Stacking the odds for accuracy; Bar code as street address.(Focus: Distribution Economy)(DSC Logistics Inc)(Brief Article)

Crain's Chicago Business, August, 2005

Byline: Bob Tita Managing the supply chain for low-margin consumer products companies is a tough business. Net profit margins rarely exceed 3%, leaving little room for error. It takes 165 workers and 57 battery-powered forklifts to manage a 1 million-square-foot-plus warehouse around the clock.

To make sure they don't lose a load of Yamaha Corp. guitars or Turtle Wax car cleaner, DSC Logistics slaps every pallet with a bar-coded sticker that functions as a street address inside the warehouse. Hand-held scanners and computer terminals on forklifts enable workers to check their work orders against the boxes stacked on shelving racks that stretch 380 feet. "It's kind of hard to mess up,'' says 24-year-old Ed Ambre of Aurora, a lead man at the warehouse....

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