The Warehouse Manager’s Handbook

According to a recent e-commerce study by comScore, during July 2011, online retail sites in France attracted nearly 39.4 million unique visitors, reaching 83 percent of the Internet audience in France. A total of 43.7 million hours were spent on retail sites, representing 3.8 percent of total time spent online in France. And on average, each visitor spent 1.1 hours on retail sites, consuming 131 pages during the single month.

Meanwhile, in the U.S., e-commerce is expected to sustain double-digit growth rates in 2011, according to comScore.

Intelleflex, a leading provider of on-demand data visibility solutions, is another company that is making it easier for warehouse operators and supply chain executives to better adapt to changing consumer demands, more stringent government regulations, and more globalized supply chains.

This year, the company has received quite a bit of recognition for their XC3 Technology multi-mode readers and tags, which feature an innovative battery assisted passive RFID technology.

“Our technology allows constant monitoring of conditions inside the carton,” explains Peter Mehring, CEO of Intelleflex. For the food and beverage industry, that means total visibility of the food supply chain from product origin to the final consumer. In addition, the technology helps to not only reduce waste and boost sales it also improves food safety for consumers.

The company’s technology paved the way for an interesting alliance with The Hartford Financial Services Group, announced in August, to explore insurance-related opportunities to reduce the amount of produce lost and improve the overall quality of produce as it travels from the grower to the retailer.

Considering that one-third of shipped produce is wasted each year due to supply chain inefficiencies, representing $35 billion annually, this is a significant development. Equally, if not more important, is the impact this could have on humanitarian efforts to reduce world hunger.

According to the UN’s World Food Programme, the largest international food aid organization in the world, “Logistics is at the heart of what we do…it is often a matter of life and death.” d