The Warehouse Underground Podcast

Andy Paulson, founder of Warehouse Performance Group, has been part of LMS rollouts at hundreds of distribution centers. By his count, only about 1 in 10 hit a home run. He and Ben hash it out.... what separates those sites from everyone else, and it isn’t the software. In this episode: Why an LMS is a tool, not a program, and why most rollouts stall. The foundation to fix first: supervisor roles,...

Cathleen Turner is the founder and CEO at Margin. She helps 3PLs accelerate cash flow and recover revenue by codifying billing with complexity and AI.  🔦 Whenever I get the chance, I love highlighting start-ups on the podcast. And Margin is a really sharp one for sure!  👉 Billing cycles issues and cash flow sagas are common thorns in the side of 3PLs but don't have to just be part of d...

"If you gave a user a gold bar, they'd complain about how heavy it was." 😂 That's Wes Coleman, Industry Principal for Warehousing at Zebra Technologies, on change management. And he's earned the right to say it: 36 years in the industry, from UPS to FedEx Ground to running operational excellence, and now 30+ weeks a year inside customers' warehouses. Always happy to chat with folks like him that...

I sat down with Brian Fielkow, former CEO of Jetco Delivery, now EVP of Risk Resources at Acrisure, and author of the new book "Making Safety Happen". A WEALTH of knowledge in many areas but certainly safety. We got into: → Why safety should never be a "priority". Priorities compete and shift, but core values are non-negotiable. → How the C-suite sets the tone for safety culture (and why they can'...

Technology and leadership are often treated as two separate things.  That's shifting some though. TrailPath Workplace Solutions isn’t simply putting another technology tool in the hands of ops leaders. It’s making improvement part of the work not just something that happens in a workshop and fades when everyone returns to the floor. Floor leads gotta know: Who needs my attention? Where should...

  Pete Allen is Managing Partner at Birch Advisors. And he knows his way around the world of warehousing and distribution quite well!  MANY companies seek him out for consultations, and particularly on strategies for integrating and growing robotics and automation. ✅ What are the unique challenges both at the tactical level (warehousing problems) but also strategic level (gaining t...

Robotics are everywhere in the distribution industry (and more every year).  You see them in shows and magazines.  BUT what do you really need to know about if they are right for your operation or not? Mike Bearman, the Chief Legal & Safety Officer at Vecna Robotics, is the perfect guest to chat with about this.   Find out:  *Why many warehouse automation projects fail...

🦺I was honored to take The Warehouse Underground on the road when I was invited to the opening of Toyota Material Handling North America's new manufacturing facility in Columbus, Indiana! 🙌To say that it is impressive is a major understatement. It's big (295,000 square feet), meticulously laid out, and has a highly engaged & proud employee work force to match. 💡A $100M investment with 140 n...

Shortfalls in operations are often very similar no matter where you go.  But NOBODY wants to just be crap, right!   So where does the gap live and how do you bridge it? Chris Hamley and The Brecham Group know how to do just that.  Through the years they've helped turn around hundreds and hundreds of distribution operations.  And they gave away some of their "secrets" on th...

In massive FCs and DCs, everything moves at lightning speed. Yet, too many operations still just default to a "run until failure" mindset with some of their equipment.  Operations is always under some level of performance pressure! But..... The Reality: Catching an emerging failure early is significantly cheaper and less painful than dealing with a catastrophic breakdown mid-shift. The Soluti...

John Reinke, o wner / operator of executive search firm FPC Riverwood identifying top talent in Warehousing and Transportation for industry-leading companies. 🦺 John has a background in operations and understands well the realities of the distribution industry.   💥 But now, he's ready to reveal some industry secrets on how to best put yourself in a position to find and sign with some of the...

Warehouse racking is a foundation of almost all warehouse operations,  but how do you take a lifetime of industry experience and turn it into a thriving startup? On the latest episode of the podcast, I sat down with Bryan Greenwood and Justin Sanders, the co-founders of Rhino Racking . After years on the ground, they "caught the bug", launched their own company, and are now shaking up the ind...

