C Suite Interview with Joe Colletti, President and CEO of DMW&H

Joe Colletti
President and CEO
DMW&H

It took about a week for leaders to realize supply chains are changing as we speak, and will require more sophisticated yet specific solutions to keep pace with the rate of change.

What is your number one takeaway from Modex 2020?

As I walked around the show, it was clear that the renewed focus was on the resiliency and redundancy of existing supply chains. Customers and suppliers were sharing the same concerns in light of the current COVID-19 pandemic; addressing weaknesses never contemplated when their supply chains were first designed and implemented. We collectively have gotten comfortable with our traditional supply chains that have, up to recent, stood the test of time. Global events, such as the coronavirus, have certainly changed our mindsets on how our businesses will operate in the future.

What are the three key market trends from your perspective?

The top three are labor availability, e-commerce growth and micro-fulfillment.

Distribution Centers are being impacted by labor shortages across the country and around the world. Labor is not available in many areas or, when labor is available, they are unwilling to do the repetitive work that is required within the Distribution Center. Increasing e-commerce volumes are only adding to the problem. These labor shortages, together with the growing demands of e-commerce, are driving the need for increased automation throughout our industries.

E-Commerce is growing more sophisticated every day, pushing us to find better ways to fulfill orders and getting them to our customer quickly. With the model constantly developing, we need to provide more consistent handling at even greater speeds.

Piggybacking on the growth of e-commerce, micro-fulfillment is all about getting products closer to the customer for faster, more convenient delivery. There are many concepts out there, but the challenge remains having the right product in the right place at the right time. This, together with having product visibility across the entire supply chain, remains the barriers to success in micro-fulfillment.

How is DMW&H reacting to those market trends?

The needs of our industry are constantly changing and at incredibly faster rates than before. Global impacts to our supply chains are no longer contingency plans, rather today’s reality. The impacts to our industry will be far reaching, and our supply chains will change drastically as a result.

DMW&H is reacting to these market trends by streamlining internal operations to be more agile and flexible, and working more proactively with our customers to develop more resilient and sustainable supply chains. We are also investing in new solutions that provides faster, more flexible automation solutions that will not only solve today’s challenges but will also be adaptable to tomorrow’s inevitable changes.