, a company we spotlighted in our February issue (p6-7). “We’re excited to have them in the group. They’re strong in solving the returns issue and growing in North America now.”

“Snowflake will change how organisations connect their supply chain network,” Hamilton explains. “Currently there is the challenge of middleware (software that lies between an operating system and the applications running on it), but Snowflake eliminates that as it’s permissive, for example if using ERP software. Data is gold. The ability to share it via the cloud, end-to-end, is great.”

Inter-operable Solutions

I asked Hamilton about the interaction of Blue Yonder software applications with IT hardware used in warehousing and distribution. “Best-in-class is what we want,” he replies, “but we don’t have to provide every hardware product.” Customer use cases span applications in planning, DCs, commerce and transport management, in the third party logistics sector, retail or any manufacturing industry.

Of course, you cannot discuss all these areas without mentioning AI. “In problem-solving, generative AI enables the customer to go further,” Hamilton states. This can result in reducing costs or increasing inventory. “Orchestrator (which runs on its Luminate platform) is agile and co-ordinates decision-making.” It factors in all relevant data and context within the supply chain application to optimize and augment user prompts.

“Blue Yonder Orchestrator helps companies bring value to their data, which is where many companies struggle,” said Duncan Angove, CEO, Blue Yonder. “It allows business users to quickly access recommendations, predictive insights, and intelligent decisions to ensure they generate the best outcomes to impact their supply chain positively. In today’s supply chain environment, in which many professionals are nearing retirement age and it’s challenging to retain that institutional knowledge, companies can use Orchestrator as a trusty supply chain assistant that can augment intuition – using the value of the data – to make better and faster decisions.”

Supply Chain Transformation

In the transport management environment FedEx is a major customer. “Our carbon footprint isn’t big, we just sell software, but we can help customers reduce theirs and aid the EV transition,” adds Hamilton. These days WMS is normally co-ordinated with TMS. It should be quick to install. WES looks at tasks and resources in order to plan human and robotic labour. Blue Yonder partner with materials handling equipment suppliers like GreyOrange but remain brand agnostic.

British retail customers include ASDA, M&S, and Sainsbury’s – for whom it has provided inventory planning and other solutions as part of a multi-year supply chain transformation. “We tend to work with tier 1 retailers, plus up-and-coming ones and the sector is as much as 60% of our revenue,” Hamilton reveals, “but we’re putting a lot of attention into 3PLs/LSPs and looking to grow there.”
Innovation leads to an improved customer experience. “We’re a true partner to customers,” he adds. “I’ve sat in their shoes so I can really talk to them. That gives us credibility, but ultimately the product needs to work. Seeing the progress is key. Our teams help provide the value analysis. We should take ours cues from customers and keep our promises in terms of developing products and being future-ready.”

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Asda accelerates multi-channel offering with Blue Yonder

 

Enter the Eco-Digital Era

Posted on by Keith McKinley

New research by Capgemini reveals that the eco-digital economy is expected to double in the next five years to almost $33 trillion (€30.5 trillion), but that the UK is lagging behind.

The untapped potential of digital technologies is vast, and the eco-digital economy, driven by digital and sustainability, is expected to double by 2028. That’s according to the Capgemini Research Institute’s latest report, ‘The Eco-Digital Era: The dual transition to a sustainable and digital economy’ developed in collaboration with the Digital Value Lab at the Digital Data and Design Institute at Harvard. Implementing digital technologies has enabled organisations to reduce their energy consumption by almost a quarter and delivered a 21% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the past five years, cites the report.

In this new era of a dual transition to an eco-digital economy that delivers not only economic value, but also environmental and social value, the scaling up of digital adoption will propel economic growth with sustainability at its core.

More collaborative and platform-driven than ever before, this eco-digital era is giving rise to new business models and revenue streams, as well as enhanced cost efficiencies, all driven by data utilisation, cloud technology, collaborative ecosystems, and connected products and services. According to the report, seven in 10 organisations agree that digitally-driven business models will become a key contributor of revenue growth in the next three to five years. Furthermore, 60% expect digitally driven business models to generate more revenue than their traditional business models.

