30 Touchpoints, One Journey: Zebra Reveals the Network Behind Your Shoes
Before a pair of shoes reaches a customer, it can pass through up to 30 touchpoints from factory floors to last-mile delivery, where Zebra solutions and Zebra-connected frontline teams help keep work moving.
In a recent “shoe journey” discussion featured in Zebra’s Better Conversations, Zebra Chief Marketing Officer Rob Armstrong explores how companies are modernizing manufacturing, retail, and logistics workflows with technologies such as machine vision, AI, automation, RFID, and connected mobile computing, turning operational complexity into real-time execution.
Visibility, connectivity, and automation across the value chain
The conversation featuring Zebra CTO Tom Bianculli connects the dots across the full product journey: quality control in production, item-level tracking through the supply chain, inventory accuracy in stores, and resilient fulfillment operations designed to reduce delays and errors.
In manufacturing, machine vision and AI support real-time inspection to improve quality and minimize costly rework. After production, RFID-enabled tracking helps organizations improve accuracy, strengthen item-level visibility, and protect brand integrity.
In retail, mobile and RFID workflows help teams maintain better stock accuracy and create smoother customer experiences. In transportation and logistics, automation and orchestration technologies help keep fulfillment and delivery workflows moving, even when disruption occurs.
Measurable impact from modernizing frontline workflows
Research referenced in the discussion highlights that organizations modernizing key workflows can see meaningful business benefits, including improvements in growth, profitability, and customer satisfaction, when advanced technology is integrated with human expertise.
A people-first approach to intelligent operations
A consistent theme throughout the episode is that technology works best when it elevates the frontline, reducing manual friction so teams can focus on higher-value work, exceptions, and customer engagement. Zebra’s approach to intelligent operations emphasizes connecting people, assets, and data to help organizations execute with greater visibility and precision end to end.
Learn more: Read “The Invisible Network Behind Your Favorite Shoes” and watch the full Better Conversations episode featuring Tom Bianculli, Chief Technology Officer at Zebra Technologies.
About Zebra Technologies
Zebra Technologies helps organizations digitize and automate workflows by connecting frontline workers, assets, and operations, enabling greater visibility, precision, and performance across manufacturing, retail, and logistics.
Request a briefing or interview with Zebra: Reach out to Eiko Gramlich, Senior Account Manager RFID at Zebra Technologies.