Ten tips for faster picking (page 2)
-- Logistics Management, 7/1/2005
Page 2 of 3 4 Revisit slotting decisions often.
Don't change your slotting once and then forget about it. Slotting efficiencies change as demand patterns vary, new products are introduced, and old ones are phased out. How often you re-slot depends on your business, says Eric Miller, manager of distribution projects/distribution operations at BD (formerly Becton Dickinson), a medical technology company. BD re-slots quarterly, but for companies that must deal with high product turnover or seasonal demand, weekly or monthly may be a better choice.
Re-slotting an entire warehouse could easily become a multi-week project. That's why Silverman suggests focusing first on items that are consuming the greatest amount of pickers' time and effort. "It's really not necessary and probably a waste of labor to re-slot the entire warehouse," he says. "You're going to get to the point where it really doesn't matter where the relatively slow movers are—as long as they are not in the way and are not keeping the fast movers from having the front-row seats."
Pick orders in batches rather than one at a time. Picking two, three, or even 10 orders at a time can have a great effect on efficiency, says Teres. "Even if you pick two at a time, it still saves steps. You can't ignore the power of the batch," he says.
Picking carts that can carry 10 or 12 orders at a time enable batch picking at a relatively low cost. When shipper Calendars.com switched to using carts for batch picking, it saw a 400 percent increase in picking productivity. Another option is to use a double pallet jack to move two pallets at a time. This method is especially good for full-case picking, says Silverman.
6 Keep enough inventory on hand.
Order picking can virtually grind to a halt if a picker arrives at a location and finds it empty. Prevent that from happening by keeping a specified minimum level of inventory in each location; replenish daily any items that have fallen below the minimum level.
What the minimum (and maximum) amounts should be will vary from company to company, but Silverman recommends keeping one-half to one week's worth of product within reach. "You don't want to have to replenish every item every night, so we've found a week [of inventory] to be a good balance," he says.
7 Reconsider equipment choices.
The storage equipment you already have in your warehouse may not be the most efficient for handling certain types of items. Norman Saenz Jr., manager of the Logistics Group at consultant Carter & Burgess, suggests that a fast-moving item might be better off in a carton flow rack that needs to be replenished once a week rather than in shelving that needs to be replenished several times a day.
For fast-moving, full-case items, Silverman recommends storing multiple pallets in the pick position and installing pallet flow rails that use rollers to move pallets along the floor.
Keep it simple and pickers won't have to spend an excessive amount of time hunting for a product, says BD's Miller. Storing more than one item in a single location requires order pickers to spend time verifying that they've taken the right item; holding both broken and full cases in the same slot forces them to search for an unopened box.
Use visual cues to help pickers verify their decisions quickly. At each pick location in BD's warehouses, for example, pictures show not only the right product but also the appropriate unit of measurement, such as a shelf pack or a full case, Miller says.
9 Get your customers on board.
Picking "eaches" is much more time-consuming than picking pallets or full cases.
In World-Class Warehousing and Material Handling, Dr. Edward Frazelle recommends encouraging customers to order in full cases or in full, half-, or quarter-pallet quantities. That will speed picking by reducing manual handling as well as the time needed for counting and packaging, he writes. Price breaks can provide customers with an incentive for ordering in efficient pick quantities. Continued...
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