.................................CONTACT US..|.SITE INDEX.| SEARCH:  
 
4SIGHT    

Content on this page requires a newer version of Adobe Flash Player.

Get Adobe Flash player

 

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

5 Ways to Improve Order Picking Productivity

By Marc Wulfraat, President, MWPVL
Challenge: Doing more with less in a distribution operation by improving order picking productivity.
Sound familiar? In the face of flat or declining growth rates, the pressure is on for companies to reduce operating expenses to protect margins. Supply chain executives are faced with the challenge of reducing labor costs, but at the same time, customers are placing more orders with smaller quantities. Customers are also under pressure to lower costs by reducing inventory levels and this translates into more cost to serve for your business.
Thus the business challenge is how to do more with less within the distribution operation. To this end, there are usually opportunities to increase efficiency depending on a company's starting point. Since 50+% of warehouse labor resources are typically involved in picking, packing and shipping outbound orders, it usually makes sense to focus on these operations first. Now may be the time to revisit some basic first principles to maximizing warehouse efficiency. With this entry, we focus on 5 ways to improve picking operations.
1.       Mixing multiple SKUs in the same bin location reduces picking productivity. We have done time and motion studies that prove that there is a definite time penalty associated to mixing multiple SKUs into the same bin location. We see this in many warehouses where a bin location may represent a shelf level that contains 5 - 10 SKU pick facings. The operator is directed to the shelf level and then needs to search through the different SKUs to find the item to be picked. Not only does this reduce accuracy, it also slows the operator down by as much as 15+ seconds per pick transaction. Having a discrete pick location for every SKU is rule #1.
2.       Reducing travel time improves order picking productivity. This is why batch and cluster order picking strategies are used in warehouses. It is also why some companies invest into conveyor systems. Travel time can easily account for 50% or more of order picking hours. By combining orders into a single travel instance the time spent travelling is greatly reduced. The smaller the order, the better the opportunity to combine multiple orders into a single travel instance.
3.       Conventional order picking productivity improves when it is at ground level. The statement that it costs more to pick vertically than it does to pick horizontally is a generally accepted principle that has been demonstrated through benchmarking efforts over the years. The reality is that some companies lack the real estate at ground level to provide pick facings for all SKUs hence they need to pick vertically like it or not. Parts distribution centers are typical of this situation. In these cases, assign the slowest velocity items to be picked from vertical locations and the keep the fastest velocity items at floor level to minimize the penalty associated with vertical picking.
4.       Order picking productivity improves with "hit" density. If an operator picks from one out of every 100 pick locations then this will be slower than if the operator picks from one out of every 10 pick locations. Higher pick density = higher pick productivity. Thus it may make sense to set up hot zones in the warehouse to concentrate the SKUs that generate the majority of picking activity. Some warehouse operations have ABC velocity definitions so that the fastest moving "A" SKUs are positioned together within designated wider operating aisles to reduce congestion. By increasing the pick density of the "A" items, travel time is reduced and the opportunity to speed up the picking process is greatly improved.
5.       Warehouse efficiency is improved when items are assigned to the correct storage media. Imagine if all operators have wet paint on their hands, then the optimized warehouse has the minimal number of finger prints on the boxes. Each set of finger prints costs money. Taking finger prints off the boxes means the warehouse has been set up to minimize product handling. The first basic principle to be adhered to is that items should be stored in the appropriate storage media. Having slow moving SKUs in pallet racks may be as wasteful as having fast moving SKUs in shelving bins. We make this decision based on a variable called cube movement velocity which measures the volume of movement for each SKU. The cube movement velocity = movement in units x cubic dimensions of the unit. Measuring this metric for every SKU provides an important way to ensure that products are being handled within the most appropriate storage media. High cube movement belongs in racking and low cube movement can be assigned to smaller storage media formats.

Need help with order picking productivity or warehousing management? Contact us today! (201) 940-7311

Labels: order picking productivity, warehouse distribution operations, warehouse efficiency, warehouse logistics, warehouse order picking system

posted by 4SIGHT Supply Chain Group at 7:16 PM

17 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

I am looking to get Catwalk Mezzanine Systems this year. What do you think about that? Thanks.

