Culture & Technology in the Warehouse – Tecsys Interview with Thom Campbell

At a time when new tech relentlessly pushes boundaries throughout the supply chain and employees at some of the world's largest companies fight tooth and nail for improved working conditions, culture and technology might seem like strange bedfellows.

When it comes to delivering frictionless fulfillment, though, the reality is that the two are often inseparable.

Thom Campbell on Warehouse Culture and Technology

In a recent interview with our supply chain software partners at Tecsys, Capacity CSO Thom Campbell took time to explain the mercurial link between blending the right technology with diverse people who are passionate about what they do.

You can watch his full exchange with Bill Denbigh, Director of Product Marketing Logistics at Tecsys, here or via the embedded link to YouTube below.

To begin, Bill asks Thom about the generational changes at Capacity over the company's two decades in the business. Thom describes the team as "a pretty heterogeneous group," with employees from as far afield as Senegal, Western Europe, and across the cultural spectrum of the North American melting pot.

While supply chain positions were once considered somewhat staid and one-dimensional, at least in terms of the folks likely to be hired, Capacity quickly moved beyond the roots of its founders to hire many bi-lingual team members. That continued as the company grew and competition for labor became fierce throughout the noughts, eventually blossoming into the rapid expansion of eCommerce we've seen over the past decade.

Nowadays, the population working in and around the company's fulfillment campuses reflects the vibrant diversity expected of a modern warehouse.

Among other insights drawn out between Bill and Thom in this engaging 10-minute conversation, these points about developing culture and technology in the warehouse:

1. Technology can be the "lingua franca" of warehousing; it matters less about the language you speak when everyone is aligned and enabled with the right tech to do the job.
2. As the team has skewed younger, the willingness to embrace new technology in the warehouse and office alike has increased.
3. Capacity CEO Jeff Kaiden is bi-lingual and often delivers updates to the team in Spanish, as well as English.
4. The cliches about Millenials rarely ring true at Capacity! Younger employees are equally willing to "roll up their sleeves" and work just as hard, if not harder, than the generations that preceded them.
5. One of the best ways to align team members is to get them out into the warehouse and open up pathways for those on the floor to move through the business when they show the desire and skill to do so.

As if to emphasize many of these points, our recent video "Say Hello" (below) provides a glimpse into the varied origins - and the many mother tongues! - of the Capacity crew.

Capacity thanks Bill and the team at Tecsys for another creative and thoughtful discussion! You can find many more pearls of logistics and warehousing wisdom in the company's resources section.

To learn more about the culture and technology that delivers for Capacity's clients every day, take a look at how we do it.