“In the eco-digital era, there is greater exploration of digital technologies’ value to business – for instance by the scaling of data and cloud, and by having digital technologies play a crucial role in achieving sustainability goals,” comments Dr. Suraj Srinivasan, Philip J. Stomberg, Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and Head of the Digital Value Lab at the Digital Data and Design Institute at Harvard. “There is also a fast evolution of emerging tech such as generative AI and synthetic biology, and greater collaboration giving rise to digital ecosystems. This shift is truly fundamental, cross-sectoral and global in nature. One of the biggest questions that organisations have to address and manage, as they scale, is knowing what to centralise and what to decentralise in terms of platform architecture, and most importantly, data governance.”

UK Lagging Behind

While global organisations are prioritising investment into evolving technologies such as generative AI or edge computing, to decrease costs and increase efficiencies, the UK landscape paints a different picture for some of its technologies – one that is lagging behind the rest of society.

The UK findings suggest UK organisations shows similarities with the global average for GenAI and edge computing implementations (13% vs. 15%, 13% vs. 14%), but only 6% of organisations in the UK are currently implementing digital twin technologies (vs. 13% globally), and only 8% even have a roadmap to do so. Instead, as many as 43% say they are only currently thinking about it (vs. 25% globally).

The picture is similar with blockchain technology, with only 4% implementing this technology, and AR/VR/Metaverse technologies (5%) – again, the difference appearing to be that the UK is far more likely to be stuck in the ‘thinking about it’ stage. Given the worldwide focus on sustainability, the low implementation number for climate/clean tech is particularly concerning – with only 5% of UK organisations currently implementing such technologies (vs. 13%), and as many as 37% still in the planning stage.“

The eco-digital economy is unlike anything that has come before it, and society has harnessed only a fraction of the overarching potential that mainstream technologies such as cloud, AI, and automation hold,” said Fernando Alvarez, Chief Strategy and Development Officer at Capgemini and Group Executive Board member. “Organisations will need to leverage focused efficiencies in their core business, enabled by digital, in order to free up investment to support their dual transition. We are at the dawn of a new transformative era and we have only scratched the surface of how digital technologies can help expedite the delivery of substantial economic, environmental, and societal benefits.”

Visionary in WMS Magic Quadrant

Posted on by Keith McKinley

Reply has been named a Visionary in the 2023 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Warehouse Management Systems among 18 vendors worldwide due to its Completeness of Vision and Ability to Execute.

According to Gartner, “To be a Visionary, a vendor must have a coherent, compelling and innovative strategy that seeks to deliver a differentiated, robust and vibrant offering to the market.” Reply has been named a Visionary in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for WMS for the fourth consecutive year.

The company stated: “We believe our position as a Visionary confirms our standing as a thought leader in the sector, thanks to our innovative vision and future-proof solutions, reflecting the increasingly global scope of our projects.”

Reply is one of the first players to offer a modular and extensible digital platform, 100% cloud-native and microservices-based, as an asset to provide its customers the adaptability and flexibility to drive real impact in their organizations, as business needs and technologies change in times of disruption. Its strength lies in its composability, leveraging business-ready services and accelerators that can be packaged together into pre-built solutions, such as our LEA Reply WMS, or to create new solutions, tailored to the customer’s specific requirements.

Alongside its strong support to core WMS processes and cutting-edge technologies, Reply continues to enhance its warehouse automation and robotics capabilities, as well as invest in data-driven resource optimization, leveraging technologies, such as AI and ML, for supply chain visibility and proactive decision-making.

Reply continues to evolve its capabilities within the LEA ReplyTM and Click ReplyTM solutions to take time-to-value and quality to the next level and support our customers in every step of their digital transformation process.

“We are thrilled to be named as one of the Visionaries in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for WMS for the fourth consecutive year,” said Enrico Nebuloni, Executive Partner at Reply. “This achievement reinforces the value of our unique and distinctive vision, and further cements the trust our customers place in us. By successfully and effectively meeting diverse demands across various industries and business objectives, we consistently transform our customers’ supply chain visions into reality”.

