This best practice is on warehouse voice picking. Instead of looking at the screen and looking at the device and typing in the characters and picking you would talk hands-free and eyes-free with voice-picking. This is what the voice picking is, but let’s take a step back and understand how this whole picking process is evolved. If you look at it, the very first picking process was all based on the paper pick takers. There…
This next best practice is about optimizing your slotting process. It’s all about picking and especially it’s even more important in the e-commerce world, because you are picking one unit order and two unit orders. This is what the standard order profile is for the orders that people are placing from their computers at home through the web and through the mobile device. It’s all about picking from the active locations and piece pick locations….
This best practice is about Returns ASN (Advance Shipment Notice). We discussed about the ASN before and we articulated on how useful was the ASN in deployment scheduling and your were able to plan your work in the receiving area. You were also able to get upfront information as to what is going to hit your DC and you could even allocate inventory in terms of the location of the product and allocate inventory for…
This warehouse best practice is called the directed putaway. Putaway is a process of moving the product after receiving at the receiving dock. The product gets received and either cases were built or the pallets were built and now these cases and pallets have to be put-away in their reserve location. The way it works is the product is moved from the receiving area to the reserve area in so many different ways. The user…
Our actions and decisions are only as good as the data we use to rule them. That being true, when designing complicated systems, ensure the integrity of the data set involved becomes enormously important. Obviously, the data that resides in a system should be accurate. However, it also needs to have integrity, which means consistent and not unnecessarily redundant. A good data set is invaluable. Done well, it puts all of the data elements in…
In the distribution center (DC), technology has taken over many manually intensive, paper-based processes. That progression is fascinating. Technology is being leveraged to create superior processes and connect workers seamlessly throughout the distribution center. Early in 2000, I visited a Detroit-area DC that based its efficiency on highly disciplined paper-based processes, ruled by the iron fist of the DC manager. This tough woman had more than 30 years of experience in the organization, which had…
I recently visited a major speaker manufacturer with cutting edge technology. The layout of the facility demonstrated clearly how much the company cares about its products. The main reception area had a demo area and my host demonstrated just how loud he could make the music without jeopardizing the quality of the sound. This company was passionate about sound technology. It got me thinking about what the layout of a distribution center might say about…
In the warehouse, excellent data collection processes are critical to accurate inventory counts in real time. By knowing what’s in the warehouse, organizations can fulfil orders quickly, avoid shortages, reduce misspeaks, and deliver the highest levels of customer service. In the beginning, pen and paper was the only method for data collection. Distribution center (DC) managers created processes, trained personnel, and handed them pads of paper to collect warehouse data. Most of the picking was…
Photo courtesy: Samsung Google announced its Pixel phone bragging that it could last up to seven hours after a 15-minute charge. How cool is that? You don’t need to go through a miserable day if (or maybe more truthfully when) you forget to charge your phone the night before. I know from experience. When I had an iPhone 5, it would be a hard day if I missed charging before I went to sleep. Then, I got…
1. Increases EPP, using budgeted line items.
Millennial friendly technology, less onboarding time, very easy adoption – touch screen keypad, and 43% of Millennials already use IOS, familiar with Facetime, 85% of Millennials aged 18-24 own devices and 86% aged 25-34 own them, consume a lot of video on their smartphones, and are highly comfortable with this medium, they understand and like apps.