Steve A. Mulaik

Specializing in:

• Ecommerce / Retail Warehouse Design & Optimization
• WMS Implementation
• Labor Standards
  

Experience summary:

• Led several warehouse design and optimization projects in retail and direct-to-consumer verticals for both large and smaller companies.
• Has pioneered TPG's innovative process improvement methodology called Crowd Engineering that finds consistently 15% to 30% labor performance improvement at most places where it is deployed.
• Many WMS implementation projects with a number of WMS vendors, including Infor(EXE), Swisslog, IWS, PKMS, Red Prairie(MARC), and others in both manual as well as highly mechanized environments.
• Worked in Asia(India) over 2 years and established TPG’s off shore operation in Mumbai.
  

• Warehouse Management System Selection for a $200M On Line / Catalog Retailer
  Steve led a WMS selection project for a growing $200m Catalog company looking to replace its antiquated legacy system. This project identified over $1m annual savings per year using TPG's Legacy WMS Assessment technique. Steve also helped support negotiations with the vendor as well, which helped save even more money.
• Warehouse Design for a Major Indian Retailer
  Modern retail is coming to India.  Steve led a multi-national team consisting of personnel from Western Europe, South America and Asia charged with designing dry goods and food warehousing for India’s first large scale, Western-like retail chain.  This project was mammoth and very fast paced.  It involved designing and constructing millions of square feet as well as hiring thousands of employees in a short two year time period.
• Recovering From an On Line Fulfillment Disaster:
  The test of a consultant is not their best project but the worst one.  A few years ago, an on line retailer found that due to a disconnect between inventory planning, the warehouse, and IT this firm’s customer service fell apart.  Steve was asked to lead inventory control, run receiving, and help debug system issues during the crisis.  Following peak, Steve participated in the Tiger team that drafted improvements that ultimately reduced the # of customer service failures by 80% in the subsequent year.
• Before joining The Progress Group, Steve served as the CIO at RaceTrac Petroleum, a $1 billion convenience store chain. There, he led a forty-person team responsible for the development and maintenance of all system initiatives at RaceTrac.

• Author of several WMS articles in journals such as Operations & Fulfillment, IWLA Newsletter, and Manufacturing Systems.
  

• He is also working on a book titled Understanding Modern Warehouse Management Systems.
  

• As the author and librarian of TPG's extensive warehouse systems database, Steve regularly visits with WMS vendors around the country to keep information about what features and functions different packages support as accurate and up to date as possible.

• Regular speaker on WMS-related topics at various tradeshows
  (NCOF, CSCMP, DC Expo, IWLA, and WERC)

• One of the few consultants who has designed a WMS product from the ground up
  

"Because I've lived in the 'real-world' I understand that every day a project isn't finished that is one more day that the VP stays up at night worrying. I know that's true because I've been there. My past drives me to help that person.  I also know that sometimes the most expedient way is not the best way, but you have to make things work with what you are given."