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- Jan. 25, 2016 -
Supply Chain News: Best New Solutions from NRF 2016 Day 1
Again this Year, We Break Out the Daily Videos into Individual Video Clips
by SCDigest Editorial Staff
Thousands of SCDigest subscribers have viewed our full video reviews of NRF 2015 Day 1 and Day 2, which featured a number of cool and interesting new solutions. SCDigest editor Dan Gilmore also wrote a Trip Report of the NRF show, largely focusing on the big picture of key trends and themes.
As we have done the last couple of years, this year we once again break out the cool new solutions we found and covered into individual videos, so readers can select to view just the brief solution summaries (generally 2-3 minutes) that are of interest to them. Here we present just those solutions covered from Day 1. Next week, we will have the solutions we found on Day 2.
SCDigest Says:
Teradata featured a new supply chain anaytics solution at the show. This "visual BI" system measures the "health" of forecasts from a variety of angles, and even more interestingly analyzes how well inventory was deployed given the forecast that was produced.
First, however, we start with SCDigest editor Dan Gilmore's summary of key themes and trends at this year's NRF show.
Key Themes and Trends at NRF 2016
One of the most interesting new solutions came from Profitect, which has one of the best examples we've seen of "prescriptive analytics." The system not only identifies anomolies in the supply chain or the store automatically, it sends alerts to the right manager with a recommended set of actions to take
Profitect's Prescriptive Analytics Software
A Swedish company called Pricer featured electronic shelf labels. Nothing new there, but these labels can track inventory locations for SKUs and start flashing when say an associate is doing replenishments or ecommerce order picking to easily identify where to go next in an aisle for each task.
Networked Electronic Shelf Labels from Pricer
We've followed the development of high speed "scan tunnels" for use in POS systems by grocers and mass merchants for the past few years. A new version of this from a company called ITAB uses an array of imagers and sensors identify almost any item, even with missing bar codes, enabling one store associate to manage more "lanes."
Continued POS Scan Tunnel Advances from ITAB
(Supply Chain Trends and Issues Article - Continued Below)
Zebra has carried through research started by Motorola Solutions - which it acquired in 2014 - on a radical new design for a wireless daat collection terminals. The result is the TC8000, which is more like a wand, with the display and scanner at the end of a stick rather than a traditional "brick" or gun design. Zebra says it will significantly improve ergonomics and productivity.
New TC8000 Wireless Terminal from Zebra Features Radical New Design
Datalogic offered its own innovation in wireless data collection terminals, with a pair of new devices that are small, colorful tablet-like units running a new age operating system. Very cool.
Datalogic's New Take on Wireless Data Collection Terminals
Intel's booth featured a new retail solution from a couple of its partners for a "smart shelf" that uses magnetic inks and a variety of sensors to keep real-time track of how many of each SKU is on a store shelf or display rack. Very interesting.
Intel's Booth Featured New Smart Shelf System for Inventory Tracking
Intel was also promoting its wide area Gatewhat RFID reader, capable of keeping real-time track of item-level tagged goods across roughly 400 square feet per gatway. Install and set up is also much simpler than previous generation in-store RFID reader system. The Intel system is being deployed at Levi's stores.
Intel's Wide Area RFID Gateway
Finally, Teradata - known for its large database systems - featured a new supply chain anaytics solution at the show. This "visual BI" tool measures the "health" of forecasts from a variety of angles, and even more interestingly analyzes how well inventory was deployed given the forecast that was produced. Interesting.
New Supply Chain Analytics Solution from Teradata
Ok, that's it from Day 1. Again, we'll be back with what we found on Day 2 next week
Anything reaction to these solutions we found on Day 1? Let us know your thoughts at the Feedback section (email) or button below.
Teradata featured a new supply chain anaytics solution at the show. This "visual BI" system measures the "health" of forecasts from a variety of angles, and even more interestingly analyzes how well inventory was deployed given the forecast that was produced.
