Micro Fulfillment: A Solution to Last Mile Delivery Obstacles
Summary
TLDR在这段视频脚本中,Bill Catanya,OneRail的首席执行官,讨论了微履行中心如何成为解决最后一英里配送障碍的解决方案。Catanya指出,由于COVID-19加速了消费者行为的变化,传统的配送中心通常位于远离市场30至50英里的地方,这导致库存与消费者之间的距离过远。为了实现当日达或更快的配送服务,需要将库存更靠近消费者。微履行中心因此被提出,它们是小型的配送节点,可以位于零售店内、所谓的暗店或者独立的配送中心。这些中心可以加速现金流,通过更接近需求的库存和实时补货来提高配送效率。OneRail作为一个履行解决方案,帮助各种类型的发货人更可预测、更经济、更快速地移动他们的最终一英里库存。该公司通过软件和实时库存可见性,以及与约九百万司机的网络连接,自动化整个订单流程,从而提高配送效率。
Takeaways
- 📦 **微履行中心的兴起**:由于供应链压力和消费者行为的加速,传统的配送中心(DC)距离消费者较远,需要引入微履行中心(micro fulfillment centers)来提高最后一公里配送的效率。
- 🚚 **配送效率的提升**:微履行中心可以更接近消费者,支持同日或几小时内配送,满足消费者对快速配送的需求。
- 🏢 **多种实现形式**:微履行中心可以位于零售店内、所谓的“暗店”(dark stores)或者作为独立设施,甚至可以利用购物中心或自存储设施(self storage)的空间。
- 📈 **库存管理的挑战**:微履行中心的引入增加了库存管理的复杂性,需要精准的库存分布和实时库存可见性。
- 💰 **现金流的加速**:通过微履行中心,库存更接近消费者,可以加快产品补货速度,从而加速现金流。
- 📊 **减少缺货风险**:微履行中心可以减少缺货情况,避免消费者因找不到所需商品而转向竞争对手。
- 🛒 **零售店的双重角色**:零售店本身可以作为微履行中心,但需要适当的基础设施和订单管理系统来支持。
- 📱 **技术的重要性**:为了有效管理多个微履行中心,公司需要投资于实时库存可见性和需求预测技术。
- 📈 **运营转型的需求**:企业需要进行运营转型,以适应新的配送模式,包括订单管理、配送时序和与配送员的沟通。
- 🌐 **OneRail的服务**:OneRail提供履行解决方案,帮助各种类型的发货人更可预测、更经济、更快速地移动最后一公里的库存。
- 📈 **OneRail的增长**:OneRail自2018年成立以来,业务增长迅速,反映了市场对高效配送解决方案的需求。
Q & A
什么是微履行中心(micro fulfillment center)?
-微履行中心是一种新型的物流中心,它比传统的配送中心小得多,通常位于靠近消费者需求区域的位置。它们可以位于零售店内部、所谓的暗店(dark stores)或者作为独立设施存在,目的是减少库存与消费者之间的距离,以提高最后一公里配送的效率。
为什么需要微履行中心?
-微履行中心的出现是为了解决供应链中的“最后一公里”配送问题。由于消费者对快速配送的需求增加,传统的配送中心往往距离消费者较远,无法满足当日达或几小时内送达的服务要求。微履行中心通过将库存放置在更靠近消费者的地方,可以更快地响应订单,提高配送效率。
微履行中心有哪些可能的物理位置?
-微履行中心可以位于零售店内部,利用零售空间的一部分;也可以设在所谓的暗店,即不对外营业、专门用于在线订单处理的商店;还可能是独立的配送中心,或者利用自存储设施(self storage)作为微履行中心。
如何确保微履行中心的库存不会缺货?
-确保微履行中心不出现缺货需要有强大的基础设施支持,包括实时库存管理系统、需求预测技术和需求感知技术。这些系统可以帮助企业准确预测需求,及时补货,避免缺货情况的发生。
微履行中心如何加速现金流?
