Pacific ocean regional marine carrier Matson Logistics Inc. has closed all four of its physical data centers and moved that information to a cloud-based platform, IT provider Amazon Web Services Inc. (AWS) said Monday.
Honolulu-based Matson serves Hawaii, Alaska, Guam, China, and areas of the South Pacific with its fleet of 22 owned vessels, including containerships, combination container and roll-on/roll-off ships, and custom-designed barges. The company requires advanced IT capabilities to enable precise tracking of those assets and customer shipments as they move around the world.
Matson moved its applications from on-premises data centers to the AWS Cloud in order to achieve faster performance, increased reliability and security, and IT infrastructure cost savings, Amazon said. Those applications ensure that the company's vessels, shipping terminals, container equipment, and truck shipments are coordinated. Web platforms also support Matson's custom-built, order-to-cash booking and billing systems, terminal operations, global equipment management, U.S.-wide logistics applications, and customer-facing website.
"Several years ago we set out on a journey to modernize our entire portfolio of enterprise applications and to upgrade and optimize every corner of our IT infrastructure," Matson CIO Peter Weis said in a release. "Once we completed our application modernization, we were ready to culminate this transformation by migrating onto a single cloud platform, which we view as the optimal strategy to sustain world-class customer service and operational reliability."
"We chose the AWS Cloud because it provides unmatched security, performance, and cost benefits," Weis said. "Having moved one hundred percent of our enterprise applications from on-premises data centers to the AWS Cloud, we are now free to focus on further innovation."
IT projects can be daunting, especially when the project involves upgrading a warehouse management system (WMS) to support an expansive network of warehousing and logistics facilities. Global third-party logistics service provider (3PL) CJ Logistics experienced this first-hand recently, embarking on a WMS selection process that would both upgrade performance and enhance security for its U.S. business network.
The company was operating on three different platforms across more than 35 warehouse facilities and wanted to pare that down to help standardize operations, optimize costs, and make it easier to scale the business, according to CIO Sean Moore.
Moore and his team started the WMS selection process in late 2023, working with supply chain consulting firm Alpine Supply Chain Solutions to identify challenges, needs, and goals, and then to select and implement the new WMS. Roughly a year later, the 3PL was up and running on a system from Körber Supply Chain—and planning for growth.
SECURING A NEW SOLUTION
Leaders from both companies explain that a robust WMS is crucial for a 3PL's success, as it acts as a centralized platform that allows seamless coordination of activities such as inventory management, order fulfillment, and transportation planning. The right solution allows the company to optimize warehouse operations by automating tasks, managing inventory levels, and ensuring efficient space utilization while helping to boost order processing volumes, reduce errors, and cut operational costs.
CJ Logistics had another key criterion: ensuring data security for its wide and varied array of clients, many of whom rely on the 3PL to fill e-commerce orders for consumers. Those clients wanted assurance that consumers' personally identifying information—including names, addresses, and phone numbers—was protected against cybersecurity breeches when flowing through the 3PL's system. For CJ Logistics, that meant finding a WMS provider whose software was certified to the appropriate security standards.
"That's becoming [an assurance] that our customers want to see," Moore explains, adding that many customers wanted to know that CJ Logistics' systems were SOC 2 compliant, meaning they had met a standard developed by the American Institute of CPAs for protecting sensitive customer data from unauthorized access, security incidents, and other vulnerabilities. "Everybody wants that level of security. So you want to make sure the system is secure … and not susceptible to ransomware.
"It was a critical requirement for us."
That security requirement was a key consideration during all phases of the WMS selection process, according to Michael Wohlwend, managing principal at Alpine Supply Chain Solutions.
"It was in the RFP [request for proposal], then in demo, [and] then once we got to the vendor of choice, we had a deep-dive discovery call to understand what [security] they have in place and their plan moving forward," he explains.
Ultimately, CJ Logistics implemented Körber's Warehouse Advantage, a cloud-based system designed for multiclient operations that supports all of the 3PL's needs, including its security requirements.
