“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

“Seeing the forest through the trees”

It is hard to see the forest through the trees sometimes.  In our world (Distributors and Manufacturers), the trees that block our view are the pressing demands on a Distribution or Plant Manager.  You all know them well as they are routine in nature:

·         Hiring enough and the right type of associates.

·         Making sure we are meeting our customer service expectations.

·         Keeping up with new products, new acquisitions and promises made by our sales force.

·         Finding the space to accommodate growing business requirements.

·         Adapting to increased e-commerce needs that accompany society’s changing purchasing behaviors.

When you are blocked by the trees, we all tend to handle these demands ourselves using the path of least resistance.  As our SKUs increase in volume and in number, it is easy to continue to find empty spaces, hire new people and do things the same way until it starts to affect our customers.  Once our customers become affected and the top and/or bottom line reduces, the praise you once received for doing more with less is replaced with questions about how you are going to fix it. 

Although the economic slowdown is continually in the news, I have met more than a few companies that are growing 10, 20 and 30 percent year over year.  Many of these companies do not employ the sophisticated metrics developed and available to larger companies so where do we begin?

An essential beginning is to understand our SKU’s (Stock Keeping Units).  It is valuable to know the dimensions of your product (length, width, height and weight).  Additionally, the same dimensions for the case we traditionally pick out of if other than case quantities.  Since most companies know their sales data, we look to understand the demand and the size requirements to store and pick. If you don’t have time to do this, hire someone to help you see the forest.   

Stepping back from tress, looking at your product speed, dimensions, replenishment requirements and future growth projections will allow you to redesign your picking operation to replenish less, travel less, use floor space better and reduce current and future labor. 

If you are blinded by the trees, hire a lumberjack to help you cut them down.

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. 

Examine First Diagnosis Later

Seldom can you walk into a doctor’s office and get a diagnosis for what ails you.  Rather the doctor asks you a series of questions runs tests and even sends you to get blood drawn to understand what’s happening on the inside.  Yet when important automation decisions are made at distribution centers and manufacturing facilities, solutions are often provided as a result of a diagnosis based on what the customer specifically asks for or some technology that is applied based on some other company’s operation.  Important questions are not asked, and the customers end up only with what they asked for. 

So some may say “Give the customer what they asked for” and “The customer is always right”.  Both are wise statements if you wish to stay in business, but don’t we owe a deeper responsibility to people who entrust us with large financial investments and sometimes their careers? 

If the answer is yes, then it is necessary to understand our customers more and further examination is required before we diagnose.  Beyond the identification of product dimensions, cartons or pallets per minute or lines picked per hour lay important questions.

·    What are the most critical aspects of any potential transition to automation? These answers are often different depending on who you speak with.

·    Are there any future growth anticipated through acquisitions or through e-commerce business growth?

·    Is the primary goal to reduce labor, increase throughput, increase productivity, reduce operational footprint, extend stay at existing facilities, increase accuracy, improve safety or reduce theft?

·    Are there parallel software initiatives such as transitions to a new Warehouse Management System or Warehouse Control System that will require interfacing with and automation initiatives?

As we get the answer to these questions we must also be aware of a great degree of customization that has been increasing over the last 5 years.  Customization is increasingly difficult issue for distribution centers and manufacturers to plan for and adapt to.  Big box retailers expect their product in specific pallet configurations, labeled and wrapped uniquely, with various product staging times corresponding to transportation scheduling.  Particularly in low SKU high volume operations, users want mixed pallets that have layers of different products and sometimes cases of different products that allow them to only stock what they need.  Couple this increase in customization with an increasing consumer appetite to purchase items online with options available for shipping speed, specific carrier selection and special packaging and you have system requirements that must be versatile and modular to keep up with changing customer market dynamics.

If we don’t ask enough right questions the examination will not be thorough enough to properly diagnose what type of system is best for your customer.  Even if you provide exactly what your customer asked for it is not good enough.  Uncomfortable discussions based on challenging the status quo can open details that will result in good quality systems that are built for growth, flexibility and responsive customer service.  

Welcome! Meet Greg Tuohy of TriFactor

Distribution Center Planning and Industry News has been created to deliver current distribution industry news from Greg Tuohy of TriFactor.  TriFactor is a FL-based material handling systems integrator that serves the warehousing and distribution industry worldwide.  Feel free to follow this blog, get in touch with Greg, and/or check out TriFactor's website www.trifactor.com

About Greg:

Greg Tuohy earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Boston University.  Greg has been a System Sales Engineer with TriFactor for nine years.  Greg’s professional career includes over six years of management experience as a Production and Service Manager in the textile industry. Over the course of his professional and military career he has served in numerous logistical positions in Europe and the United to include service as a Company Commander in the 101^st Airborne Division.

Today, Greg works with industry leading companies to find efficient material handling solutions for their warehousing and distribution facilities.  TriFactor delivers integrated material handling systems to unique businesses across the United States.