-通过将库存放置在更靠近消费者的地方,微履行中心可以更快地响应订单,减少产品从配送中心到商店的时间,从而加速产品的周转,加快发票开具和收款,进而加速现金流。
微履行中心如何帮助零售商提高销售?
-微履行中心通过提供更快的配送服务,可以提高顾客满意度,增加顾客忠诚度。例如,如果顾客去特定的商店购买某个品牌的产品,而产品缺货,这可能会导致顾客不再选择该商店,从而失去潜在的销售和附加销售机会。
在多个小型位置分配库存会面临哪些挑战?
-在多个小型位置分配库存会增加管理复杂性,需要精确地了解每个位置的库存情况,并能够在需要时将库存从一个位置转移到另一个位置。这要求有高效的库存管理和物流调配系统,以确保库存平衡和优化。
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OneRail 是什么公司,它的服务如何帮助不同类型的发货人?
-OneRail 是一个提供履行解决方案的公司,它通过软件和操作系统帮助各种类型的发货人,包括电子零售商、实体零售商、批发产品分销商甚至医疗保健组织,使其最终的库存能够更可预测、更经济、更快速地移动到最后一英里。OneRail 的平台连接了约九百万名司机,并使用实时决策引擎来选择最佳的快递员。
OneRail 成立多久了,它的业务有何发展?
-OneRail 成立于2018年1月,最初是一家数字快递公司。大约两年前,它从快递服务转型为平台服务。随着需求的增加,公司团队从2020年2月的9名成员增长到现在的100名成员,并有30个职位空缺,预计到明年这个时候团队将增长到近200名成员。
OneRail 如何应对 COVID-19 期间的快速增长?
-尽管在COVID-19期间面临挑战,OneRail 还是成功地应对了快速增长。公司通过提供灵活的工作机会,吸引了那些在疫情期间寻找新职业的人,这不仅帮助了公司快速增长,也为个人提供了新的就业机会。
OneRail 的服务如何适应多渠道零售和客户需求的变化?
-OneRail 的服务通过提供实时库存可见性和需求感知,帮助发货人适应多渠道零售和客户需求的变化。它的平台能够自动化订单流程,从订单管理到与消费者的最终交付,提供全流程的物流管理服务。
为什么说实时库存可见性对于微履行中心的成功至关重要?
-实时库存可见性对于微履行中心的成功至关重要,因为它可以帮助企业准确预测需求,及时补货,并实现库存的实时补货。这有助于企业提高配送速度,减少缺货风险,并提高客户满意度。
Outlines
📦 最后一公里配送的挑战与微履行中心的解决方案
本段落讨论了最后一公里配送面临的主要问题,包括供应链的压力、消费者对快速配送的需求增加,以及地理上配送中心与消费者之间的距离问题。Bill Catanya,Onerail的首席执行官,介绍了微履行中心的概念,这是一种新型的小型配送中心,可以更接近消费者需求,从而提高配送效率。微履行中心可能位于零售店内、所谓的暗店,或者作为独立配送中心存在。强调了适当的基础设施和订单管理系统对于实现有效微履行至关重要。
💰 微履行中心如何加速现金流并解决库存平衡问题
这段落深入探讨了微履行中心如何通过更接近需求地点的库存来加速现金流,减少缺货情况,提高销售预测的准确性,并通过实时补货来增加销售速度。同时,指出了分散库存到更多小型位置所带来的复杂性,包括库存平衡和需求预测的挑战。Bill提到,为了应对这些挑战,公司需要投资于供应链,利用实时库存可见性和需求感知技术,以及自动化软件来优化库存管理和配送流程。
🚀 OneRail:提供更可预测、更经济、更快速的最终配送解决方案
在这一段中,Bill Catanya介绍了Onerail公司,它是一个帮助各种类型发货人更可预测、更经济、更快速地移动最后一英里库存的履行解决方案。Onerail通过结合软件和操作系统集成订单流程,并通过连接约九百万司机的网络来优化配送。公司还建立了55个微履行节点,使用自助存储空间作为配送中心,以便快递员可以无缝地提取库存并将其送到消费者或商店。Bill还提到了公司自2018年成立以来的快速增长,以及由于疫情导致的在线购物和即时配送需求的增加,公司团队规模的扩大。
Mindmap
Keywords
💡微履行中心
💡最后一公里配送
💡供应链压力
💡
💡库存管理
💡订单管理系统
💡现金流
💡需求预测技术
💡OneRail
💡多渠道零售
💡配送中心
💡自存储设施
Highlights
微履行中心(micro fulfillment center)可能成为解决最后一公里配送障碍的解决方案。
由于COVID-19,供应链受到压力,消费者行为加速变化,对即时配送的需求增加。
传统的配送中心通常位于离市场30到50英里远的地方,这使得库存与消费者距离过远。
微履行中心可以作为配送中心的补充,具有更小的占地面积,更接近消费者需求。
微履行中心可能位于零售店内部、所谓的暗店或独立的配送中心。
商店本身可以作为一个自然的微履行中心,如果具备适当的基础设施。
商场空间和自存储设施可以被转换为微履行中心,以满足配送需求。
微履行中心可以加速现金流,通过更接近需求的库存实现更快的补货和销售。
微履行中心的实施需要强大的订单管理系统和实时库存可见性。
OneRail提供的履行解决方案帮助各种类型的发货人更可预测、更经济、更快速地移动最后一英里的库存。
OneRail通过软件和大约九百万司机的聚合能力,自动化整个订单流程,从发货到消费者收货证明。
OneRail的实时决策引擎可以自动选择最佳的配送员,并管理整个配送过程。
OneRail最近启动了55个微履行节点,利用自存储空间,使配送员能够无缝地提取库存并将其带给消费者。
OneRail自2018年1月开始运营,最初是作为数字配送员,后来转变为平台。
OneRail的团队从2020年2月的9名成员增长到100名,并且预计到明年将有近200名团队成员。
由于全渠道零售和客户需求的变化,OneRail提供的服务需求有所增加。
微履行中心的实施带来了操作转型的挑战,需要对订单管理、库存可见性和需求预测进行精确控制。
Transcripts
[Music]
is micro fulfillment the solution to
last mile delivery obstacles
my guest is bill catanya he is ceo of
onerail hi bill
hello robert how are you today i am good
thank you very much for being with me
i'd appreciate it if you could just
outline for me what are the big issues
right now that are affecting the
efficiency and quality of last mile
delivery
well if you think back you know even
five years before we had this supply
chain pinch and before behaviors were
accelerated you know three to five years
because of covid um
distribution centers you know we're a
primary source of origin for products
and if you think about you know
distribution centers where they are
geographically a lot of times they're
located 30 to 50 miles outside of
outside of a general market area so that
places the inventory too far from the
consumer so if we look at this
acceleration and we look at what's
required now to deliver something same
day
2 hour 30 minutes or better you know in
some cases there's a requirement to get
that inventory even closer to the
consumer and you know there was sort of
a period and still is a period you know
based on the order management system of
