b'10American Journal of Transportation ajot.com(IMPACTcontinued frommation and robotics and indi- delivery stations.page 8) vidual pickers and three times itwillcontinueanascen- the amount of labor inside. C ozYingu p to theC ustomerdency in a post-Covid world.The aim of all this is to E-commerce last year totaledgetclosertothecustomer. 11% of total retail, accordingThattranslatesintoboth to the US Census Bureau, anfaster service and less costly all-time high. It could easilyfreighthauling,amodel reach 15% of total this year.thatwillreflectwarehouse Forecasters believe that couldbuildingforyearstocome. easily grow to 30% of total inThenextwaveisgoingto the next several years, whilebefulfillmentcentersthat traditional retail will continuearesmaller,closertomajorPrologis is the largest owner of warehouses in the US.its decline. populationcenters,said Onlinegrocerydeliv- Thompson, referring to whatbecomecentraltowarehouseThatkindofadvanced ery is a prime example. Theissometimescalledurbanmanagement.Thepandemicdecision-makingwillcon-numberofhouseholdsthatlogisticsfacilitiesorlastmade some of these advancedtinue long after the pandemic, used online grocers doubledRich Thompson, internationalmile. Were early on in thisapplicationsindispensable,asasdemandsforspeedand in one month from 20 milliondirector, supply chain & logisticsdevelopment. manufacturing was disruptedefficiency accelerate. in February to 40 million insolutions at jll Thisthemehasseveralwhile consumer demands ofThe big change will be in March. Forty percent of thosevariations. Dan Khasis, CEOmany goods spiked. the software, believes Stone, werefirst-timeusers.SomeSo, the distribution centerandfounderofRoute4Me,Take Symphony RetailAI,whosecompanyofferspick-percentageofthoseonlinebecame the fulfillment center,alogisticstechnologypro- which provides various artifi- to-lighttechnology,which rookies will stick around. where one building could housevider,pointsouttwo:Oneiscial intelligence and machineguidespickerstotheright Thesystemsandfacili- millions of different items. the elimination of distributorslearning-basedtechnologies.product. You have to be really tiesnecessaryinonlineButevenAmazonisaltogether.MorebusinessesMcDonalddescribedonegood at understanding where grocerieswarehousingandrefashioning its approach, aswill see the need to start servic- offering, an order fulfillmentan order is and where you can distribution are not only com- fulfill it from and where you plex, but much different thancantakethesevariousitems traditionalsupermarketdis- The next wave is going to be fulfillment centers that are smaller,that are coming from different tribution. Combining the twocloser to major population centers. Rich Thompson, international director,sources, consolidate them and is harder still.supply chain & logistics solutions JJL pull them out.E-commercerequiresaTechnologyisusedto verydifferentdistributionitattemptstodelivergoodsing customers directly, withoutengine,whichmonitorsnotimproveefficiencieswithin modelthandoestraditionalmorerapidlythanever.Itsintermediaries,Khasispre- only availability of goods, butawarehouseorthrough-retailing,wherefacilitiesmoving from an emphasis ondicted. One variant of this isdecides what to do if there areoutawarehousesystem. were designed to service notgiant-sizedfulfillmentcen- direct drop-shipping from theshortages.IfImtryingtoRoute4Me, for example, now the individual consumer, butters,rangingfrom800,000manufacturer. send shipments to 500 storesoffersawarehousesimula-theretailstore.Itmaybetoonemillionsquarefeet,TheotheristouseretailandIonlyhaveenoughfortor tool that looks at histori-the same footprint, but its atoavarietyofbuildingsofstores as mini-distribution cen- 400, which one should I havecal usage and then simulates verydifferentlookingfacil- smallerandsmallersizes.ters themselves.thewarehousepickfirst?what would happen in terms ity, said Thompson. Its notThese include sortation cen- Overthepastseveralshe explained. Its called an(IMPACTcontinued on pallets in and out. Its auto- ters,receivingcentersandyears, advanced technology hasavailable to promise. page 12)'