GOING LIVE
When it came time to implement the software, Moore and his team chose to start with a brand-new cold chain facility that the 3PL was building in Gainesville, Georgia. The 270,000-square-foot facility opened this past November and immediately went live running on the Körber WMS.
Moore and Wohlwend explain that both the nature of the cold chain business and the greenfield construction made the facility the perfect place to launch the new software: CJ Logistics would be adding customers at a staggered rate, expanding its cold storage presence in the Southeast and capitalizing on the location's proximity to major highways and railways. The facility is also adjacent to the future Northeast Georgia Inland Port, which will provide a direct link to the Port of Savannah.
"We signed a 15-year lease for the building," Moore says. "When you sign a long-term lease … you want your future-state software in place. That was one of the key [reasons] we started there.
"Also, this facility was going to bring on one customer after another at a metered rate. So [there was] some risk reduction as well."
Wohlwend adds: "The facility plus risk reduction plus the new business [element]—all made it a good starting point."
The early benefits of the WMS include ease of use and easy onboarding of clients, according to Moore, who says the plan is to convert additional CJ Logistics facilities to the new system in 2025.
"The software is very easy to use … our employees are saying they really like the user interface and that you can find information very easily," Moore says, touting the partnership with Alpine and Körber as key to making the project a success. "We are on deck to add at least four facilities at a minimum [this year]."
First, 54% of retailers are looking for ways to increase their financial recovery from returns. That’s because the cost to return a purchase averages 27% of the purchase price, which erases as much as 50% of the sales margin. But consumers have their own interests in mind: 76% of shoppers admit they’ve embellished or exaggerated the return reason to avoid a fee, a 39% increase from 2023 to 204.
Second, return experiences matter to consumers. A whopping 80% of shoppers stopped shopping at a retailer because of changes to the return policy—a 34% increase YoY.
Third, returns fraud and abuse is top-of-mind-for retailers, with wardrobing rising 38% in 2024. In fact, over two thirds (69%) of shoppers admit to wardrobing, which is the practice of buying an item for a specific reason or event and returning it after use. Shoppers also practice bracketing, or purchasing an item in a variety of colors or sizes and then returning all the unwanted options.
Fourth, returns come with a steep cost in terms of sustainability, with returns amounting to 8.4 billion pounds of landfill waste in 2023 alone.
“As returns have become an integral part of the shopper experience, retailers must balance meeting sky-high expectations with rising costs, environmental impact, and fraudulent behaviors,” Amena Ali, CEO of Optoro, said in the firm’s “2024 Returns Unwrapped” report. “By understanding shoppers’ behaviors and preferences around returns, retailers can create returns experiences that embrace their needs while driving deeper loyalty and protecting their bottom line.”
Facing an evolving supply chain landscape in 2025, companies are being forced to rethink their distribution strategies to cope with challenges like rising cost pressures, persistent labor shortages, and the complexities of managing SKU proliferation.
1. Optimize labor productivity and costs. Forward-thinking businesses are leveraging technology to get more done with fewer resources through approaches like slotting optimization, automation and robotics, and inventory visibility.
2. Maximize capacity with smart solutions. With e-commerce volumes rising, facilities need to handle more SKUs and orders without expanding their physical footprint. That can be achieved through high-density storage and dynamic throughput.
3. Streamline returns management. Returns are a growing challenge, thanks to the continued growth of e-commerce and the consumer practice of bracketing. Businesses can handle that with smarter reverse logistics processes like automated returns processing and reverse logistics visibility.
4. Accelerate order fulfillment with robotics. Robotic solutions are transforming the way orders are fulfilled, helping businesses meet customer expectations faster and more accurately than ever before by using autonomous mobile robots (AMRs and robotic picking.
5. Enhance end-of-line packaging. The final step in the supply chain is often the most visible to customers. So optimizing packaging processes can reduce costs, improve efficiency, and support sustainability goals through automated packaging systems and sustainability initiatives.
