SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE! sacrificing safety or quality when designing every WMS process. Investing in a WMS that allows flexibility to improve processes over time without significant additional funding will be vital to ongoing success. Product Location: Are your fast-moving SKUs located to limit movement and travel in your warehouse? Are they also far enough apart to prevent bottlenecks within the outbound product flow? Heat maps of pick activity can be a great indicator of busy zones and those that can be optimized for reduced cost. Slotting of SKUs should be done in a cadence that is representative of the life cycle(s) of your inventory.
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Labor: Is your labor flexible to meet the demands of your orders? Upon review, it might be apparent that you don’t need one of your shifts. Utilization of labor in warehousing isn’t necessarily a Monday through Friday, 8 AM to 4 PM job. Shuffling labor resources to meet the demands of order volumes can help prioritize and increase efficiency. Using part-time labor on consistently heavy days or changing schedules to have overlapping shifts can make short work of daily volatility.
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Automation: Managers might be inclined to jump into an automated solution to improve warehouse operations, but move cautiously to ensure the investment covers the needs of specific operations. Keep in mind that automation is a powerful accelerator, both of effective and ineffective processes. Automating a process that isn’t optimized can quickly eat away at profits. Automation can also require a long time to realize ROI expectations, which need to be considered in the plan to avoid additional short-term costs. In its 2021 State of Logistics Report, A.T. Kearney supports an active exploration of warehouse automation, but with some cautions. “Warehouse flows,” the report says, “are becoming more complicated, especially with e-commerce returns. Thus, as labor conditions remain tight, many warehouses are increasingly looking at automation. Indeed, the emergence of robotics as a service (RaaS) provides financial flexibility that should boost adoption of automation across a wider variety of companies. With shifting demand and inventory mix, and increasing need for visibility, the future of warehousing presents fascinating strategic challenges.” Once these critical variables are analyzed and understood, the complex — yet essential — process of warehouse optimization is possible. There is no “silver bullet” to ensure an efficient movement of products through one or more warehouses. Only by optimizing the layout, labor use, and the costs unique to each facility can a supply chain function properly. Take these steps to meet the ultimate goals of any business — safe operations and customer satisfaction.
Jason Streitenberger is Senior Director of Solution Design, ODW Logistics. MAY-JUNE 2022 PARCELindustry.com 35