the shipper if it's a retailer for
example they can fulfill from store but
they have to have the right
infrastructure to do that so what we see
is a need to introduce another type of
distribution center we're calling it a
micro fulfillment center and what we're
doing you know what i'm seeing is
nodes think of it as like a dc but a
much smaller footprint
you know in the in the case of like los
angeles there might be 10 of these or 15
of these micro nodes
that are close to the demand okay
where shippers need them where are they
exactly sometimes we hear that micro
micro fulfillment centers are actually
in retail stores they take up a part
portion of the retail space sometimes we
hear they're in so-called dark stores
sometimes they're standalone
distribution centers where are micro
fulfillment centers well i think you you
really classified the store the right
way we've always talked about the store
being a warehouse
um and so the store is is a natural
micro fulfillment center again if you
have a if you have the right
infrastructure for that an order
management system that can contemplate
real-time inventory uh
accurately you know along with some
forecasting technology demand sensing
technology you can use the store uh the
thing you don't want to do though the
risk to the store can be out of stock so
again can't overempty i can't emphasize
enough how important that infrastructure
is what we've also seen are malls you
know brookfield's been been i think an
innovator in that space um taking mall
space and leveraging the mall
uh taking maybe an anchor tenant out you
know that that may be having some
difficulty and converting some of that
space and that's happening in latin
america as well using it as a as a
fulfillment center and then uh you
mentioned dark stores you know that's
certainly an option but i'll tell you
what we're also seeing is self storage
you know self storage has gone through a
boom
the last five or six years you know
every neighborhood you know has a public
storage or an extra space uh and what's
happening is self storage now has that
infrastructure to serve as a micro
fulfillment center really
interesting
in the case of where it happens in the
stores i mean in the early days of the
omni channel there was thinking that
well you could just fulfill from store
shelves when you're fulfilling it from a
store now we're hearing sometimes the
micro fulfillment center is maybe in the
store walls but it's separate from the
shelves because then you don't have like
store associates and and shoppers
getting in each other's way you have a
complete different operation behind a
wall so to speak is that the case or is
going to be either
it can be both yeah it could be either
um you know we have a lot of customers
at one rail that are leveraging shelf
inventory you know and they're actually
there's a pick and pack just right off
the shelf and fulfill from there again
you can't do that without the right
order management system and the right
in-store operation system and you know
there's also the notion of when the
order comes from the customer do you
trigger the delivery then or do you wait
you know until the until it's ready you
know it's cute as ready in the in the
order management system because then you
can have a problem where a courier is
showing up but the item's not ready and
that's not good either you know that
really upsets these couriers so the
timing the sequencing there's a complete
operational transformation that has to
happen
um if you're going to use the store and
and and also if you're if you're going
to leverage a third party facility
now i want to talk about the benefits of
micro fulfillment you alluded to one
right at the top of this discussion that
