Traveling through the warehouse consumes a large portion of time, raising the cost of labor, specifically regarding order picking. So, how can you reduce travel time and boost warehouse efficiency? Here are 5 tips to save you time and money and increase productivity in your warehouse.
1) Optimize Your Layout
To boost efficiency, you must first consider your layout:
- Separate your loading and unloading areas to create a more efficient flow of goods in and out of your warehouse.
- Think vertically; with the right equipment, it is faster and requires less labor to go up than it does horizontally.
- Place more popular goods closer to the loading area, saving time for shipping products.
2) ABC Sorting
How do you sort products to have the most important items near the front? ABC sorting is a simple method where you organize your inventory in the following manner:
- A-products will likely make up about 20% of your stock at any given time, but that fraction will probably be the warehouse’s highest sellers. Therefore, looking at your sales analytics, moving the top 20% of products closer to the shipping dock is essential as it will likely take up 80% of your movement time.
- B-products are your moderate sellers representing the orders with the most volatility in your stock. Therefore, they should be about 30% of your stock and placed right behind the best sellers for easy access when necessary.
- C-products are those that are seasonal or safety stock. They will likely represent the rest of your stock and be ordered sporadically. While it may be tempting to reduce your c-products, as nearly 50% of your supply is rarely picked, it is vital to maintain a safety net if markets shift. Therefore, these products should be placed high up or towards the back, allowing you to rotate them without occupying essential space in your warehouse.
3) Define Your Picking Method
There are three picking methods to consider, and they will vary depending on your goods, their weight, and how many laborers it takes to move.
- Goods-To-Person: The highest output option that brings goods to the pickers uses automated picking hardware, picking robots, and conveyor belts. However, this option is limited by smaller-sized products that don’t require lifts.
- Person-To-Goods: Slower than goods-to-person, this method is more efficient for large products and pallet-to-pallet shipping but comes at the cost of efficiency.
- Robot-To-Goods: While still an experimental picking method, many robotics companies now provide autonomous systems, removing the need for human pickers. These can also include conveyance robots, autonomous lift vehicles, and automatic truck lifts, reducing the need for dock workers and allowing you to focus your human element on stock management.
4) Embrace Artificial Intelligence
AI-based sorting systems take massive loads of data to create batching orders in the most efficient ways possible. Potential uses for AI include smart batching, forklift, and footpath optimization for lower travel times, dynamic order prioritization, and efficient worker-to-robot interactions.
5) Organize Your Workstations Using The 5 S’s
The 5 S’s of workstation organization include Sort, Set in order, Shine, Standardize, and Sustain. Sort your products, set them in order, keep your workstation clean, make it standard for all workers, and keep up with the organization. The biggest threat to an organization’s system is sustainability. You can teach and enforce an organized workspace, but if it is not kept up, it will eventually devolve into chaos and reduce efficiency.
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