Focus on the Last 100 Feet: Deep Dive into SLAM with Steve Pickfield at Modex 2024

eCom Logistics Podcast

ABOUT THE GUEST

Steve Pickfield is a dynamic leader with a proven track record of building high-performance sales teams and driving business success. Currently the Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) at PSI Engineering in Toronto, Steve has led commercial strategy and operations since 2018, achieving significant growth. As Executive Vice-President of National Sales at T. Litzen/Skyline Sports since 2017, he fosters a collaborative atmosphere for a national sales team. During his 27-year tenure at Vickers-Warnick Ltd, he held roles from Outside Sales Representative to President, managing major acquisitions and business transformations. Known for his exceptional interpersonal skills, Steve excels in navigating businesses through rapid change, strategic planning, high-level negotiations, and financial management, building strong relationships with key stakeholders.

HIGHLIGHTS

[00:01:34] Steve's Background and Journey: Steve shares his journey in automation and his role at PSI Engineering.
[00:03:53] Understanding SLAM: Explaining the term SLAM (Scan, Label, Apply, and Manifest) and its importance in e-commerce.
[00:05:40] Evolution and Importance of SLAM: Discussion on the development of the SLAM industry group within MHI and its significance.
[00:08:06] ROI and Volume Considerations: When and why companies should consider automating their SLAM area.
[00:12:06] Solving Bottlenecks: How automation helps in addressing bottlenecks created by upstream processes.
[00:13:18] Image Capture Technology: The role of image capture in verifying shipments and reducing errors.
[00:19:51] Starting the Journey: Advice for companies looking to optimize their SLAM area.

QUOTES

[00:00:25] "A lot of people have invested into that automatic storage and retrieval, AMRs, and all that. The kind of fancy stuff, the auto stores, it is created that bottleneck."
[00:03:53] "It stands for Scan, Label, Apply, and Manifest. It doesn't encompass everything that happens in that last hundred feet, but it certainly does."
[00:12:06] "If you look at an e-commerce direct-to-consumer fulfillment facility, most likely 80% of your labor cost is going to be in that pick and pack, and 20% will be in the last hundred feet."
[00:13:18] "We worked with them and created some technology around that. So, that we would be taking a picture of that box with the cell phone in and it really solved that problem."
[00:19:51] "It does start with an assessment, and assessing, what areas, where is your true bottlenecks, where is most of your costs going, where are your error."

Find out more about Steve Pickfield in the links below.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenpickfield/

This episode is sponsored by G&P Construction. If you're in need of top notch, all-inclusive Material handling solutions for logistics and commercial real estate, look no further than G&P Construction. Be sure to visit www.gandpconstruction.com to discover your one-stop shop for turnkey MHE integrations.