is that they are you know shorter
distance from there to the customer but
in what other ways like for instance how
can a micro fulfillment center
accelerate cash flow
yeah so so there's two things cash flows
a lot of stocks
you know what we're seeing is
by taking and having forward
inventory
inventory that's in what they call an
fsl or forward stocking location which
would be like a self storage facility or
a dark store
or even as you as you mentioned a node
within a within a building that's not
part of the store but it's kind of a
back office store by having that you now
have inventory that's closer to
replenishment it's close it's a closer
um uh
distance to to where the demand is and
if there is an out of stock that product
can be pulled forward and what's
happening is we see customers in the
space you know that have a uh you know
six week time period to go from dc
to the to to in the store
and so that's six weeks of cash flow
that's six weeks of time
that that's that that peg if it's an
electronics product that's on a peg that
it's not there
and
there there are some financial
implications to that that's all time
that that inventory is sitting in a
warehouse not being consumed
and so
by moving inventory by creating more
velocity
and by creating predictability and by by
by creating kind of a real-time
replenishment scenario
cash flow accelerates because the
invoicing uh can happen quicker and most
importantly you know we all know
whether you're a manufacturer or a
retailer there's a cost to other stocks
you know especially a category leader if
i go to walmart to buy something
and that's a it's a destination category
and i'll tell you a good example the
dollar channel cleaning products are a
destination category for the dollar
channel people go into dollar stores to
buy candy and cleaning products so if i
go there to buy my windex and it's not
there
i may not ever go back to that store you
know the ancillary sales you know from
that visit will be lost
and i may not go to that chain again and
and that's the that's the impact
but okay
i get that but if you are distributing
inventory over a greater number of
smaller locations
are you not presenting yourself with the
challenge of balancing that inventory
among all those different locations
knowing what is what at what location
making sure it's all in the right
location being able to shift one
location to the other when it's needed
it's you're creating a big challenge
there are you not it's a lot more
complexity robert you know yeah the the
the days of having 10 dc's and just push
it all through 10 dc's are are gone you
know the the
i always like to think about it as
upstream and downstream so when i think
of downstream i'm thinking about
whomever is interfacing directly with
the buyer so in a b2b environment if i
go into a tire shop you know that's
downstream if i walk into a target store
that's downstream
as the consumer becomes more demanding
downstream which they are they want
things faster and there's more people
that want things faster than ever
because of the acceleration that's
happened in the last 18 months and they
want it predictably and they want to
know where it is and when it's going to
be to them they don't want it to be a
mystery they want visibility to that
they want communications and they want
what they want when they want it and
what's happened is
as that all accelerates upstream
distribution centers
have to have the pressure the supply
chain has pressure and that pressure
reaches a boiling point where you can't
possibly fulfill things the way you used
to right so the answer to your question
is absolutely it's more complex
and the companies that are winning and i
have to point out companies like target
you know target has made some
