Boxing Clever – Why warehousing has taken a lead strategic seat at the boardroom table

Remember, most of us grew up in a time when a 28-day delivery cycle was the norm for mail order. You ordered something and patiently waited up to 4 weeks for it to arrive in the mail. Delivery was not a core part of the product; it was just a function, sometimes a rather inefficient one.

Pre-pandemic (and very much proved during it), I often compared supply chain to an oxygen tank while scuba diving. Sure, you check it before going under, but once you’re diving, you kind of just expect it all to work as it should, perhaps even forgetting you are wearing it. But the moment something goes wrong, when your air flow is compromised, then all you think about is your oxygen tank. The Evergreen getting stuck in the Suez Canal brought that to life for us all.

This shift from function to strategic and value-added importance is what we have all recently witnessed. Flash forward to today and never has the when and how a product is delivered been so important. The warehousing solutions of today have pushed far past a ‘node’ along a value chain. Supply chain is no longer simply that ‘function’. Warehouses, forklifts, trucks, and pallets. Today, supply chain takes a strategic seat at the boardroom table. The high-viz vest are off.

From a consumer value perspective, availability, speed, and data-led have become key value drivers. Often the how and when the product is delivered have become the dominant drivers of value. This is the ‘I Want it Now’ generation, an entire global society who expect everything in one-click, one-swipe, who do not wait and expect to be kept updated at all times. We are no longer building systems for us; we are building for them.

Remember, what society, markets, and consumers ‘value’ has always shifted. During and post WWII it was availability, simply having access to the things we needed. The mass production era that followed meant that price/affordability became a key value. Everyone could own an automobile, a TV and refrigerator. Luxuries became commodities. The 80s saw quality take center stage, and the 90s were about globalization and convenience.

As Digital Transformation took hold over the past 20 years, consumers value instant and personalization. Building a warehousing solution capability that can deliver on these values is now critical. And thankfully we have the technology to enable it all.

We live in a world where something as simple as a pizza can be ordered instantly via one click on the Dominos app, your personal preferences pre-recorded, your payment and delivery details auto-added, with an autonomous vehicle delivering that keeps you informed on its journey and the ETA. And that’s just for a pizza. The consumer expectation game has changed fundamentally, and that has significant implication around warehousing and delivery.

AI, Robotics and Automation are not just about technology. Sure, standing back and watching an efficient streamlined warehouse automation solution is super cool, but ultimately you need to look past the tech and data driving the process and look toward the why. The value is being added when it delivers on the needs of the modern consumer.
We are all in a “Race for Relevance” with our customers. Take our eye off what they need, how and when, and it is a race we can easily lose. In today’s highly competitive disruptive economies, none of us can afford to come in last place.

As metaverse looms and we open up even more potential nodes of consumer connection, every business needs to appreciate the strategic value-add role warehousing and logistics play. We have pushed far beyond function, and for consumers, their expectations around instant and personalization are only going to increase.
It is in understanding these new consumer values that we will win this “Race for Relevance”.