DC Velocity - July 2018

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22 DC VELOCITY JULY 2018 www.dcvelocity.com The forecast that fulfillment and distribution centers will proliferate in urban areas is the most “overblown prediction” in the U.S. logistics industry today, according to a top executive at freight broker and third-party logistics service provider (3PL) C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc.

Speaking at an industry conference last month in Atlanta, Chris O’Brien, chief commercial officer of Eden Prairie, Minn.-based Robinson, said DCs in densely populated cities offer little bang for the logistics buck. Urban land is costly; tight available space constrains efficiency and flexibility; and there is much competition from retail, residential, commercial, and other industrial offerings, O’Brien said.

By contrast, DCs and fulfillment facilities in suburban areas offer more space at lower cost and don’t face the same degree of competition from other types of development, O’Brien said. Yet they are still close enough to urban pockets to allow providers to hit their delivery commitments.

“There’s only so close you need to be to serve a market within a two-hour delivery window,” O’Brien said at the conference, which was managed by Eye for Transport, a U.K.-based consulting concern. Only a small quantity of deliveries will demand such tight delivery windows as to justify a full-blown urban fulfillment and delivery node, he said.

O’Brien’s comments are in stark contrast to the conventional wisdom that modern-day consumers’ heightened delivery expectations will require producers, retailers, and their logistics service providers to plant their fulfillment and distribution flags in congested, space-constrained cities to be near their delivery base. Interest in the concept has been so strong that the group that puts on the “Home Delivery World” trade show each April has created a conference called “CityFreight,” scheduled for late September in New York.

C.H. Robinson executive tosses cold
water on “urban fulfillment” concept

Supply chain software developer Llamasoft has been named a national winner in the “Best and Brightest Companies to Work For” competition, which recognizes businesses for excellence in human resource practices and employee enrichment. … Wisconsin Lift Truck has received the Material Handling Equipment Distributors Association’s MVP (Most Valuable Partner) award for the eighth consecutive year. … MercuryGate International Inc. and Transplace were both recognized as “Challengers” in Gartner Inc.’s latest “Magic Quadrant for Transportation Management Systems” market analysis report. 3Gtms Inc. was included in the “Niche Players” quadrant, and Kuebix was included in the evaluations for the first time. … The Raymond Corp. was represented by two associates at the recent Toyota Material Handling Group (TMHG) Skills Competition in Takahama, Japan. Megan Romain, an inspector at Raymond, and Kyle Baldwin, a welder at Raymond, both won silver medals, placing second in their respective events. … Pallet pooling specialist CHEP received the Environmental Initiative of the Year award at the Industrial Pack 2018 trade show. CHEP was honored for its new car-bon-neutral half pallet, a circular supply chain solution that helps customers reach both sustainability and business goals. accolades

Vargo, a provider of systems integration services, warehouse execution software, and equipment for fulfillment and distribution centers, has added Joe Sanda to its software support, quality assurance, and implementation team. … Swift Industrial Power has hired

George De La Hoz as service manager for the company’s Fort Lauderdale, Fla., location. … Shannon Vaillancourt, president and founder of supply chain data services and consulting company RateLinx, has joined the Forbes Technology Council, an invitation-only community for CIOs, CTOs, and technology executives. … The Transportation Marketing & Sales Association (TMSA) has announced its

2018–2019 officers. They include Scott Grady, president of
Rush Trucking, who will serve as TMSA chairman; Candi
Cybator, director of marketing for Pitt Ohio, president;
Beth Malik, director of marketing and communications for
SMC3, treasurer; and Don Friddell, director of marketing of
Kenco Logistics, secretary. … Third-party logistics company
FreightCenter has named Jamie Smith to the
newly created position of director of logistics,
and hired Nicholas Zabikow as vice president
of sales. … Jaxport, a containerport com-
plex in Jacksonville, Fla., has selected Kristen
DeMarco as the port’s new chief commercial
officer. … Ports America, a New Jersey-based marine
terminal operator and stevedore, has appointed Richard
Surett chief financial officer.