Articles » The New Warehouse

The New Warehouse Monthly Huddle: February 2026

Alright, team, here’s our February huddle. If you touch warehouse operations in any way, we know you’re busy, so here’s a quick download of what The New Warehouse team was up to in February. But first, as with any good warehouse huddle, let’s start with a safety tip RFID and Smart Labels Are Moving From Pilot to Baseline RFID isn’t experimental anymore. Tag volumes have grown from 20 billion in 2020 to projections exceeding 100 billion by 2028. That kind of scale changes expectations. If everything is readable, everything can be verified. Peak Technologies and Zebra taught us the

By Mike Huff|March 14th, 2026|Space for Thought|0 Comments

RFID in the Warehouse: Focus on Business Outcomes

I still remember our VP of Supply Chain saying, “We will never use RFID.” At the time, he was probably right. That’s no longer the case. Today, RFID hardware works. Read accuracy is reliable. Costs have come down. Source tagging is becoming common. By every technical measure, the technology has matured. And yet, many warehouse leaders still hesitate to move beyond pilots. That hesitation isn’t about technology anymore. It’s about trust. Warehouses today are under pressure from every direction. Labor is harder to find and more expensive to retain. Order volumes fluctuate wildly. Customer tolerance for mistakes has dropped

By Mike Huff|February 28th, 2026|RFID|0 Comments

How to Help Your Leadership Team Justify Investing in Warehouse Automation

Warehouse automation decisions rarely stall because of technology. They stall because leaders struggle to align operational pain with financial reality. For operations and supply chain teams, the challenge is translating daily friction into a business case that executives can support. This means reframing automation as a strategic investment rather than a capital expense. With the right framing, data, and timing, automation becomes a leadership conversation about risk, resilience, and long-term value. Start the Business Case with What’s at Risk The strongest automation conversations begin with what the business stands to lose. Labor instability, rising costs, service failures, and lost

By Mike Huff|January 22nd, 2026|Automation|0 Comments

Yard Operations Shaping 2026 Warehouse Trends

For many warehouse operations, the yard has traditionally been treated as background infrastructure. As long as freight keeps moving, docks stay active, and teams find ways to adapt, the yard is rarely questioned. What is changing as organizations head into 2026 is a growing recognition of what the yard actually represents. It is not just a support function, but a critical control point for flow, labor efficiency, safety, and asset utilization. When performance issues emerge between the gate and the dock, minor disruptions quickly escalate into broader operational problems. Congestion builds. Dwell time increases. Appointments slip. Carrier relationships suffer.

By Mike Huff|January 13th, 2026|Yard Management|0 Comments

Beyond the Barcode: How Peak Technologies Powers the Connected Store

Retail finds itself in an era where speed, accuracy, and consistency are no longer differentiators; they are expectations. Customers expect inventory to be accurate, fulfillment to be fast, and service between digital and physical channels to feel seamless. Yet behind the scenes, many retailers are still working with fragmented systems and disconnected data. The promise of the connected store is compelling, but execution remains difficult. As retailers prepare for NRF 2026, the goal isn’t just about seeing Ryan Reynolds in person. Retail's Big Show presents an opportunity to explore what it actually takes to operate a connected store at

By Kevin Lawton|January 8th, 2026|Barcodes, E-commerce, RFID|0 Comments

December 2025 Warehouse Trends: Real Estate, Execution, and Problem-Solving

As we wrap up the year, December conversations on The New Warehouse Podcast spanned industrial real estate, fulfillment strategy, legal risk, and execution on the warehouse floor. Together, these discussions explored how planning, contracts, data, and process design influence what actually happens during a shift. Warehouse Real Estate Market Recalibration After COVID From the brokerage side, 2025 reflected just how volatile industrial real estate became as operators navigated compressed timelines and unconventional deal structures. Growe captured the intensity of the year succinctly, noting that “2025 is gonna go down in the record books for us as just some of

By Mike Huff|January 3rd, 2026|Space for Thought|0 Comments