 

Additional Supply Chain Network Visibility

Posted on by David Priestman

E2open has announced that Samsara has selected its Advanced Supply Chain Planning and Collaboration for network visibility and to help manage its demand, supply, and inventory across its operations. Samsara, the pioneer of the Connected Operations™ Cloud, has become a system of record for tens of thousands of customers. By harnessing IoT data from trucks, warehouses, and heavy equipment, Samsara’s integrated platform provides actionable insights to run safer, more efficient, and more sustainable operations.

“At Samsara, we look for technology solutions that support our pace of innovation and commitment to providing the best possible experience for our customers,” said Jeff Faulkner, VP of Operations at Samsara. “With increased visibility and automated workflows, e2open can help us stay ahead of potential disruptions and enable a quick supply chain response to changes in customer demand.”
With e2open, Samsara will be able to automate more tools and communications across its supply chain network, potentially providing greater visibility into its operations. A metrics-driven command centre and external connectivity offer opportunities for improved collaboration, while meaningful simulations and scenarios can be leveraged to drive decisions.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Samsara as a client leveraging e2open’s Planning and Supplier Collaboration suites, to support their growth and customer journey,” said Michael Farlekas, CEO of e2open. “Samsara is on an exciting trajectory, and we look forward to working together to help them realise the benefits of outside-in planning, collaboration, and visibility across their entire supply chain network.”

Samsara is the pioneer of the Connected Operations™ Cloud, which is a system of record that enables organisations that depend on physical operations to harness Internet of Things (IoT) data to develop actionable insights and improve their operations. Samsara operates in North America and Europe and serves tens of thousands of customers across a wide range of industries including transportation, wholesale and retail trade, construction, field services, logistics, utilities and energy, government, healthcare and education, manufacturing, and food and beverage. The company’s mission is to increase the safety, efficiency, and sustainability of the operations that power the global economy.

Wenko Focuses on IT Transformation

Posted on by David Priestman

Whether it’s a shower basket, ironing board or cutting board: when it comes to household goods, Wenko is the first place to go for many. To bring transparency into the supply chain and be more agile, the company introduced the SCM software OSCA. The family-owned business uses it to manage 145 suppliers and other supply chain partners.

Nothing is as constant as change. This proverb is the secret of success for many companies. This is also the case for the household goods specialist Wenko-Wenselaar GmbH & Co. KG, better known as the Wenko brand. In 1959, entrepreneur Wietze Wenselaar and his wife Maria Koellner founded a company which launched the first metallized ironing board cover in Germany.
However, achieving major growth was not possible with just ironing articles alone. The founder’s son, Hans-Joachim Koellner, therefore significantly expanded the product range after joining the family business in 1968. From then on, Wenko’s business no longer revolved mainly around laundry and ironing, but also included bathroom accessories, home storage solutions and other household helpers. Business boomed.

Today, the company from Hilden near Düsseldorf offers more than 5,000 articles from the areas of lingerie, bathroom, living, kitchen, and leisure – with patents or property rights for around 1,500 products. With Niklas Koellner and his brother Philip, the third generation joined the family business around two decades ago. The two are also pursuing new ideas. In 2020, they acquired the mail-order supplier Maximex from Lower Saxony, which supplemented the product range with its products.

To keep up in the tough price war, Wenko’s goods are manufactured all over the world in Eastern Europe, Spain, France, Germany, and Asia. More than 200 suppliers are listed with the company. Five freight forwarders deliver around 4,000 shipments to North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. Most of the deliveries are stored in two buffer warehouses, each with 20,000 pallet spaces. The hub for shipments to 81 countries – with the focus on Europe – is the Wenko central warehouse in Hückelhoven. It was opened in 1997. In 2017, the family-owned company invested in the semi-automation of the warehouse, which now covers more than 35,000 square meters. The high-bay warehouse comprises 34,000 pallet spaces. During peak season, up to 50,000 picks can now be carried out – per day.

