NO ONE WANTS TO HEAR THEY HAVE AN UGLY BABY!

Gas is up over $4.50 a gallon, transportation costs are going through the roof, your employees are struggling to keep their homes and your customers are scrutinizing every cost on their invoices. I think it is safe to assume our economy is in trouble. This means your supply chain, which you have been neglecting, is crucial to your organizations success or its imminent failure. It is even more basic than that, “Your warehouse is about to make you or break you!”

I am not an economist but the signs look bleak for those organizations that have not addressed the issues related to the distribution of their product. In other words, “Their Warehouse Operations!” Your inability to provide the customer: what they want, when they want it, on a consistent basis, and at a reasonable price will affect the livelihood of your organization during this down cycle.

Woseley announced plans to close 75 locations and said their profit was down by 23%. Many other distributors are feeling the crunch and will ultimately begin “Right-Sizing”. “These are tough times” one CEO said, and I was told by a warehouse supervisor, “It doesn’t take a PHD to chop-heads”.

It’s time to admit you have an, “Ugly Baby!” Or, in distribution terminology, “Admit your warehouse is in shambles!” Click Here to Read More

Warehouse KPI's - Who's in Your "Fav-Five?"

As a distribution professional, you have several key performance indicators you are always aware of. The operations and fulfillment field includes many KPIs--quantifiable measurements that reflect the success factors of an organization.

But which warehouse KPIs are in your “Fav Five?” Here are mine, in descending order.

5. Returns processed
By this I mean returns processed as a result of incorrect product being shipped, or that the warehouse made a mistake. If you do not accurately track this metric, how do you know the effectiveness of your warehouse staff? You don’t!

4. Inventory movement
When was the last time you took a long, hard look at where your product is located within your warehouse? Most organizations don’t do this regularly—and they should. Did you know that 20% of your product is picked for 80% of your orders? And 55% of your pickers’ and receivers’ time is spent traveling to and from your locations? That’s why this metric is on my list. Click Here to Read our Fav-Five

WMS by the Numbers

Abstract: When it comes to warehouse management systems (WMS), the stats are both shocking and thought-provoking. And although you don’t see these stats in the marketing brochures of WMS vendors, you need to think about them before you purchase a WMS.

Warehouses are built around numbers—from the facility’s square footage, to how many rows of racking it takes to stock the number of stock-keeping units (SKUs), all the way to the amount of orders processed through a facility in a day. This article takes the numbers associated with warehouse management systems (WMS) you don’t see in the marketing brochures or advertisements of WMS vendors, and gets you thinking before you purchase and begin to implement a WMS.

If you watch television, you may be familiar with the CBS show NUMB3RS. Rob Morrow stars as an FBI detective aided by his mathematician brother in solving bank robberies and homicides. The show depicts how the confluences of FBI work, and mathematics provide unexpected revelations and answers to the most perplexing criminal questions. Let’s take a look at those number junctions in your distribution center.

30 Percent

Less than 30 percent of warehouses are efficient, according to “Benchmarking Warehouse Performance,” a study by the Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, Georgia [US]). That probably speaks directly to why you’re reading this article. You may have been wondering if a WMS system could make your warehouse more efficient. Click Here to read more numbers

How to be a "Good" warehouse employee!

Every business Guru on the planet is talking about leadership. So, I decided to tell everyone how to be an excellent follower (employee). These 16 Tidbits of information were extracted from the White Paper with the same title. CNN Money did a survey and found most workers waste and average of 2.9 hours per day. That means if you are average, including lunch and breaks, you only work for 4.5 hours a day. Remember that statistic when your company has its next layoff. Because that means half of you are not needed anyway.

• Work while you are at work! I know that is a strange concept for most people, but remember you are at a job and not a social club.

• If you are a “Complainer” shut up! No one wants to be miserable at work. If you feel you have been slighted by the organization, “That is your problem!”

• Clean your work area!  Nothing irritates me more than to see a dirty warehouse. You have to constantly clean your work area. If you are a picker or a putaway person, the aisles should be spotless. There should not be shrink wrap in the aisles, there should not be empty boxes on the floor and there should not be trash (coke cans) on the shelves.

• Do something that is not your responsibility everyday! Most people are quick to tell you that is not my responsibility. And if they don’t vocalize it, they still think it. Most warehouse employees will walk by a piece of trash on the floor, several times a day, without picking it up. Mainly because it is not their job. And, because they think no one cares whether they pick it up anyway.

• [Read The White Paper]                      [Read The 16 Tidbits]

   

You Know Your WMS Implementation is Going Bad When:

Over the years I have been involved with so many WMS installations I actually stopped counting. Whether I was there in the beginning or called in when all hell was breaking loose, one thing I have noticed is that with every implementation there are signs. Sometimes humorous (after the fact) and sometimes not, signs that tell you whether the implementation is going as expected. Such As:

• Your inventory is 99% accurate! “In your salesmen trunk!”

• One of the consultants you hired to help begins crying in front of one of your terminals!

• Your #1 customer, who is tired of waiting in will call, begins picking their own orders. And you realize they are faster at it than your pickers.

• [Read More Signs]