Process Improvement Opportunities

The major warehousing processes include such activities as Receiving, Inventory Management, Addressing, Cycle Counting, Put away/Replenishment, Order Preparation, Order Picking, Cross Docking, Stacking, Staging, Wrapping, Loading and Shipping. Often forgotten, however, is the importance of constantly auditing and revising the processes for the sake of improvement in productivity and accuracy. Is a particular product best suited for using a piece pick method? Or, is it best to use a bulk, fork-lift picking method? Should labels be used or is scanning and manually counting the product enough?

An important part of Warehouse Management is the accurate accounting for the time it takes for the pickers to pick product, for the replenishers to replenish product, for the shippers to quickly cross dock or move pallets onto trucks. Tracking the time of the actual moves and the dwell time, or the time between moves, is also very important. Clues as to how to streamline a process of human interaction with product comes from such simple studies. You may find that a slight change in process such as removing the use of labels, or adding/removing a process step from the user interface on the barcode scanning software, or perhaps moving from paper picking to a scan, pick-to-light or voice solution can save valuable time.

The best teachers in the warehouse are the people that work the line. Pickers and dispatchers, replenishers and shippers that know their jobs well, can tell you exactly where the inefficiencies can be found. So, listen. And, ask lots of questions. Process improvement may be the most important process in Warehouse Management!