Keeping track of all orders and shipments is not easy. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, Excel lists and emails were the main communication aids with supply chain partners. But Covid threw supply chains into turmoil. Suppliers couldn’t deliver, ships couldn’t leave their ports. As with many companies, goods often flowed hesitantly, but emails were frantic. “The Covid-19 pandemic led to the realization that we needed to change in the supply chain space. Production and delivery delays were almost impossible to handle manually,” reports Wenko Managing Director Niklas Koellner. “In order to be able to control production and transport, we wanted to bring transparency into the supply chain with the help of a central tool. This should then inform all partners about changes at the same time.”

No sooner said than done. Koellner and the supply chain management team looked around for tools at the end of 2021. They found what they were looking for with the SCM software specialist Setlog. More than 150 brands worldwide now use the OSCA solution to manage their supply chains. “The decisive factor for the provider was that the best-practice version, which has been tried and tested at other companies, is easy to use and enables optimal control of logistics processes,” explains Koellner. The first meeting took place at the end of February 2022, and the system went live at the end of July.

Since then, Wenko has been transmitting orders from their ERP system to its suppliers via OSCA. 145 of a total of 200 partners are connected to the system, which accounts for more than 85 percent of the total volume. Four of the five forwarding agents also work with OSCA. The software acts as a central communication and control tool – from order confirmation and delivery planning to booking shipments and transports. In addition to costs, volumes, lead and transport times, post-carriage control, carton packing lists including label creation and delivery dates can also be controlled. The forwarders enter transport notifications and tracking data into OSCA.

At the headquarters in the Rhineland, a dashboard visualizes the most important key figures for the nine Wenko employees who are connected to the cloud-based system. When production or delivery data changes, all supply chain partners are notified simultaneously. “Monitoring has improved greatly. Production backlogs, for example, can be easily called up in the dashboard,” Koellner says. Even colleagues’ vacations no longer pose a challenge because everyone involved can track the processes in the system through central communication. Implementation and training took a few days. But the advantages of a transparent supply chain quickly made up for that for Wenko: “There are no more media disruptions – and changes in orders and shipments are immediately visible to everyone,” Koellner emphasizes.

And there are now more and more disruptions – due to political crises, strikes, environmental disasters or pandemics. “If a consumer goods manufacturer today cannot rely on a modern IT landscape – with SCM solution, ERP, CAD, WMS, PLM, payment system as well as production planning – it is quickly overwhelmed with the challenges of our time,” says Ralf Duester, board member of Setlog. According to him, the most important trends in the industry include increasing complexity in procurement and distribution, the shift from push to pull markets, the acceleration of ordering processes in companies, and the growing need for additional services. “Wenko shows how an innovative mid-sized company with 550 employees is embracing change and has prepared for the future with a modern IT infrastructure, dedicated IT experts and collaborative supply chain partners. And with the planned integration of Shippeo’s Visibility Tool into the running OSCA solution, Wenko will additionally be able to track its shipments in real time, adding further value to logistics,” explains Duester.

ERP Software Solution Firm Promotes

Posted on by David Priestman

Iptor, a provider of cloud-based ERP software solutions for the distribution, timber, publishing and pharma industries, today announces a series of leadership promotions, establishing the executive team that will drive continued growth.

Having successfully transformed Iptor, alongside CEO Jayne Archbold, by developing it into a cloud business through the launch of Iptor.com and acquiring TimberTec and PLX, whilst also driving 79% EBITDA growth since 2016, Christopher Catterfeld, Iptor Chief Marketing and Product Officer is promoted to Group Chief Marketing Officer of GSG GENII Software Group, Iptor’s parent company. GENII is the home for market-leading, niche enterprise software businesses, whose solutions manage the most critical business processes of mid-sized companies across five vertical markets – Distribution, Manufacturing, Retail, Public Services and Laboratories, with Iptor being its main Distribution ERP solution. Catterfeld, who will also retain his current role, will focus his energy on developing the GENII brand, building marketing synergies across the Group as well as identifying growth acceleration and new acquisitions.
Further leadership changes are as follows:

