According to The New York Times, manufacturing has not driven the

US economy since 1953. That was the year of manufacturings zenith

when it represented 28% of GDP and employed 16 million people.
However, over the half-century that followed, the US economy
transitioned toward services. Today, half of US GDP is service
oriented, and according to Fortune, 8.5% of US GDP is directly
related to a $1.3 trillion dollar logistics industry that continues to grow.
What this means is that a total value of $1.3 trillion dollars and 8.5%
of the total value of the United States economy revolves in some way
around inventory fulfillment.

THE GROWTH OF
SUPPLY CHAIN

At some point soon, we will be able to state that we have left a

manufacturing economy behind and have entered a new fulfillment
economy. The economic indicators certainly suggest that a fulfillment
economy has already begun.
For example, throughout 2015 numerous articles were published
regarding the dearth of workers in the logistics space. First, there
was the Christian Science Monitor reporting on the hiring of 194,000
workers between Toys R Us, Kohls Corp, and Macys. Then, Fortune

reported on the need for 1.4 million supply chain workers by 2018.
Both articles attest to the logistics industry playing a greater role in
the modern global economy.

THE CHALLENGE OF EXPONENTIAL

GROWTH AND PATCH-WORKED LEGACY
SYSTEMS
With the amount of money involved in the logistics industry, one
would think that supply chain professionals would have leveraged
infrastructure that supports flexible inventory management and
adequately meets the challenge of digital fulfillment.
However, every year, the logistics industry leaves money on the
table. Hundreds of thousands of employment positions and orders
are left unfulfilled. Truck driver shortages seem insurmountable. As
we witnessed at the end of 2015, high seasons are unsustainable.
Demand regularly exceeds supply. And worst of all shelves are left
empty for no discernable reason to customers.

THE REASON?
Put simply, yesterdays inventory infrastructure has outlived its
use. Businesses using traditional supply chains lack the flexibility
to keep up with consumers who are able to instantaneously place
orders across a variety of channels, and who expect to receive their
purchases from a variety of places.
More and more often, businesses attempt to meet the challenge
of digital fulfillment by throwing bodies at it or by customizing
their legacy systems even more. These business choices prove
themselves inefficient and expensive. Companies running legacy
Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) will struggle to serve the
needs of 5 billion, mobile-connected consumers without a connected
solution of their own.

Trying to solve the problem of exponential demand by throwing

bodies at it or customizing an inadequate system represents a linear
way of thinking that does not alleviate pressure on the modern supply
chain.
Where the traditional supply chain was invested in optimizing the
movement of goods along a path to a distinct point of sale, todays
digital world has multiple points of sale. The path has evolved into a
collection of disparate webs with every customer sitting at their own
respective center.
The practice of customizing legacy inventory management
technology to fulfill sales is misaligned with the realities of
omni-channel, E-commerce and digital ordering.

REDEFINING THE
CAUSE OF YOUR
PROBLEM

MANAGING INVENTORY
Knowing where inventory is at any given point and time down
to the unit is the single most important challenge a logistics
organization needs to solve at scale.
The only way to accomplish this is with digital infrastructure powerful
and flexible enough to offer full visibility to every inventory item
across the supply chain.

What does this mean?

From our example, it means the flexibility of knowing where every
single light bulb is on the supply chain as they make their way to
every commercial building on a city block.
Only inventory software that is inherently scalable to match the
scale of ordering will offer this kind of visibility into inventory.
A customized legacy system simply will not be able to do this.
And as markets and technologies change rapidly, the need for
upgrades will never end sooner or later something will change.
This ultimately becomes an IT problem. Gartner states that 42%
of an initial cost of an application is going to be spent annually on
maintenance. That cost will be dispersed between enhancements,
bug fixes, and operational costs.
Considering the amount of the original application these costs
quickly become detrimental to any company. They represent huge
outlays of financial capital.
Have you budgeted 42% over the next few years? How expensive
was your legacy software? One million? Two million? Three million
dollars? Have you budgeted 42% of three million dollars for the
lifetime of your software? Have you really set aside $1.26 million
dollars a year on maintenance?
The more complex and older your software is, the costlier changing it
will be.
Keep in mind; this money does not address your primary challenge.
That problem has not changed. Orders are growing exponentially
and will soon be automated. You need the flexibility to manage your
inventory the same way down to the unit.

THE PATH TO HIGH PERFORMANCE

SUPPLY CHAIN
You have three options to choose from.

1. SUPPLY CHAIN SOFTWARE AS A SERVICE

For companies that need scalable enterprise-grade fulfillment,
packaged SaaS offerings exist that can offer functionality and
scalability at a fraction of the cost of legacy, on-premise solutions.
These packages offer streamlined software that offers industry
best practices as standards and if a business can refrain from
customization, they can be implemented and live and running in
weeks. This is by far the most cost efficient solution and offers the
greatest level of flexibility and scalability.

