Global Logistics and Supply Chain Strategies - October 2008 - (Page 54)

Le Tart. “Employees want to be treated fairly, and that’s what standards do. You always have a few individuals who will rebel, but the vast majority embrace it.” A full set of engineered labor standards is necessary in order to gain worker confidence, says Ian Hobkirk, director of supply chain consulting with Forte Industries in Cincinnati. Systems that deploy historical averages don’t account for such elements as travel distance and the type of picking involved, he says. “When you just use historical standards, you get a lot of pushback.” The Travel Factor Reducing travel time between locations within the warehouse is another major strategy for boosting productivity. Operations can be sped up by placing fast-moving items closer to the pick line, Le Tart says. The practice known as task interleaving yields further savings. A forklift driver, after putting pallets away, is given another task by the system instead of returning empty for the next assignment. Multiple jobs can also be given to workers on foot. The idea isn’t a new one—RedPrairie has offered the functionality for a decade—but more warehouses are showing interest in task interleaving as they combat rising costs and a limited labor pool, Le Tart says. Brad Wyland, senior research analyst of supply chain management with Aberdeen Group in Boston, Mass., says warehouses are becoming much more sophisticated in the criteria they deploy for laying out storage racks and product. They are also engaging in more batch picking, multi-container picks, grouping of orders by product and density, and other techniques that make better use of the existing workforce. “They are looking at utilizing labor as best they can,” Wyland says. “You don’t want people deadheading—going up and down aisles without doing something.” In addition, replenishment schemes reflect the popularity of various items, as managers work to ensure that they don’t run out of product at the pick face. Some warehouses are turning away from traditional wave picking in favor of grouping orders by product and density. Such plans are subject to constant revision, based on seasonal peaks and actual customer demand. Changes can occur on a monthly or even weekly basis. “You don’t have four seasons anymore,” says Wyland, adding that retailers are under pressure to have new product on the shelves year-round. When an item isn’t selling, they are quick to offer a replacement. Warehouses are being more careful about the technology they acquire to support new business processes, Wyland says. “The buying of technology without understanding the right place for it is not as popular as it used to be.” Certain systems can yield benefits, provided they are installed in the proper environment. Pick-to-light technology, for example, is best deployed in warehouses with high volumes and many small pieces. Case-picking operations could benefit from a combination of robotics and the reassignment of workers to more sophisticated tasks. Many of the changes taking place in the warehouse today are a response to soaring labor costs and the decreasing reliability of the workforce, according to Hobkirk. Warehouses, he says, “are paying more and getting less for it.” The dilemma has sparked a search for processes that are easier for new employees to learn. At the same time, the application of lean techniques and the removal of waste has narrowed the margin of error. Extra inventory is no longer on hand to cover up mistakes, and speed is of the essence. “There is no longer the luxury of time to pick and ship, or even to put product away when it comes in,” says Hobkirk. The result in many cases is an impromptu cross-dock operation, where inbound product spends little or no time in storage before being shipped out. New systems and processes alert warehouse operators more quickly when something goes wrong. They also extend vital information about inventory status beyond the facility itself. Gone are the days when the warehouse was merely a “black box,” responsible only for getting product out the door.”External customers are expecting to know a lot more about what’s going on within those four walls,” says Daryl Grove, vice president of systems engineering with Denver-based Cadre Technologies Inc. In the old days, product might sit on the dock for a day or two without customer service knowing about it. That’s not the case anymore, says Grove. Electronic commerce offers visibility of shipment status at every step of the way, from supplier to end customer. What goes on within the ware- 54 OCTOBER 2008

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Global Logistics and Supply Chain Strategies - October 2008

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