August 18, 2015 at 2:30 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

For wholesale distributors of fast-moving consumer goods, FMCG, (TARGET), who’s sales reps and/or customers need to place remote orders on portable, wireless computing devices (FOR) employing mobile order management software that is fast, reliable, powerful, flexible, easy-to-use, 100% “native” with scores of trade-specific features and full back-office integration (DIFF), containing “core logic” developed and supported by the one enterprise software company, Ai2, with the utmost industry knowledge, ability and longevity (RTB)
mobile order entry

September 29, 2017 at 12:46 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

For wholesale distributors of fast-moving consumer goods, FMCG, (TARGET), who’s sales reps and/or customers need to place remote orders on portable, wireless computing devices (FOR) employing mobile order management software that is fast, reliable, powerful, flexible, easy-to-use, 100% “native” with scores of trade-specific features and full back-office integration (DIFF), containing “core logic” developed and supported by the one enterprise software company, Ai2, with the utmost industry knowledge, ability and longevity (RTB)
order management software

September 29, 2017 at 1:55 PM  
Blogger Sharonmartins said...

Nice

January 30, 2019 at 10:42 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

After reading your article I was amazed. I know that you explain it very well. And I hope that other readers will also experience how I feel after reading your article.
Purchase Order Management Software

January 4, 2021 at 12:26 AM  
Blogger William Jessie said...

Very well written article. It was an awesome article to read. Complete rich content and fully informative. I totally Loved it.IVF in Los Angeles

January 15, 2021 at 2:01 PM  
Blogger Rozer Baine said...

Your article contains very much information . Your article is very informative and useful to know . Thank you so much for sharing this article here. Parcel Contract Negotiation

February 3, 2021 at 4:29 AM  
Blogger Laura Bush said...

You have worked nicely with your insights that makes our work easy. The information you have provided is really factual and significant for us. Keep sharing these types of article, Thank you. used pallet racks

April 28, 2021 at 10:32 PM  
Blogger Hazel said...

Surely would love to be thankful for publishing such an innovative stuff. The challenges and ways of improving order picking productivity. Maintaining SKU or developing order picking system was really a hard process few years back. But today with the bless of technology the issue is now been almost at our grab. I was impressed how decent way your stated all the order picking operations. That's great. I have to admit, inspite of having a desire to have some ideas on order management software, I was quite happy with the helpful details you delivered to us. Please keep up such useful job.

May 24, 2021 at 7:33 AM  
Blogger aaronnssd said...

You are providing such an informative article here. You have described everything which is easily understandable to everyone. Keep sharing this kind of articles, Thank you.pallet rack charlotte nc

June 21, 2021 at 2:03 PM  
Blogger Hammad Khan said...

It is really a great work and the way in which you are sharing the knowledge is excellent.Thanks for your informative article lexus es with chauffeur in dubai

September 15, 2021 at 12:36 AM  
Blogger Rita Dev said...

Thanks for sharing this informative blog for supply chain management. I am doing my PGCM Course in supply chain and this info was very useful to me. keep sharing.

October 6, 2021 at 6:50 AM  
Blogger PremCy said...

Instead of doing it manually, you can also further improve order picking efficiency by using Warehouse Management Software

February 2, 2022 at 11:14 AM  
Blogger Rakesh Chattels said...

Very informative blog, It’s very useful for each and everyone who is running a warehouse.
Please take some to time visit my site to get a Warehouse for rent in Chennai

March 21, 2022 at 12:58 AM  
Blogger quetajager said...

As there’s so much assume about|to contemplate}, we’ve broken it down for you to can} understand an important features of selecting your preferred actual money on-line on line casino website. Golden Nugget’s sign-up offer and daily promotions are additionally nice, giving new and existing users an opportunity to get essentially the most out of their money when playing in} a variety of|quite lots of|a wide range of} video games. The majority of these come in the type of slots and table video games, with the broad choice of jackpot slots on show additionally being one of many stronger factors. These are accompanied by a prime sign-up offer and a fantastic number of existing customer promotions, issues that make Caesars top-of-the-line on-line casinos in the us In complete, we offer premium on line casino gaming software from greater casino.edu.kg than 110 manufacturers. In complete, there are + video games that may be} loved by your gamers.

November 9, 2022 at 12:06 AM  
Blogger Waseem said...

really content! Thank you for sharing. minivan rental dubai

December 13, 2022 at 2:16 AM  
Blogger Waseem said...

Lots of excellent specials that appeal to both existing and potential clients at dubai airport transfer

December 13, 2022 at 4:18 AM  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home

Previous Posts

  • What Do All Successful Labor Management System Imp...
  • WMS in the Cloud: Is it Ready for Prime Time? – Pa...
  • Voice Enabled Technology Has Proven It's Value
  • An Overview of Supply Chain Software Evaluation
  • Buiding Relationships and Streamling Inventory Man...
  • As Direct Store Delivery (DSD) continues to thrive...
  • Simple Supply Chain Strategies to Curb Costs

Subscribe to
Posts [Atom]