Modern warehouse operations face constant disruptions. Finding effective solutions for volatile consumer demands and labor challenges requires a strategic approach rather than piecemeal technology adoption.
At the start of each year, CES offers a compelling glimpse into the future of technology. While much of the focus is on the latest consumer innovations, I find the most impactful story of technological evolution unfolds outside the main event.
As leaders, we constantly pursue new ways to improve operational efficiency and empower our people. We invest in digital tools to make work simpler and more productive. Yet, when I connect with frontline workers in retail, logistics, and manufacturing, I often witness a disconnect between our intentions and their reality.
As leaders in the manufacturing industry, we constantly navigate a landscape of disruption. From volatile supply chains and fluctuating market demands to persistent labor shortages, the pressure to perform is immense. Many of us have turned to digital transformation as the answer, and rightly so.
In my years leading technology and product teams, I have witnessed a fundamental shift in how businesses operate. The frontline, once disconnected from the digital core, now stands as the epicenter of value creation.
Bringing our partners together from across Latin America for our Channel Partner Summit always creates a unique and powerful reminder that our greatest achievements happen when we work in concert toward a common goal.
The devices that power your frontline are the heart of your operations. Your Zebra scanners, printers, and mobile computers function as the critical link between your physical and digital worlds.
Product recalls represent a massive threat to food and beverage manufacturers. One industry financial analysis estimates the average direct cost of a single incident at $10 million.
AI commands headlines and captures imaginations, promising a future of unparalleled efficiency. Yet for executives leading operations in retail, manufacturing, and transportation, the practical application of AI often feels distant from the hype.
A significant shift is coming to the European retail landscape. New regulations signal the end of wasteful practices and the beginning of a more transparent, circular economy.
A striking paradox is unfolding in boardrooms worldwide. Companies are investing heavily in AI, yet a recent Hoover Institution study found over 80% of them report no meaningful productivity impact.
I recently had the privilege of joining a host of industry leaders and innovators at the 40th GS1 Global Healthcare Summit. The energy at the conference felt distinct. In every session and conversation, a shared purpose resonated: to tackle the immense pressures on our healthcare systems not as individual organizations, but as a connected ecosystem.
The energy at our recent Channel Partner Summit in Orlando felt palpable. Everywhere you turned, conversations buzzed with the potential of AI.
As leaders in the manufacturing sector, we stand at a pivotal moment. The pressures of global competition, rising consumer expectations, and supply chain volatility push us to innovate constantly.
Retailers today navigate a fiercely competitive environment. Consumers expect, and demand, seamlessly connected shopping experiences, whether they shop online or in-store.
AI-driven frontline operations will require companies to develop new capabilities that augment their current approach. Previously we explored how Asset Visibility delivers a complete, real-time view of the entire frontline environment, critical to provide AI models with knowledge of the current situation.
The air at a FIRST® Robotics competition crackles with a unique energy. You feel a powerful mix of excitement, intense focus, and pure ingenuity.
In logistics, what you can’t see can hurt you. Every moment a package is unaccounted for between scans represents a blind spot, a gap in the story of its journey.
Cybersecurity discussions usually focus on server racks and cloud infrastructure. Executive teams spend millions fortifying data centers against external intrusions. Yet, logistics risk profiles expand dramatically at the physical point of parcel delivery.
When we work together with our partners, colleagues, and technology experts, we feel a powerful sense of community and shared purpose.
Retail associates often face overwhelming app fatigue. Disjointed communication tools and isolated point solution applications cause unnecessary friction during their daily shifts.
The retail landscape continues its rapid evolution, especially across the Asia Pacific region. Today’s shoppers enter stores with high expectations for a digitally enhanced journey.
After two decades in the transportation and logistics (T&L) sector, I find its constant motion continues to fascinate me. Our industry serves as the circulatory system for the global economy, and its pulse reflects the pressures and priorities of our time.
In my conversations with customers and manufacturing leaders across Vietnam, there is a palpable energy right now. As global supply chains diversify, our local manufacturing sector is experiencing breathtaking growth.
In today’s demanding business environment, challenges like labor shortages and supply chain disruptions test the resilience of every organization as the pressure to deliver better results with fewer resources is constant.
