12/09/2015

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WA RE HO US E / DC

5 Ways to Improve Order Picking Productivity

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. By Marc
Wulfraat, President, MWPVL
2

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Challenge:Doingmorewithlessinadistribution
operationbyimprovingorderpickingproductivity.
Soundfamiliar?Inthefaceofflatordeclining
growthrates,thepressureisonforcompaniesto
reduceoperatingexpensestoprotectmargins.
Supplychainexecutivesarefacedwiththe
challengeofreducinglaborcosts,butatthe
sametime,customersareplacingmoreorders
withsmallerquantities.
Customersarealsounderpressuretolower
costsbyreducinginventorylevelsandthis
translatesintomorecosttoserveforyour
business.
Thusthebusinesschallengeishowtodomore
withlesswithinthedistributionoperation.Tothis
end,thereareusuallyopportunitiestoincrease
efficiencydependingonacompanysstarting
point.

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Since50+%ofwarehouselaborresourcesare
typicallyinvolvedinpicking,packingandshippingoutboundorders,itusuallymakessense
tofocusontheseoperationsfirst.
Nowmaybethetimetorevisitsomebasicfirstprinciplestomaximizingwarehouse
efficiency.Withthisentry,wefocuson5waystoimprovepickingoperations:

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1. MixingmultipleSKUsinthesamebinlocationreducespickingproductivity.We
havedonetimeandmotionstudiesthatprovethatthereisadefinitetimepenalty
associatedtomixingmultipleSKUsintothesamebinlocation.
Weseethisinmanywarehouseswhereabinlocationmayrepresentashelflevel
thatcontains510SKUpickfacings.Theoperatorisdirectedtotheshelflevel
andthenneedstosearchthroughthedifferentSKUstofindtheitemtobepicked.
Notonlydoesthisreduceaccuracy,italsoslowstheoperatordownbyasmuchas
15+secondsperpicktransaction.HavingadiscretepicklocationforeverySKUis
rule#1.
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2. Reducingtraveltimeimprovesorderpickingproductivity.Thisiswhybatchand
clusterorderpickingstrategiesareusedinwarehouses.Itisalsowhysome
companiesinvestintoconveyorsystems.
Traveltimecaneasilyaccountfor50%ormoreoforderpickinghours.By
combiningordersintoasingletravelinstancethetimespenttravellingisgreatly
reduced.Thesmallertheorder,thebettertheopportunitytocombinemultiple
ordersintoasingletravelinstance.
3. Conventionalorderpickingproductivityimproveswhenitisatgroundlevel.The
statementthatitcostsmoretopickverticallythanitdoestopickhorizontallyisa
generallyacceptedprinciplethathasbeendemonstratedthroughbenchmarking
effortsovertheyears.
Therealityisthatsomecompanieslacktherealestateatgroundleveltoprovide
pickfacingsforallSKUshencetheyneedtopickverticallylikeitornot.Parts
distributioncentersaretypicalofthissituation.Inthesecases,assigntheslowest
velocityitemstobepickedfromverticallocationsandthekeepthefastestvelocity
itemsatfloorleveltominimizethepenaltyassociatedwithverticalpicking.
4. Orderpickingproductivityimproveswith"hit"density.Ifanoperatorpicksfromone
outofevery100picklocationsthenthiswillbeslowerthaniftheoperatorpicks
fromoneoutofevery10picklocations.Higherpickdensity=higherpick
productivity.
Thusitmaymakesensetosetuphotzonesinthewarehousetoconcentratethe
SKUsthatgeneratethemajorityofpickingactivity.Somewarehouseoperations
haveABCvelocitydefinitionssothatthefastestmoving"A"SKUsarepositioned
togetherwithindesignatedwideroperatingaislestoreducecongestion.By
increasingthepickdensityofthe"A"items,traveltimeisreducedandthe
opportunitytospeedupthepickingprocessisgreatlyimproved.
5. Warehouseefficiencyisimprovedwhenitemsareassignedtothecorrectstorage
media.Imagineifalloperatorshavewetpaintontheirhands,thentheoptimized
warehousehastheminimalnumberoffingerprintsontheboxes.Eachsetoffinger
printscostsmoney.Takingfingerprintsofftheboxesmeansthewarehousehas
beensetuptominimizeproducthandling.
Thefirstbasicprincipletobeadheredtoisthatitemsshouldbestoredinthe
appropriatestoragemedia.HavingslowmovingSKUsinpalletracksmaybeas
wastefulashavingfastmovingSKUsinshelvingbins.Wemakethisdecision
basedonavariablecalledcubemovementvelocitywhichmeasuresthevolumeof
movementforeachSKU.Thecubemovementvelocity=movementinunitsxcubic
dimensionsoftheunit.
MeasuringthismetricforeverySKUprovidesanimportantwaytoensurethat
productsarebeinghandledwithinthemostappropriatestoragemedia.Highcube
movementbelongsinrackingandlowcubemovementcanbeassignedtosmaller
storagemediaformats.

Moreinformationonorderpickingproductivityandwarehousingmanagement.

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Article topics
TrendsWarehouse/DCWarehouseManagementOtherOrderPicking4SIGHTSupplyChainGroup
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