2. MAINTAIN A HYBRID SYSTEM

Hybrid deployments offer scalability and an illusion of control, but
they require redundant infrastructure costs. With hybrid deployment,
businesses can stabilize and maintain their data information onpremise while delivering needed functionality via online user
interfaces. protocols render information unusable by anyone except
you. And the data centers they are built on -- Rackspace and
Amazon -- enjoy security that most on-premise solutions can only
dream of.

3. ON-PREMISE TECHNOLOGY
If the idea of using the qualities of the Internet to solve supply chain
challenges at your company is a nonstarter to decision makers,
then continuing with on-premise solutions is your other choice. Just
know that, though you are able to customize everything you want
to whatever level of complexity you desire, you will also have to
maintain that software. Keep Gartners 42% in mind and budget
accordingly.

Since 2008, the LogFire Cloud has been used by supply chain
companies around the world to manage inventory through its
enterprise-grade, cloud-based, web application.
The LogFire Cloud offers the inventory management infrastructure
your business needs. You can have complete visibility across your
supply chain, support omni-channel functionality and total inventory
management from the manufacturing source to the end user; and
offer inbound and outbound planning and execution, quality control,
value added services, compliance labeling, electronic data transfer,
as well as reverse logistics. This is how you optimize a supply chain,
enable forecasting, and ensure you dont leave any money on the
table.
LogFires Warehouse Management Solutions leverage deep domain
expertise and managed services, are based on a cost effective multitenant infrastructure and a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model
which includes all cloud-based infrastructure, the LogFire Solutions,
as well as software upgrades and system support all for a monthly
user-based fee and all the LogFire Cloud Solutions are purposebuilt with configurable flexibility and deep industry functionality
to address the complexities of multi-channel consumer goods
manufacturers, distributors, logistics service providers (3PL/4PL),
retailers, and E-commerce companies of all sizes.

HOW THE LOGFIRE

CLOUD CAN HELP

The inherent network opportunity that the LogFire Cloud based

Solutions also provides is a secured processing environment that
is highly scalable without the need for capital cost expenditures
or sizing for seasonal or peak processing times or business growth
and expansion as well as extensible for leveraged integration with
other systems and connectivity with ones suppliers, trading partners,
stores, customers and others, for improved visibility, collaboration,
value-add, and total supply chain management.

ABOUT LOGFIRE
LogFire is transforming inventory management for The New
Fulfillment Economy. Its the only solution that combines the speed
and savings of the cloud with the richer functionality of an installed
WMS. The LogFire platform was built from the ground up by leading
supply chain experts who wanted to give retailers, 3PLs, wholesalers,
and others an inventory-everywhere view of their supply chain
without the endless integration and upgrade costs of traditional
solutions. The strategy worked. Today, LogFire is recognized as a
Visionary by Gartner, is one of the fastest growing companies in the
U.S., and has offices around the world.
Since 2007, The LogFire Warehouse Management Cloud has been
used by businesses around the world to deliver inventory solutions
that integrate with existing systems across the supply chain and give
users complete visibility into their entire supply chain network.
The LogFire Warehouse Management Cloud has been built from
the ground up in the Internet in order to offer rapid implementation,
scalability, and align supply chains with the reality of digital
commerce and fulfillment.

ALL THE TOOLS YOU NEED TO SUPPORT

YOUR SUPPLY CHAIN MODERNIZATION ARE
PROVIDED
Cost-effective supply chain management systems for the whole
network warehouse locations, distribution centers, in-store locations,
e-fulfillment centers, outlets, depots, liquidation centers, service
centers, and everywhere in between.
Total management of inventory from source to consumer from a
single integrated solution.
Easy access to actionable information to improve inbound and
outbound planning and execution, as well as value added services.

Enhanced in-store multi-channel management system with real-time

inventory visibility to storefront and backroom inventory. Connected
to the store POS system, each in-store SKU can be replenished
based on inventory levels set by item. True SKU visibility across an
entire network of stores allows retailers to fulfill orders from anywhere
based on end-client preferences.
By integrating multi-channel inventory management with visibility
across all business channels, companies can manage multiple
channel strategies from the same physical facility like never before.
Companies are able to know, with precision, the status of all
inventories. The result is improved service and profitability.
With the LogFire Warehouse Management Cloud you can control the
cost of fulfillment, increase efficiency, and align your technology with
the reality of the digital marketplace. Visit us online and see how you
can start delivering inventory at less cost today.

LEARN MORE AT WWW.LOGFIRE.COM

02/2016 Version. Copyright 2016, LogFire and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is provided for information purposes only, and the contents hereof are subject to change
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