• Jessica Hayes, who joined Iptor in January 2021 as EVP Products & Strategy, is appointed as President EMEA. Jessica will take on all day-today responsibilities for leading Iptor in this region.
• Kristian Niklasson, who previously led Iptor’s Nordic countries, is appointed Managing Director of TimberTec, focusing on the expansion of this business in new geographies, especially the Nordics. Niklasson will form part of the TimberTec management team together with founders Andreas Boll and Frank Ridder.
• Bart Monstrey, who previously led Iptor’s European business will now focus on taking PLX into new countries as its growth accelerates, initially in Benelux and France.
• In the US region, Mark Tredgold is taking over the regional President role from Jim Smith, who will remain part of the leadership team to support the transition.

Jayne Archbold, Iptor CEO and Interim Head of People across GENII Group, comments, “I am delighted that that we have been able to make these promotions, which demonstrate the depth of talent we have. These leaders, combined with the investments we have made, have had a dramatic impact on our business performance, delivering continued growth for Iptor and excellent value for our customers. Jessica is the ideal person to lead Iptor and the wider GENII Distribution business as it grows and scales, whilst Kristian and Bart have the market expertise that is required to expand TimberTec and PLX’s geographic reach. Having worked alongside Christopher for many years I know he is the best person to lead marketing for the Group as we replicate Iptor’s growth strategy across the wider business.”

Iptor is a global leader in enterprise resource planning, supply chain management, planning and logistics software and services.

Jacuzzi Chooses Infor CloudSuite

Posted on by David Priestman

Infor® has announced Jacuzzi Brands Inc. has selected Infor ‘CloudSuite Industrial Enterprise’ to help improve inventory accuracy and supply chain efficiency, enhance customer experience and standardize business processes.

“This was a tremendous opportunity for us to showcase our commitment to partnership, industry expertise and our incredibly talented teams,”
said Infor EVP and General Manager Ed Allen. “Jacuzzi has been growing and realized it could no longer meet its business goals by following the current path. Multiple solutions at different facilities resulted in a system that was disconnected and unintegrated. It was important to Jacuzzi to get cross-functional business capabilities on the same platform, unifying the enterprise through one consistent set of solutions and technology. We have developed strong relationships with an innovative industry leader and great customer, and their future is bright with Infor.”

Founded in 1956, Jacuzzi Brands is a global manufacturer of premium spas, swim spas, whirlpools, soaker and walk-in bathtubs and related bathroom products and accessories. Its brands include Jacuzzi®, Sundance®, Dimension One Spas®, Hydropool®, ThermoSpas® and BathWraps®. The company’s flagship brand, Jacuzzi®, is the most recognized in the world for spa and hydrotherapy bathing.

An Infor customer since 1985, Jacuzzi had been running Infor ERP on-premises in many worldwide facilities. In 2019, Jacuzzi management realized that the current situation would not support the company’s growth. Specifically, Jacuzzi wanted to better manage its inventory and reduce inventory levels. It also hoped to improve supply chain effectiveness and raise the customer experience. After a review involving multiple vendors, the company chose Infor CloudSuite Industrial Enterprise.

“We were convinced that we would not be able to reach our business goals and profitability objectives using our legacy platforms,” said Brian Pierson, Jacuzzi Brands global chief operating officer. “One of Infor’s advantages is that they are easy to do business with. They brought together the right people at the right time and were able to show us that they had the right solution for our organization. We know they have got our backs throughout this journey.”

Infor is a global leader in business cloud software specialized by industry. We develop complete solutions for our focus industries.
Infor’s mission-critical enterprise applications and services are designed to deliver sustainable operational advantages with security and faster time to value. Over 60,000 organizations in more than 175 countries rely on Infor’s 17,000 employees to help achieve their business goals. As a Koch company, our financial strength, ownership structure, and long-term view empower us to foster enduring, mutually beneficial relationships with our customers.