If you attended the National Retail Federation (NRF) Big Show this year, you might have seen a few eye-catching cars navigating the busy streets of New York, wrapped in the iconic Zebra stripes and featuring our name alongside our latest acquisition, Elo.
The manufacturing landscape across the Asia Pacific region faces a profound operational shift. As organizations digitize their factory floors and supply chains, they encounter a critical intersection of human workforce dynamics and technological advancement.
A recent story that caught my eye involved a rather audacious theft. Somewhere on a route between Italy and Poland, thieves made off with a truck carrying twelve tons of chocolate bars.
Picture this: it is the peak of the holiday shopping season. Every register has a long line, associates race to fulfill online orders, and the stockroom buzzes with activity. Suddenly, a handheld scanner in a key department stops working. The frontline associate feels stranded.
The familiar barcode, a staple of commerce for over 50 years, triggers the checkout beep we all know. It reliably tells a scanner a product's identity, its Global Trade Item Number (GTIN).
Earlier this year, at our Channel Partner Summit, the buzz of excitement was unmistakable. The conversations with our partners, the lifeblood of our ecosystem, consistently circled back to a significant evolution in our industry.
In today's fast-paced digital economy, the frontline of business pulses with activity.
Latin America’s fields and farms feed a significant portion of the world. The region produces more than a third of global agricultural exports, from Colombian coffee to Brazilian beef.
Across the transportation and logistics industry, AI continues its transformation from a future concept to a daily reality. In the back office, leaders successfully leverage AI and intelligent software solutions to refine demand forecasting and optimise asset visibility.
In the fast-paced world of retail, your team relies on a growing arsenal of mobile devices. Handheld computers manage inventory in the aisle, tablets process sales from anywhere on the floor, and wearables keep associates connected and informed.
The Wall Street Journal recently recognized Zebra Technologies as a global Top 10 company for AI Readiness. Earning a spot next to major tech innovators validates our strategic focus on AI for the frontline of business.
For logistics and postal leaders, the last mile has become the most critical and complex part of the entire supply chain. The pressure to improve its efficiency is immense, driven by the relentless growth of e-commerce, soaring customer expectations for speed and the high operational cost of failed deliveries.
Manufacturing and logistics leaders face a complex, shifting landscape. The relentless pace of e-commerce, persistent labor shortages, and rising consumer expectations demand a new approach to operational strategy.
Zebra's Channel Partner Summit provides a vital opportunity to connect with the partners who help us deliver solutions to our customers every day. This year’s conversations centered on Winning Together.
The first half of 2026 has been a period of rapid technological evolution, but our core mission at Zebra remains unchanged: ensuring that every frontline worker is visible, connected, and fully optimized.
For years, a significant hurdle blocked the path toward truly intelligent, automated operations on the manufacturing floor. In environments prioritizing network integrity, particularly in automotive production, strict policies often ban Bluetooth® devices.
After more than two decades in nursing, I witnessed firsthand the constant race against time. Clinicians rush from patient to patient, their days a whirlwind of alerts, calls, and documentation.
The modern retail environment presents a persistent challenge: a gap between what happens at the point of sale and what store associates actually do.
Inside a bustling food and beverage facility, the smooth movement of materials dictates the pace of production. Any delay in getting raw ingredients to the line or moving finished goods to the warehouse creates a bottleneck.
Healthcare professionals today navigate immense pressure. Disconnected systems and administrative burdens often pull their focus from the critical work of patient care.
If you’ve ever managed a team on the frontline, whether in a warehouse, a hospital, or a retail store, you know how challenging the work can be.
You need more than the “stakeholders” involved from day one on healthcare modernization porjects because buy-in on new technology toolsand processes starts – but doesn’t end – at the top of your healthcare organization. Found out whose opinion and support matters most so that you can invite the right people to inform your RFID-projects
Before a pair of shoes reaches your doorstep, it may pass through up to 30 touchpoints where Zebra products, solutions, or workers using Zebra devices play a critical role in its journey.