Keith Moore is CEO of AutoScheduler.AI, a warehouse resource planning and optimization platform that integrates with a customer's warehouse management system to orchestrate and optimize all activities at the site. Prior to venturing into the supply chain business, Moore was a director of product management at software startup SparkCognition. He is a graduate of the University of Tennessee, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering.
Q: Autoscheduler provides tools for warehouse orchestration—a term some readers may not be familiar with. Could you explain what warehouse orchestration means?
A: Warehouse orchestration tools are software control layers that synthesize data from existing systems to eliminate costly delays, streamline inefficient workflows, and [prevent the waste of] resources in distribution operations. These platforms empower warehouses to optimize operations, enhance productivity, and improve order accuracy by dynamically prioritizing work continuously to ensure that the operation is always running optimally. This leads to faster trailer turn times, reduced costs, and a network that runs like clockwork, even during fluctuating demands.
Q: How is orchestration different from a typical warehouse management system?
A: A warehouse management system (WMS) focuses on tracking inventory and managing warehouse operations. Warehouse orchestration goes a step further by integrating and optimizing all aspects of warehouse activities in a capacity-constrained way. Orchestration provides a dynamic, real-time layer that coordinates various systems and processes, enabling more agile and responsive operations. It enhances decision-making by considering multiple variables and constraints.
Q: How does warehouse orchestration help facilities make their workers more productive?
A: Two ways to make labor in a warehouse more productive are to work harder and to work smarter. For teams that want to work harder, most companies use a labor management system to track individual performances against an expected standard. Warehouse orchestration technology focuses on the other side of the coin, helping warehouses "work smarter."
Warehouse orchestration technology optimizes labor by providing real-time insights into workload demands and resource availability based on actual fluctuating constraints around the building. It enables dynamic task assignments based on current priorities and worker skills, ensuring that labor is allocated where it's needed most, even accounting for equipment availability, flow constraints, and overall work speed. This approach reduces idle time, balances workloads, and enhances employee productivity.
Q: How can visibility improve operations?
A: Due to the software ecosystem in place today, most distribution operations are highly reactive environments where there is always a "hair on fire" problem that needs to be solved. By leveraging orchestration technologies, this problem is mitigated because you're providing the site with added visibility into the past, present, and future state of the operation. This opens up a vast number of doors for distribution leadership. They go from learning about a problem after it's happened to gaining the ability to inform customers and transportation teams about potential service issues that are 24 hours away.
That clash has come as retailers have been hustling to adjust to pandemic swings like a renewed focus on e-commerce, then swiftly reimagining store experiences as foot traffic returned. But even as the dust settles from those changes, retailers are now facing renewed questions about how best to define their omnichannel strategy in a world where customers have increasing power and information.
The answer may come from a five-part strategy using integrated components to fortify omnichannel retail, EY said. The approach can unlock value and customer trust through great experiences, but only when implemented cohesively, not individually, EY warns.
The steps include:
1. Functional integration: Is your operating model and data infrastructure siloed between e-commerce and physical stores, or have you developed a cohesive unit centered around delivering seamless customer experience?
2. Customer insights: With consumer centricity at the heart of operations, are you analyzing all touch points to build a holistic view of preferences, behaviors, and buying patterns?
3. Next-generation inventory: Given the right customer insights, how are you utilizing advanced analytics to ensure inventory is optimized to meet demand precisely where and when it’s needed?
4. Distribution partnerships: Having ensured your customers find what they want where they want it, how are your distribution strategies adapting to deliver these choices to them swiftly and efficiently?
5. Real estate strategy: How is your real estate strategy interconnected with insights, inventory and distribution to enhance experience and maximize your footprint?
When approached cohesively, these efforts all build toward one overarching differentiator for retailers: a better customer experience that reaches from brand engagement and order placement through delivery and return, the EY study said. Amid continued volatility and an economy driven by complex customer demands, the retailers best set up to win are those that are striving to gain real-time visibility into stock levels, offer flexible fulfillment options and modernize merchandising through personalized and dynamic customer experiences.