Are your employee's backs taking a beating from all the lifting they're doing in the distribution center? Do you have the "Must be able to lift up to 50 pounds" BLUES? Verve Motion is doing something about this and in a big way! Their SafeLift exosuit is changing the game for warehouse employees everywhere. Had a chance to chat with their CEO, Ignacio Galiana on the podcast and I love what they're...

Billy Malady has been a leader in distribution operations for over 15 years and at all levels; from the boardroom to the warehouse break room.  Always cool to chat with folks who have that full end to end perspective.  He's "fixed" a lot of operations but not in the ways you may think.  Check out his new book today   "Nobody Told Me It Would Be Like This: 100 Stories from the F...

Janielle Myers has done (and is doing) a lot in the supply chain space. A great example and mentor for the new generation of leaders! - Should supply chain leaders embrace "wearing many hats" or should they silo and specialize? - What about Burn Out?  Real or not?  How to mitigate. - Starting with motorcycles but now at a Space Company, Loft Orbital, and why something about space makes i...

Work in distribution? Then you know Raymond products. But I had the chance for a second time to learn so much more about them chatting with Derrick Miller, Senior Sales Manager.  Amazing episode to learn not just about the value they bring, but how they think like, connect with, and understand the operational realities of distribution! -What is the feedback Raymond receives from ops leaders e...

Hilla Herzog Manor is the VP Strategy @ Zimark | Smart Pallet Tracking for Warehouses & 3PLs. And they have built and are building some amazingly valuable warehouse tools for operators. Cameras on forklifts tracking movement into bins and in the facility? Yes please. Shipping control cameras at the dock compiling proof of loads. Yup. Vision to one day rid all operations of manual scanning? YES...

Sarit Tamir is Founder & CEO at Seeteria, which I must say, is a very cool start up with a great solution for a problem in large distribution centers: it's hard to see everything at once! But if your site has cameras already inside and Wi-Fi, they have all they need to start working the magic! They're eliminating the invisible middle in warehouse operations by providing real time visibility ri...

Leroy Pinckney Jr. has seen it all. Raised in Harlem. Deployed to Iraq in the Army. A distribution career in multiple organizations (including Amazon.) He was recently laid off and is now navigating the world of networking, job applications, interviews and ultimately continually putting himself out there to find the new right spot for him. And it can be tough out there. BUT he's all over it (see h...

I must say, there are some exciting, buzz worthy, and extremely positive stuff going on at Knight-Swift Supply Chain! They allowed me a chance to record this amazing podcast episode to chat with and highlight SEVEN of their stellar ops employees. These folks are a mix of salaried and hourly. They chatted with me during a break in operations and they were GREAT! It really comes through the positivi...

Anupam Bandyopadhyay, Supply Chain Design Leader, has been leading high level projects in supply chain for almost 20 years including robotics integrations, WMS implementations, AI initiatives and more. He's currently the Senior Manager / Design Lead for Manhattan Associates and is VP/Mentor with the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP Atlanta Round Table) and a new Advisory Boa...

Do you see a problem here? Overfilled warehouses from excess and dead stock? Common problem! But Amrita Bhasin the CEO at Sotira has created a big time way out of this. Reverse logistics rarely gets as much hype as mainline distribution operations do. But that doesn't mean it isn't an area begging for solutions. And at Sotira, they are helping companies discreetly monetize and donate surplus inven...

Dario De Stasio checking in to the podcast all the way from Italy! He is an emerging logistics ecosystem architect in his own words, and it was such a treat to chat with him about logistics in general but much more. - The gray areas organizations often have when it comes to decision making. - Mental automation before technological automation importance. - Cultural differences between European oper...

Different vibe here from a regular TWU podcast, but raw real event with real people from the FC industry and the panel offering as much insight, perspective, wisdom as we could! Also, these are OUR opinions and thoughts about A way to excel in the industry.  We are not saying these opinions are THE way.  Take them as you will. A little bit of everything in this one and worth a listen! Ca...

Keith Ingels is the Director of Lean Business Development at Toyota Material Handling North America. Find out how the famous Toyota Production System, that he has extensive training in, is intertwined with Toyota Material Handling equipment of all types. Don't miss our no holds barred discussion about all things Lean/Continuous Improvement in the industry... 👍 Things we like. 👎 Things we don't l...