As the backbone of retail, healthcare, manufacturing, and transportation and logistics (T&L) businesses, frontline workers drive results. Yet, according to Korn Ferry, a new study reveals that more than three-quarters (77%) of these workers believe senior leaders fail to understand their daily challenges.
It’s a Monday morning, and I am in a busy Accident & Emergency (A&E) facility at my local hospital. A young boy in a school uniform nurses a sore wrist and a workman wearing a high visibility jacket leans back in a wheelchair amidst a sea of injured humans.
Today is an important day for Zebra as the company unveils its brand refresh. While our logo hasn’t changed, our new brand platform, “Better Every Day” represents a strategic evolution and tighter alignment with modern technology trends which recognize the impact that automation and AI are having on frontline workflows.
As business leaders, we constantly look for ways to streamline operations, empower teams, and deliver better results. If you’ve ever wondered how AI could make your frontline team’s workday smoother, more efficient, and maybe even a little less stressful, the Frontline AI Summit offered some exciting answers. Hosted by Zebra Technologies, this event brought together some of the sharpest minds in the industry to talk about how AI is already transforming operations and what’s next.
The way we work is changing, and it’s happening fast. Across industries like manufacturing, retail, and transportation and logistics (T&L), businesses are embracing smarter, faster, and more connected ways of working. Why? Because the world demands it. Customers expect flawless service, employees want meaningful roles, and companies need to stay resilient in the face of constant change. But how do we get there? The answer lies in intelligent operations.
Picture this: David, an employee in a bustling store, notices a customer who looks frustrated as she is searching through the jeans display.
In the second episode of Conversations with a CNIO, we tackled one of the most pressing and sensitive issues facing healthcare today: workplace safety and violence. As someone who has spent years navigating hospital floors and collaborating with healthcare leaders, this topic is deeply personal to me. Chad Salahshour, CEO of 911Cellular, one of Zebra’s valued channel partners, joined me to share his insights on how innovative technologies can enhance safety measures in healthcare environments.
Office Depot, a global leader in office supply retail, tackled operational challenges head-on by adopting Zebra Technologies’ Workcloud Workforce Optimization Suite.
In today’s fast-paced industries, ranging from logistics to retail and manufacturing, the need for precision, efficiency, and real-time visibility into assets has become a critical factor for success. Organizations under constant pressure to streamline operations want to cut costs and maintain agility, making it essential to adopt tools that enhance productivity and simplify complex workflows.
Working in retail today is more challenging than ever. The pressure on frontline workers has reached unprecedented levels, with 59% of them considering quitting their jobs in the past year alone.
Every September, we at Zebra Technologies take time to reflect on what truly drives our success: the extraordinary people and organizations that make up our partner ecosystem. This year, as we mark the fifth anniversary of Partner Appreciation Month, it feels especially meaningful. Five years of celebrating the collaboration, innovation, and trust of the people and partnerships that define Zebra’s success.
In retail, every second counts. Shoppers expect fast, seamless experiences, whether browsing in-store or picking up an online order. At the same time, retailers must juggle the complexities of managing inventory, communicating with teams, and responding to ever-changing customer needs. It’s not easy. But with the right tools, it’s possible to make things easier for everyone.
Amidst rising demands, global competition, and evolving consumer expectations, manufacturing operations must adapt to thrive. The research we recently unveiled with Oxford Economics sheds light on how intelligent operations can unlock transformative efficiencies throughout manufacturing operations.
The study titled, “Impact of Intelligent Operations” quantifies the benefits of workflow optimization and identifies how intelligent automation transforms manufacturing performance. It also reveals a compelling case for adopting intelligent operations to improve quality, reduce costs, and unlock new growth opportunities.
I’ve spent over four decades working on technology solutions that support businesses, and I can confidently say there’s never been a more exciting or challenging time to innovate for the frontline. Recently, I joined a webinar with guest speaker Denise Lund, Research Vice President, Worldwide Telecom and Unified Communications at IDC and my Zebra colleague Bethany Wiegand. The discussion centered on the mounting pressures of the retail frontline and how Unified Communication and Collaboration (UC&C) solutions, like Zebra Workcloud Sync, are stepping in to help.