Locator Cloud Service to Demonstrate Asset Tracking Capabilities

Posted on by David Priestman

Semtech Corporation, a leading global supplier of high-performance analogue and mixed-signal semiconductors and advanced algorithms, announced its breakthrough SaaS chip-to-Cloud service, LoRa Cloud™ Locator, that uses Semtech’s LoRa Cloud Modem & Geolocation services. The new service gives customers the opportunity to experience firsthand the power of devices powered by LoRa Edge™ and evaluate the accuracy and power consumption capabilities of the LoRa Edge platform which offers an ultra-low power and cost-effective solution for indoor/outdoor asset tracking use cases. LoRa Cloud Locator features built-in serverless technology and delivers a simple end-to-end experience for customers to evaluate LoRa Edge implemented in various ecosystem trackers, either on a private or public LoRaWAN® network.

“Asset tracking is one of the most common use cases across industry verticals,” said Karthik Ranjan, LoRa Cloud solutions and partnerships leader in Semtech’s Wireless and Sensing Products Group. “Whether it’s tracking wheelchairs in a hospital, shopping carts in retail, pallets in supply chain, cattle in agriculture, or pets around a home, asset tracking can be found everywhere. Semtech’s LoRa Cloud Locator is the fastest way for customers to easily see for themselves the benefits offered by purchasing trackers with LoRa Edge, provisioning them onto the application and seeing their location on the map.”

LoRa Cloud Locator is designed specifically to work with trackers using Semtech’s LoRa Edge LR-series chips with minimal effort. Once configured on the service, together with Semtech’s LoRa® wireless radio frequency technology for transmission to the Cloud, customers are able to view the tracker location on the map in typically in less than 15 minutes. “Semtech’s LoRa Cloud Locator is the most efficient and fast way to evaluate the LoRa Edge platform as it can measure the performance of the technology and differentiate when a device is tracked by GNSS or Wi-Fi. With the Wi-Fi location feature, we can now receive GNSS signals without paying for the prohibitive power consumption of traditional GNSS technologies,” said Maximiliano Ruiz, founder and CEO at Galileo RTLS. “Through leveraging LoRa Edge, locating assets around the world is much simpler with the unprecedented years of battery life.”

“Upon testing LoRa Cloud Locator firsthand, the service itself was very straightforward; quick and easy to set up, enabling us to efficiently test the accuracy and responsiveness of the service in a variety of environments,” said Tim Guiterman, CEO at InfiSense. “The results of our tests further confirmed the broad portfolio of use cases that will directly benefit from the precision geolocation and ultra-low power capabilities of the LoRa Edge platform. We believe that this high-resolution tracking combined with very long battery life is a game changer for our cold chain monitoring and supply chain projects.”

Those interested in LoRa Cloud Locator can purchase a LoRa Edge-enabled tracker, create a LoRa Cloud Locator account and discover how LoRa Edge unlocks new use cases across the entire global supply chain. To access the service, customers can visit locator.loracloud.com, where they can browse a selection of compatible trackers by Semtech, Browan, Digital Matter and Miromico. Orders run through CalChip Connect and Indesmatech, two leading LoRaWAN hardware distributors based in respectively North America and Europe. After purchasing a tracker, customers can log in to the application, register their tracker and view its location on a map using a browser on either their desktop or mobile device.

Delivery management firms become nShift

Posted on by David Priestman

nShift, global provider of cloud delivery management solutions for e-commerce shops, retailers, manufacturers and 3PL companies, announces its launch. Bringing more than 53 years of shipping and returns management experience through the merger of Unifaun, Consignor and Returnado, nShift will unite under leadership of Lars Pedersen as new CEO. With over 100+ pre-built third-party integrations into e-commerce and other shippers’ most critical IT systems and a carrier library delivering connectivity into over 700+ carriers, nShift offers customers an end-to-end cloud platform to automate and optimize the entire delivery management process – from label creation to delivery tracking and last mile logistics to returns management.

nShift’s solutions have successfully enabled almost 1 billion annual shipments globally for e-commerce shops, retailers, manufacturers and 3PL companies. Through its extensive carrier library, nShift has shipping visibility and reach, unlocking significant scalability for its customers – from 1 to millions of shipments annually – across the globe.

