Parcel Forum 2019 Reflections & Overview
Takeaways and Talking Points
Parcel Forum 2019 has come and gone, and with it a truckload of great conversations and learning opportunities. My guess is that all of us are equally grateful to the organizers for hosting such a productive conference, and attracting so many enlightening presenters.
As we were heading home, we agreed that there were two big takeaways from the event. The decision was made that it could be helpful if we provided a short follow-up for attendees and friends, alike.
The Conference
The show opened with a bang on November 28 with a mix of workshops from Lean Fundamentals in Supply Chain, Packaging Strategies in the eCommerce World, to plant tours at Game Stop and Neiman Marcus facilities.
SilMan exhibited at the conference – energy and ideas were flowing through the hall during those hours. With this, and the great social events, Parcel Forum is showing itself to be a powerful place for challenges and solutions to meet. It is a great place to find top-flight group of professionals who are worth getting to know better.
David Rebata, VP / Sales
“Automation, by nature, implies integration.
The positive impact on your bottom line comes from how the solution works together with your entire system, business model and company culture.”
Challenges and Solutions
SilMan’s consistent message at Parcel Forum, or any time we are in conversation, is that there is no single technological silver bullet. Always be wary of an easy fix.
With that said, there are two topics that are clearly on many people’s mind, and we heard about it loud clear at the conference: “dimming” and “print and apply.”
Dimension Solutions
Though many attendees were looking for effective transportation strategies, there was a steady stream of companies focused on dimension solutions, or “dimming.” This group was is concerned with mitigating challenges related to package size (dimensions) and automated systems that would assist with executing this process.
Print and Apply
Other major technologies getting attention from the crowd were automatic “Print and Apply” applications. Savings versus manual systems can provide instant paybacks from labor savings – that is, if you can even find labor to hire!
To that point, the depth and breadth of automated solutions were a welcome sight for many attendees suffering from the tight labor market.
Camron Franklin, Systems Sales Engineer
“An effective automated process that can help our clients accomplish these tasks could literally save them thousands of dollars per day”
SilMan in Action
Here is a recent case study for western U.S. parcel carrier OnTrac. James Brownlow, Director of Operations Development, said, “We have been extremely pleased with both the creative design and the functionality…We consider this facility a showcase and are proud to bring our customers in and show off our system.”
Parcel Forum: It’s a Wrap
Parcel Forum is seeing increased attendance year over year. The reason is clear: the growing need for shippers to gain operational efficiencies in order to remain competitive.
As Amazon increases its investments in automation, all of us feel the pressure to follow suit. In the end, parcel shippers need to reduce shipping costs to remain competitive.
In this light, the Parcel Forum conference is a valuable resource for businesses to better understand their challenges and to find new, 21st century paths forward.
The truth is, we have no other option in today’s supersonic, ever-changing world of industry.
About SilMan
SilMan Industries (previously SilMan Construction) is based in San Leandro, Calif. Founded in 2008, SilMan, the firm operates nationwide in three divisions – Construction, Material and Site Services – and serves “best in class” companies in the Industrial, Manufacturing, Distribution and Public Works sectors. For more information, please visit www.silmanindustries.com.
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