Transportation & logistics (T&L) leaders confront a fast-moving landscape where agility and precision define success. Our study titled, “Impact of Intelligent Operations” which was done in collaboration with Oxford Economics offers fresh insights into how intelligent operations transform this vital industry.
In the ever-evolving landscape of intelligent automation and manufacturing, smart cameras have emerged as pivotal tools transforming machine vision technology. With advancements in edge processing and seamless integration capabilities, these devices are redefining the way industries approach efficiency and precision. As manufacturers, logistics operators, and warehouse professionals seek to optimize operations, smart cameras offer a promising solution for intelligent automation. By delivering real-time insights, and automated decision-making capabilities, robust, scalable, and adaptable smart cameras are ideal for a diverse range of industrial applications.
Frontline workers are the backbone of retail operations, yet their challenges often go unnoticed. From juggling demanding schedules to managing inventory discrepancies and navigating volatile pricing environments, the frontline faces significant hurdles daily. We offer solutions designed to address these pain points head-on. Through Workcloud Shift, Workcloud Inventory Visibility, and Workcloud Lifecycle Pricing, we are transforming how frontline workers do their jobs, fostering connected collaboration, and driving operational excellence.
Recognition feels good, but it seldom comes from solitary effort. It grows from a shared purpose and collective dedication.
In the fast-paced world of frontline operations, where distribution centers race to ship packages, retail stores are crowded with shoppers, and manufacturing plants strain to meet tight schedules, it is increasingly difficult to orchestrate all the simultaneous activities it takes to be successful. Companies are finding that they need to track more information than ever – accurate, real-time information.
Retailers today face mounting pressure to evaluate their pricing strategies with precision. Yet, the real challenge lies in identifying which metrics truly reflect success.
In the fast-paced world of technological innovation, government contractors find themselves at the forefront of a digital transformation imperative. As these organizations strive to meet strict audit requirements and manage vast inventories of government property, modern RFID technology emerges as a beacon of efficiency and accuracy.
Retail has always fascinated me. It’s a dynamic industry that demands constant attention to detail, an ability to adapt, and a focus on solving problems that can threaten both profits and customer trust.
Retail operations generate vast amounts of data every day. This data, which includes sales transactions, inventory levels, customer interactions, and employee actions, holds the key to understanding and resolving operational issues. However, traditional data analysis methods often fall short, struggling to address the multi-step nature of many retail problems.
In the dynamic world of frontline operations, the spotlight has been on optimizing workflows through Asset Visibility, a critical pillar of operational intelligence discussed in my previous blog post.
The thinking used to be that a warranty plan was enough to protect business mobile devices, scanners, and printers. Here’s why that thinking has proven to be flawed.
If you're a healthcare provider or administrator who wants to reduce the shocks and stress felt when the world seems to shatter - or just simply grows bigger - you need to make one simple change today then repeat tomorrow. Don't wait "for the money to come in" or a policy push to make the changes needed to improve care capacity or quality. The team at Hull University Hospital didn't. It took a pragmatic approach to modernization and has made great progress with Scan4Safety and strategic RFID implementations in a short period of time. So, if you're not sure what to do first (or next), the story and advice shared in this blog post might help you get the answers you need...or at least know the right questions to ask of the right people.
AI is changing the future of advanced analytics and anomaly detection in retail. Here’s how.
There is so much that can be done on planes, in airports, and on the tarmac to make the air travel experience so much smoother. Fortunately, it sounds like some very smart tech upgrades are going to be made by airlines to improve the passenger experience amidst competing priorities and regulatory pressures. Find out what will likely be changing soon (and what changes are already starting to land).
As sustainability reporting leaps up boardroom agendas, a byproduct of enhanced visibility is uncovering the most secretive malware.
If you’re only thinking about which mobile applications you need to develop or download to support workers, they may not be getting what they really need to be effective at their jobs. That's one of the reasons why you need to put more thought into your software decisions. Find out the other reasons why you need to look closer at the software you're running across your operations.
Check out the Design Studio in your Zebra DNA software suite.
Zebra CEO Bill Burns highlights some notable accomplishments of Zebra employees, partners, and customers in his latest blog post about the impact of culture on a company.
