Picky Picky Picky

Most distribution centers and many manufacturing facilities pick products in one form or another. Pallets, cases, parts and kits are routinely picked using a variety of methods.  Paper based, RF enabled, pick to light, pick to voice, horizontal carousels, vertical lift modules, mini-loads, unit load AS/RS and shuttle systems are frequently used to automate traditionally labor intensive tasks.  From absolutely inefficient to unbelievably efficient, you will find them all in industry catalogs, trade shows, YouTube videos and people like me touting what they can do for your operation and customer service. 

It’s tough being a logistics leader at times.  There is so much technology out there and you want your team to be as efficient as possible.  You know that technology can be a modest investment or a  tremendous investment. Don’t forget that when you ask for money to buy new equipment, somebody is tracking the results of the investment.   Often the decisions to address picking efficiencies are cultural, technical, and financial in nature. 

Culturally, we need to understand the nature of our associates.  If you have a low tech, paper driven operation, consideration must be given to the skill sets present.  A leap to a high tech picking system without the pre-training and hiring of capable people will doom the project to fail.  Additionally, the team responsible for picking should be a part of the initial discussions on transitioning from a low tech to a higher tech picking process.  If the pickers have confidence in how it is supposed to work, it will have a better chance of successful implementation.  Sometimes, we have a tenured group of associates who have all the tribal knowledge and tricks to make the most out of what equipment they have.  However, can we count on having a tenured group forever?  Does it make sense to have a repeatable process that is easily learned for new hires?

Technically, order and SKU data means everything.  Volume history, dimensional analysis, peak and seasonal changes, and order makeup and growth projections are needed to determine how products should be slotted and picked.  Since travelling is often the enemy of efficiency, does goods to you technology make sense?  Do you ship high volume low SKU count or do you ship high volume, high SKU count?  Are your SKUs densely slotted; are they awkward to pick and hold?  Are your SKUs high dollar or easily broken or are they easily stolen or a drug that must be controlled by lot?  There are many things to consider that are crucial to the success of the picking system application. 

Financially, picking systems must pay for themselves in a reasonable amount of time.  I recognize what is reasonable to me may not be reasonable to you.  As such, there needs to be a mutually agreed upon set of financial parameters, based on measurable results such as labor savings, error reduction, footprint reductions, customer service improvements, throughput increases.  Companies are often unique in terms of their acceptable measure of payback.  Additionally, there are guides that detail expected picking gains using a specific technology.  However, we can’t treat all companies the same and must temper our projected gains and not overstate them. 

Picking systems are often the lifeblood of our operation.  Let’s make sure we consider the cultural, technical and financial implications before investing.

For more information from Greg, view his page at www.trifactor.com/greg

 

Seeking to Understand Your Distribution Needs

“Don't question what you don't understand unless you're asking questions seeking to understand.” ― Rob Liano

Questions are a necessary evil when developing solutions for our customers; but, if you are like me, when a salesperson asks me questions over and over again over an expanse of time, I start to get irritated.  I especially don’t like it when I have already answered the question. 

Typical Material Handling Questions consist of:

·         Where are your bottlenecks?

·         What kind of product are you picking/shipping?

·         Is it wrapped or not?

·         Is the bottom flat?

·         Is it hazardous inside?

·         What does the bottom of your pallet look like?

·         Can you send me a picture?

·         How do you pass orders from the host software to the hand scanners or the picking system?

·         What is average rate/peak rate? 

Although using a standard questionnaire is a good start to learning and understanding the distribution operations of a specific company, all organizations are unique and thus, a template can only go so far.  Invariably, there are a few questions that were never initially considered and the repetitive calls begin and seem to never end.  Ultimately, I recognize that asking the right questions is essential to develop a good material handling system or any system for that matter. But the manner in which the fact finding mission is accomplished must be done such that customers are not bugged to death with repeated emails and phone calls so that professionalism and confidence is maintained throughout the process. 

In fact, the key component to the process is dedicated time spent with the customer at his or her facility to witness the good, the bad, and the ugly and get all of the information in person.  We really need to see what goes on in the facilities you intend to improve, to ask questions of your team, and not just your executive team but the operators and personnel that succeed or fail with your system.

Therefore, a questionnaire is a suitable start, but the finish line can be pretty far away.  Additional information needed can only come with time spent onsite, measuring, inquiring and challenging how processes work.  There are always standard operating procedures to reference but our operators usually develop their own "work-arounds".  Why did they feel the need to work around your carefully crafted SOPs and how can you incorporate their better way of doing things into your solution?

Too many projects fail due to missed details that could have been discovered by spending quality time onsite using a comprehensive and iterative process.  Isn’t it risky to rely on a material handling system proposal sent to you from someone that didn’t do the due diligence or discovery?  Will the contents have a chance to really make an impact to your facility and operations?

Thank you for the patience with our questions as we look forward to spending time at your facility in the future.

For more information from Greg, view his page at www.trifactor.com/greg

Stuffing 10 lbs of SKUs Into a 5 lb Bag

In my garage we seem to keep buying things and storing them but never seem to remove anything.  Once in a while I realize that some of the things stored there will never be needed or used. 

So too you see it in distribution centers where SKU growth has made it difficult to efficiently replenish, pick and manage inventory.  So what can we do about it?

A good first step is to understand the dimensions of our products.  At a minimum we should know the length, width, height and weight of the unit size we pick from whether it be cased or individual picks.  If you don’t know the SKU volumes then schedule an effort monthly to capture this information using a Cubiscan which you can rent or purchase. 

