Modern Warehousing and the Consultant
Once upon a time, operating a distribution center was accomplished by tracking inventory on blackboards and moving the inventory by following handwritten lists. Stockrooms were typically small and orders moved slowly enough to meet demand using such methods. Beginning with the US Military in the 1940's, the transformation from simple paper systems to logistics activities that were more methodology-driven, began to emerge.
When industrial computing equipment became available, distributors leveraged the insatiable consumer demand for imported goods and realized quick return on investment, ROI, when replacing paper-driven methods with computerized inventory control. By automating the warehouse, managers could reduce labor costs while keeping pace in productivity. As with any change in technology, complexities from process redesign to solution migration were exacerbated by the lack of trained personnel. Enter the Supply Chain Execution Consultant.
The fact is that with any move from one technology to another within supply chain activities, there are always issues to be confronted that are solely based on the case at hand. The Consultant's role can be as simple as identifying the roadblocks by conducting a technology survey to managing the project lifecycle of a complete warehouse management system. Customers do not stop placing orders just because the warehouse needs a technology makeover. The Consultant takes into consideration whether the product has a shelf-life constraint or if it's seasonal. In addition, the Consultant notes the available staging area, the number of resources available, the quantities moved, transportation issues, communication issues, and other such details for each warehousing task when designing technology migration plans.
When selecting a Consultant, be sure to interview the individual as you would any of your key, high-level employees. Most Consultants are willing to take an initial phone interview and many are willing to visit gratis when the opportunity is a fit. Additionally, if the Consultant is an employee of a consulting firm, review the financials of the private firm through Dunn & Bradstreet or Hoovers, and the public firm through financial investor statements, to ensure the financial stability of the firm. Be sure that when a technology selection is the goal, the Consultant is able to be neutral as to the package or product that is selected. Then, once you've selected your consulting partner, trust their advice, but don't trust it blindly. Stay abreast of the decisions and to the progress by requesting weekly or bi-weekly status reports to include action items and outstanding issues.
Consultants are truly a warehouse manager's business partner. Typically the Consultant is an excellent communicator that is able to take an overview of an operation and deliver the desired solutions to such problems as inventory shrinkage, throughput speed, individual resource productivity, training, staffing and more by helping to implement process and technology enhancements with minor if any disruption to supply chain activities. Some of the solutions to these complex problems include speech-enabling activities such as voice picking, multimodal mobile applications that can adapt RFID, barcode scanning, GPS, Bluetooth and more. The Consultant can intelligently guide managers through the integration of complex systems such as paletizers, AGV forks, pick-to-light, pick-by-voice, warehouse management systems, WMS, and other packages to make warehouse activities more efficient.
Every few years a major technology enhancement promising deep cost reductions with quick ROI flashes onto the scene. If operations attempted to adopt all such changes, it would no doubt cripple their supply chain activities. With the experienced advice of a qualified industry consultant, a warehouse management team can rest assured that only the right technology enhancement will be undertaken at the right time with an assurance that the technology fits firmly within the framework of company goals.
