Material Handling News: Interview with Lee Rector.

Insight Group Technologies – A Niche Company Making a Huge Impact

Lee Rector is the co-founder and President of Insight Group Technologies Inc since 2003 Over that period Rector has been featured at trade shows, industry groups and universities   as a guest speaker  in the area of warehouse operations and supply chain planning. Holding previous positions with Vision Logistics and Canon Canada, Rector has 30 years of  experience and holds a B.A in business from York University.

Q: Please tell us a bit about the company.

A: We originally envisioned Insight as a consulting company with an expertise in designing logistics operations and providing strategic level planning for our clients. Very quickly we evolved into a software solutions company by commercializing our internal tool set, now known as DC Expert. With DC Expert we have been able to grow the business on an international level, having clients on six Continents and offices in Toronto Canada, Chicago U.S., U.K., Australia and Asia.

Q: What would you say makes your business unique?

A: When we first designed DC Expert we were looking at a comprehensive planning solution to utilize internally, and then, after several client requests, we decided to offer this suite of tools to our existing customers to aid them in their continuous improvement goals. Similar to a market leading office solution, DC Expert is designed to offer a comprehensive out-of-the-box suite for warehouse optimization and design. DC Expert has a single install set that has five modules including a labor planning module and the most powerful slotting tool on the market. By integrating the five modules, Insight provides the only end-to-end comprehensive full warehouse planning desktop application available today. With the unique design, and simplicity of implementation and training, the DC Expert provides large cost reductions, and tremendous ROIs for our clients. Our goal is still to provide solutions which are cost-effective and to over deliver on the expectations of our clients.

Q: Who are your end-users?

A: Insight has approximately 500 client operations around the globe using the DC Expert solution for continuous improvement. Of our clients, a large number would be in the 3PL and professional logistics market where many are market leaders in their own right. Additionally Insight includes leaders in the CPG market and food manufacturing market, along with retailers and grocers around the world. We also have many clients in the automotive sector and fashion and apparel markets, as well as a large portion of the beverage industry including beer and alcohol.

Q: What does the future hold for Insight and DC Expert?

A: With the release of version 4.0 DC Expert will continue to be the leader in functionality and ease of use in the optimization space. As our economies change in both the foreign and domestic markets, the warehouse operations must continue to react which makes continuous improvement more important today than ever. DC Expert will be the tool set, which leading companies will employ to keep ahead of curve and manage operational costs.