A close second step is to understand how fast our SKUs move.  Typically, you will want to look at a year’s worth of data so that you may account for any seasonality or for unnatural spikes in demand.  Understanding how fast your SKUs move allow you to store them in the right type of picking media (rack, shelving, pick modules or storage and retrieval systems such as carousels or more advanced systems such as mini-loads and AS/RS). 

It is wise to have assigned locations for your SKUs.  Assigning multiple SKUs to one large location often causes many issues:

·        Order pickers have difficulty finding the appropriate item to pick for the respective order. If you have item in cases that look alike only distinguishable by item number and they are collocated in the same SKU location, miss-picks will surely follow.  

·        Replenishment operators need to efficiently find and place the respective SKUs where they belong.  If it is difficult to know where to put it, operators will just use their best judgment.   A more systematic approach is necessary. 

·        Cycle counting is never a fun thing but imagine doing it with SKUs all mixed up in a collocated location?  Having to pick up unit picks and looking at code designations to get the correct SKU inventoried is expensive and a waste of labor.    

 
Curing these issues often is not an expensive proposition.  Rather it requires a little distribution center elbow grease.  Most Warehouse Management Systems homegrown or otherwise can handle assigning SKUs to what level you require.  SKUs can be measured and recorded for future slotting use.

Finally, SKUs that are seldom used or never used can be relocated to more remote areas of the distribution center to allow for the prime movers to be picked efficiently.

 

For more information from Greg, view his page at www.trifactor.com/greg 

“Waste Not Want Not”

Often we accept the waste in our packaging as the cost of doing business. For companies who are shipping a myriad of products, it’s tough to consistently select the most efficient shipping carton.  As a result:

·         We pay for cartons that are underutilized

·         We fill up the unused space with void fill that is not free

·         We use void fill machines that can be expensive to buy, service and maintain

·         The postage paid on the case is more than what it should be due to extra weight

·         We buy totes then use our associates to dump the contents out and transfer to a case using their intuition

Continuing on this course is an option to be sure.  However, in many packaging and shipping operations, we can improve on this waste by knowing the characteristics of what we are shipping.  The length, width, height and weight of our individual SKUs are crucial information.  Armed with this information, we can calculate the expected volume of a given order.  If we know the anticipated volume, we can select the right shipping container at the beginning of the picking process using carton weight calculations. The benefits include:

·         Potentially reduce the width of the case conveyor through the elimination of totes

·         Reduce or eliminate the void space in our shipping cartons

·         Reduce labor required to audit, transfer and process void fill

·         Reduce corrugated stock costs

·         Identify mis-picks through weight validation

 As we all know, there is continuous pressure on margins and a focus on waste may be the edge you need to reduce your unit costs. 

For more information from Greg, view his page at www.trifactor.com/greg

Should I stay or should I go?

Successful distributors often find themselves a victim of their own success.  Your “Once Small” business has now grown into a very large distribution center.  Your work-force that was once a few tried and true set of associates that you knew personally and could rely on for their ability to use their initiative and “tribal knowledge” of your business has grown multiple times.  Perhaps you don’t know them by name anymore as unfortunately they seem to come and go.  Your once spacious warehouse continues to grow laterally and it is getting tough to find space to pick, package and stage product.  So the subject comes up: “Are we getting too big for this facility?” and “Maybe it’s time to move to a bigger place”.   Don’t get me wrong, System Sales Engineers like me love a new distribution center and maybe it is time to move to a bigger place. But before you do, let’s point out a few areas that deserve some consideration. 

Cubic Space vs. Lateral Space

You are spread out to the max but do you have clear areas above your current distribution operation to use vertically instead of laterally.  There are many ways to use this space that often goes ignored.  Shelf supported platforms, mezzanines, pick modules and sorters can often be elevated to use the vertical space available.   Additionally, in distribution operations with small parts or many slower moving SKUs, vertical lift modules are a good means of condensing storage of items while suing the full clear height of your facility. 

Manifesting Consolidation

You ship with the typical providers UPS, FEDEX and USPS and you keep adding manifesting stations to keep up with the throughput requirements.  However, many distribution centers are automating this function in a condensed space with a picking operation that features:

·         Picked case LPN – License Plate Number bar codes that contain order data.

·         Cases that are bar coded by the case manufacturer with dimensional data contained.

·         Central shipping label print and apply lines

o   Case LPN is scanned

o   Case dimensional data code is scanned

o   Case is weighed in line on the fly

o   Shipping label (FEDEX, UPS or USPS) is applied automatically

o   Case is sorted automatically to their respective line by shipping type

Imagine one central shipping area instead of multiple manifesting lines with all the redundant equipment and space that comes with it. 

Picking Consolidation

You have an army of pickers that pick up their paper pick lists, pick orders one at a time with carts, taking them up to a central packing area.  I know it was never meant to be this way but it just came with the great success of your business.    With all this travelling and movement come the inevitable reduction of throughput and the expansion of picking areas required to hold all this traffic, never-mind the social activity that goes together with pushing picking carts around the distribution center. 

Many distribution centers centralize picking, using batch picking with a suitable technology which may include RF scanners, pick to light, or voice picking.  The picking may be done out of carousels (horizontal and vertical) depending on the velocity of the individual SKU or out of pick modules which are slotted by velocity of pallet picks (full pallet, carton flow or shelving).  The right type is a function of the speed of the pick, dimensional qualities of the SKU and the density of product pick faces.

There are also “Goods to You” applications that make great use of the vertical space often available in many warehouses.  These “Goods to You” systems bring the product to the picker and are versatile in form and function. 

Before you consider moving, spend some time looking up and consolidating where you can, using proven technologies.  It’s much cheaper than taking on a new lease.