Ten tips for faster picking
Need to improve order picking efficiency without spending a lot of cash? Here are some quick, cost-effective tips.
By Susan Lacefield, Associate Editor -- Logistics Management, 7/1/2005
Here's a rule of thumb every shipper should know: In the average warehouse or distribution center (DC), order picking can consume as much as two-thirds of the facility's operating cost and time. So it's not surprising that when companies want to improve productivity, they often start there.
When faced with a productivity problem, the first impulse for many organizations is to reach for an expensive new technology solution or piece of equipment. Sometimes, however, that may not solve the problem. That's because simple procedural improvements often can be faster, cheaper, and more effective than a big technology investment.
With that in mind, here are 10 tips for getting a more efficient warehouse fast—without spending a lot of cash.
1 Watch, listen, and learn.
Find the source of slowdowns by taking a week to follow warehouse workers and document their movements and activities. "Take a look at what type of delays your workers experience in a day," says Wayne Teres of Framingham, Mass.-based Teres Consulting. "For example, how many times do they go to an order location and an item isn't there? How many times is an order picker interrupted by another worker? How many times does a worker bump into another working in the same aisle? These very simple things start highlighting and quantifying what slows them down."
When conducting this type of study, don't focus on the best or the average order picker, suggests Robert B. Silverman, president of consulting firm Gross & Associates. Instead, observe a cross-section of all pickers to get an accurate picture, he advises.
And rather than simply watch order pickers, talk to them. After all, they're the experts in these jobs. "The easiest thing to do is to ask your workers what slows them down, what they would like to change," says Teres. "You never know what you'll find. The other nice thing is, suppose they come up with one or two things you can change. Then it's a win-win-win. You listen to them, their voice is heard, you change it, and you have happier workers."
2 Less travel = more productivity.
Look for ways to reduce order pickers' travel time. Industry experts estimate that travel time can take up anywhere from 60 to 80 percent of the total time spent on order picking. Reducing the number of steps pickers travel, therefore, will cut costs and increase efficiency.
One way to reduce travel time is to create a forward pick line, sometimes referred to as a "warehouse within a warehouse." This involves creating a separate area for picking whole or broken cases. Silverman acknowledges that setting up a forward pick line requires the additional step of pick-line replenishment, but he believes the benefits justify the extra cost. "The productivity gains you get in picking typically outweigh the added labor involved with replenishment," he says.
3 Follow the ABCs of slotting.
Take a closer look at slotting—how you assign products to picking locations. One of the most common approaches is to slot according to velocity, where fast-moving "A" items are located nearest the area where the next stage in order fulfillment is performed. Slower-moving "B" items are placed in the next-closest area, and slowest-moving "C" items are farthest away. While this might seem like common sense, many warehouses make the mistake of organizing their pick lines by product type, says Debra Ellis, president of Wilson and Ellis Consulting.
Switching to a slotting pattern that's based on how often an item is ordered can have a profound impact on productivity. Ellis tells of one client that distributed allergy-prevention products. The company sold a popular air filter that was included in almost every order. All filters, however, were placed together along the back wall of the DC, and pickers were constantly walking to the back of the facility. By moving the hot-selling filter forward in the pick line, the company dramatically increased picking speed and efficiency, says Ellis.
Be careful to correctly identify fast movers, though. "You want to slot on how often each item is picked," says Silverman. In other words, frequency is more relevant than quantity.
Velocity isn't the only consideration when revising slotting, though. Other factors that influence picking locations include ergonomics, customer size, and order commonality. For example, it might be more efficient to pick heavy or bulky items at the beginning of a pick path. Efficiencies might be gained from establishing dedicated zones for large customers. And shippers might want to slot items that often are ordered together adjacent to each other, even if one is an A item and the other is a C item. Continued...
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