“I am extremely honoured and excited to be joining nShift at such a pivotal time in its growth,” said Lars Pedersen, who was recently appointed CEO of nShift. “While our name is changing, we are more committed than ever to continuing to provide the vital connectivity in delivery management, visibility, and efficiency for which our 90,000+ customers rely on us. We are thrilled to announce our new brand together with our latest e-commerce innovations, nShift Checkout and nShift Return (formerly known as Returnado). Our platform enables customers to worry less and ship smarter with up to 10-20% higher e-commerce-shop conversions, 60% fewer delivery related support calls, and 30% increase in repurchase rates on returned products.”

Through the acquisition of Returnado, a Stockholm-based e-commerce returns management provider, nShift adds critical technology to its cloud delivery management platform with a streamlined return process for shippers, carriers, and recipients. Returnado’s returns expertise spans marquee brands such as Helly Hansen and Asket and demonstrates its significant capabilities to serve a very complicated portion of the logistics value chain.

Marlin Equity Partners and Francisco Partners, two of the world’s leading technology investors, will remain the majority stakeholders in nShift. Peter Chung, a Managing Director at Marlin Equity Partners, said, “We are excited to continue delivering against the nShift mission of enabling our customers to worry less and ship smarter via the Company’s collective scale and breadth of its consolidated, end-to-end cloud delivery management platform. Today, e-commerce and other shippers have a singular platform from which they can eliminate geographical barriers to growth and drive supply chain efficiency and visibility all while improving the overall delivery experience for constituents across the logistics value chain.”

Petri Oksanen, a Partner at Francisco Partners, added, “This is an exciting step forward and the beginning of the next chapter of transformational growth for nShift. With the recent acquisition and integration of Returnado, we are in a position now more than ever to continue to deliver the very best solutions for our customers and help them solve first-to-last mile logistics challenges, deliver tangible cost savings, and drive innovation in our industry.”

WMS supplier strikes it Rich with new CEO for USA

Posted on by David Priestman

WMS technology innovator SnapFulfil is taking its North America business to the next level with the appointment of experienced transformational leader, Rich Pirrotta, as CEO.

He reports in to overall CEO Tony Dobson and comes on board as demand for SnapFulfil’s agile, responsive and cost-effective solutions has never been greater due to the explosion in e-commerce and faster moving goods.

Rich has over 30 years’ experience in line executive and management consultant roles for the likes of Procter & Gamble, Deloitte and Logicalis, across 35 countries worldwide. Over the years he has proven cross-organisational expertise in sales, operations, growth, strategy, finance and change management.

Hugh Stevens, Chairman of parent company Synergy Logistics, said: “Rich brings extensive global experience in complex, high growth enterprises across manufacturing, supply chain, technology and professional services. With SnapFulfil now positioned as the premier cloud-based WMS provider, he is the person to progress the US business as we meet the pivotal challenges of a post pandemic world.”

In the past 12 months, SnapFulfil has seen significant growth in demand for its SaaS solution, which has been boosted by market leading Remote Implementation (RI) and self-configuration capabilities.

Rich (age 55) said: “It’s an exciting time in the technology sector with companies really pushing forward with their digital transformations.
SnapFulfil’s advanced WMS software delivers strong value through rapid ROI, industry-leading deployment speed, superior functionality and low total cost of ownership (TCO).

“My focus is to enable the growth trajectory of our current and potential customers by providing their warehouse and fulfilment operations with leading edge capabilities. We have the team and track record to deliver.”

About SnapFulfil: It’s a best-of-breed, real-time warehouse management system (WMS) which drives highly efficient fulfilment operations, allowing companies to do more with fewer resources. An innovative, cloud-based subscription model has flexibility at its core – delivering cutting edge solutions and a lower total cost of ownership than traditional on-premise installations. This unique blend of Tier 1 functionality, proven delivery methodology and enterprise class IT infrastructure, means more and bigger companies are turning to SnapFulfil to optimise inventory, space and labour within their facilities.

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