There are so many new technologies being touted for healthcare, and so many new ways of working. Which ones really make a difference? One Zebra deeply embedded in the healthcare community provides her take based on others’ stories she heard at HIMSS '24.
Identity Guardian uses face biometrics and an encrypted barcode to prevent unauthorized users from seeing sensitive business data – and help authorized users access that data faster. Here’s how it works.
If you want to know exactly where your Zebra Android mobile devices are within your facilities, the you'll want to find out how the 802.11mc fine time measurement (FTM) locating feature works. You'll also want to turn it on across your Wi-Fi network and Zebra devices. (There's no extra cost.) Learn more.
What can different wireless and location technologies really do? What can they not? If you want truth and transparency, read this blog post. It sheds light on some eye-opening facts.
Need to connect your Zebra printers to a new Android mobile device? Or want to know how to initiate a print job from a Zebra Android mobile device? There's an app for that...and it's free! Here’s everything you need to know about how to download and use the new Zebra Print app to print labels, PDFs, images, and more while on the move.
The features and functionality of the cameras, sensors, and scanners used across your vision system won’t matter if you don’t have the right software underneath. Software is the glue. So, I'm curious: Did you closely inspect the software needed to run each of those pieces of hardware before buying them? Did you consider how easy (or difficult) it would be to get all the software platforms to work together as part of "one system"? Or have you found the software complicating things since putting those new hardware components in place? No matter your answer, you need to read this post.
I’m often asked this question, along with two more: ‘What training format is best?’ and ‘Do I need to train them on every little change or new feature?’ Here’s my advice (based on some regrets other business leaders have expressed.)
While AI is certainly proving helpful with quality control during the electric battery production and electric vehicle assembly processes, AI isn’t the only thing that improves inspection results. Find out what can help automotive suppliers, manufacturers, and integrators even more.
Unlike most clinicians, nurses at Hull University Teaching Hospitals don’t have to worry that patient care will be compromised due to missing equipment or medical supplies shortages. Why? They’ve found an unconventional but effective ‘cure’ using RFID. Hear about the inventory management solution that is helping clinicians focus on patient care.
Zebra’s inclusive, innovative culture ensures our employees are empowered to bring their whole selves to work every day. Find out how.
What are you doing to ensure your newer utility workers can keep up with retirees? Are you training them more? Using technology to transfer knowledge? Or just hoping that expertise will be restored with time? Find out which method(s) is going to be best for your next-generation workforce and your business.
There are far too many good software tools out there to guide banking associates’ every move and automate decision-making. No one should feel like they are lacking direction or support.
Executing modern store operations will require more than just a few upgrades at the point of sale. But they will be worth it when they help save sales – and save you money on energy bills. Find out how the Zebra Workstation Connect platform can help you improve, and speed up, all sorts of customer transactions...away from traditional registers.
Optimizing operations and enhancing customer service can be easy if you’re using the right key performance indicators (KPIs) to assess schedule quality in workforce management software. But how can you be certain you’re using the right KPIs?
Did you know that you don’t always need real-time visibility into trailer location to prevent goods losses on the road and labor-related losses in your retail stores, warehouses and distribution centers? Learn more.
Not sure how to accelerate digitalization or meet efficiency standards in your hospital? Find out what one healthcare volunteer suggests after working in National Health Service (NHS) wards for a while and understanding what it really takes to take good care of patients – and take care of all patients that need consultations.
Erv Comer is an engineer who has spent the last 35 years focused on security. This is what he wants you to ask (and) know before you buy another mobile computer or tablet, especially if you plan to use it for business purposes.
When you're traveling, you shouldn't have to spend hours in line trying to get into the country. That's why you might want to visit Cyprus, where government officials have found a way to accelerate visitor documentation checks and reduce queues to get into the country.
We’ve added some new functionality to Zebra DNA Cloud as requested so you can more easily manage your workforce mobility solutions, including Workstation Connect.
Some say now’s the time to take the road less traveled. We say it’s now or never. If you keep doing the same things you’ve always done, especially if you’ve typically avoided AI, you’re going to keep feeling the grind.