investments in their supply chain but a
lot of other retailers haven't they've
made acquisitions they've made
investments they've brought in people
and they've built the supply chain
organization to be able to fulfill and
they're rewarded for that every time
earnings come out so when you look at
that
that dynamic you have to have the
software you have to have real-time
inventory visibility and if you have
real-time inventory visibility you have
some sense of demand
sensing so that you understand
forecasting you understand what's going
to happen at the store level you
understand your skew velocity and what
you're going to sell but you also have
some fidelity around what you're going
to sell online then you can do it and
it's actually easier because you can
automate you can automate it okay
well bill i want to thank you so much
for helping us to understand just what
is micro fulfillment
why it's important now and what are the
benefits thanks for that conversation i
appreciate it thank you i want to turn
now though to a brief discussion of one
rail itself
bill what is one rail
so one rail is a fulfillment solution
that helps all types of shippers whether
it's an e-tailer a bricks and mortar
retailer a wholesale product distributor
even a healthcare organization like a
healthcare network
move
their final mile inventory more
predictably
more affordably and faster
and so we do that we do that with a
combination of software we have an
operating system that our shippers use
that that automates the complete order
flow all the way through to proof of
delivery to the consumer all the
communications
that platform is connected to a capacity
of around nine million drivers we've
aggregated doordash lift postmates uber
go puff is now part of the network
shipped and so we can take
and decide we have a real time decision
engine that decides which courier is the
best courier we just we
automatically send the job or dispatch
it to the right courier and then we
manage that with our logistics
management team all the way through to
hopefully a smiling face
we manage exceptions on behalf of our
shippers and then finally we've just
spun up 55 micro fulfillment nodes we
just talked about that a little bit we
we're leveraging self storage today uh
in such a way that our couriers can
seamlessly go
uh to and from self storage to pull
forward stock and bring it to consumers
or to stores how long you've been in
business
we've been doing this for almost four
years we we started up uh january of
2018
and uh we started out as a digital
courier and then about almost two years
ago now we pivoted pretty pretty big
from being a courier to being a platform
and needless to say i'm assuming you've
seen quite an uptick in demand for the
type of service you offer based on
what's happening in the omni channel and
based on the issues that
that uh customers are having now and
getting their stuff
you know at the right time our team we
have nine team members
in february of 20 today we have 100 and
we have 30 jobs open and you know we
expect to have a team of almost 200 by
next year at this time and that's all
demand
very proud of that and and uh it's been
it's been difficult to grow that fast
during cove you know everybody's
shifting around and but it also has
created some opportunities as people are
looking for new careers and they don't
have to be in the same place so it's an
interesting time to say the least bill
catania of one rail i want to thank you
once again for this discussion about
micro fulfillment and its benefits as
well as something about one rail itself
thank you very much for being with me
today
thank you robert i really appreciate it
you
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