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.
Legendary ice hockey player Wayne Gretzky famously said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” In the highly competitive footwear retail market, this translates to an absolute truth: you miss 100% of the sales you cannot fulfill.
Retail associates often face overwhelming app fatigue. Disjointed communication tools and isolated point solution applications cause unnecessary friction during their daily shifts.
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.
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.
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.
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.
It’s a familiar pattern in technology: the differentiator of yesterday becomes the table stakes of today. For years, having an AI strategy was a competitive advantage; now, it’s an expectation.
The energy at our recent Channel Partner Summit in Orlando felt palpable. Everywhere you turned, conversations buzzed with the potential of AI.
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 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.
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.
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.
After navigating the energetic cacophony of NRF 2026, one thing is abundantly clear: the retail industry's conversation around AI has pivoted from the theoretical to the practical.
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.
Each January, the tech world converges on Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), offering a preview of the future. We see smarter homes, next-generation gadgets, and brilliant displays.
Enterprise operations run on precision, yet a single unreadable barcode label threatens to halt your entire workflow. You rely on printers to keep products moving, but choosing cheap, non-certified supplies often introduces unexpected chaos into your daily processes.
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.
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.
Food and beverage facility leaders face a difficult reality. A significant labor crisis continues to challenge the manufacturing sector, creating immense pressure to hit production forecasts and reduce downtime.
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.
In part one of the series, I shared my experience attending Zebra’s inaugural RFID Forum in Prague. As we continue our journey through our first-ever RFID Forum, it’s evident that RFID is not just a buzzword but a pivotal technology driving tangible change across industries.
In the rapidly evolving landscape of industrial automation, staying ahead of the curve is paramount. Enter 3D imaging technology—a game-changer that is transforming manufacturing, logistics, and industrial operations by offering unprecedented precision and efficiency. As industries strive to enhance their competitiveness, understanding the capabilities and applications of 3D imaging is crucial.
In the fast-paced world of retail, staying ahead of changing consumer demands is more challenging than ever. As retailers strive to enhance customer experiences and maintain competitiveness, many are turning to the transformative power of artificial intelligence (AI). Zebra Technologies is at the forefront of this movement, offering AI solutions that unlock the potential of frontline operations, allowing retailers to make smarter business decisions.
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.
An RFID thread connected to the right frequency makes it easy for manufacturers to relay critical intel on garments to retailers and shoppers.
Last month, Zebra and Clearview, a Zebra industrial automation distributor, hosted a launch event to officially open our new Industrial Automation Center of Excellence. The two-day launch event underscored our commitment to collaboration and innovation in fixed industrial scanning and machine vision.
Today, I want to share with you the story behind this initiative. The center is more than just a facility; it represents our vision for the future of industrial operations—a future where technology serves people and empowers organizations to thrive.
Unlock the full potential of AI in your business operations by integrating automated data capture. Discover how tools like RFID tags, barcodes, and environmental sensors can provide AI with the comprehensive data it needs to make smart decisions, spot patterns, and enhance efficiency. Ensure real-time visibility and seamless data access to empower AI-driven insights and streamline your operations. Learn from Andy Zosel’s expert insights in this latest Forbes Technology Council article on leveraging AI and data capture for superior business intelligence.
That depends on how you want to use your system and who you want to be able to operate and maintain it.
Discover how AI can streamline your software testing processes while understanding the potential risks it may introduce to your business. Learn the essential steps to ensure trust in your testing results and maintain the software’s performance and objectivity. Optimize your testing strategies with a balanced approach to leveraging AI effectively and safely.
Picture this: David, an employee in a bustling store, notices a customer who looks frustrated as she is searching through the jeans display.
The world is changing fast, and so is your frontline. Whether you’re in retail, manufacturing, transportation and logistics (T&L), or healthcare, you’ve likely felt the pressure to do more with less.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The challenges facing AI today, such as data scarcity and quality concerns, might seem daunting, but they also present an opportunity. By turning to the wealth of data generated on the frontline, businesses can create more intelligent, efficient, and adaptive systems.
They say there’s two sides to every story. Well, now there’s at least two viable machine vision solutions to every problem when you invite both seasoned and early career vision system engineers to the table, and that’s making it easier to see the right path forward. These two engineers (from different generations) explain why.
AI must fail over and over to succeed. But there are several mistakes you want to avoid making when teaching an AI-driven application how to look for anomalies on a product, component, or label using deep learning.
If you’re looking for a way to complete airplane cabin inspections and turn around flights faster without compromising passenger or crew safety, check out this new RFID-supported process that’s proving helpful for airlines like AirAsia.
Shoppers expect the same things from retailers they always have, including convenience and quality. But it’s seemingly more difficult for retailers to deliver those things now. Why is that? And what can they do to fix it? Here's one retail strategist's perspective.
Two healthcare and pharmaceutical sector experts say resistance to change is causing many organizations to miss out on the benefits of automation and experience preventable disruptions in their operations. Yet, there are many ways you can turn DSCSA requirements into business advantages...if you're open to automating certain parts of your business. Find out how.
You can’t just bolt on AI and expect things to get better. If you don’t take these steps first, AI use will only add to your care team’s workload, detract from patient care, and multiply your IT spend.
Sometimes it takes more than “industry standard” best practices and policies to protect your people. These are the extra efforts that have helped us reach a rarely achieved workplace safety milestone: one million hours worked with zero workplace safety incidents.