If you’re a manufacturer that has had a warehouse management system for a while, how do you continue to get the most from it so it continues to drive down costs and improve order fulfillment quality? Here are 5 tips.
1. Review your business processes
If you feel your current warehouse management system is constraining your business by the way it operates, don’t let it stop you from making some serious warehouse productivity improvements or cost savings. Start by reviewing your business processes aligned to your business goals. Using business analysis will help you understand the best and most appropriate changes that need to be made. From there some systems analysis will help you understand what, if any changes will need to be made with your warehouse system. It could be that the new functionality you require actually exists in your system and that you’ve not switched it on or have configured the current system in such a way that you cannot use it. We’ve seen this before with goods receipt, picking and despatch processes for example. If you are still constrained by the system then you have at least begun a justification processes for upgrading or replacing to give you significant warehouse management system improvements.
2. Clean up your data
Starting at goods receipt, the data you have set up for your existing and new products will significantly impact how your warehouse management system generates work tasks for labour, how storage locations are selected for inventory, pick lists and picking routes are generated and much more. It will also affect what system functionality you can use, not to mention how fast the system operates if the database contains volumes of incomplete work tasks and other old data that can be deleted or archived.
3. Ensure your ABC analysis is up to date
ABC analysis is used to understand your inventory in terms of throughput quantities and stock volume or size. This allows inventory to be located in the best possible locations to help maximise labour productivity e.g. for stock movement, picking, packing and despatch activities. Running an ABC analysis should be a regular event and not just a one off exercise. This is because of for example new product introduction, de-listing, divestment or changing product profiles, promotional activities and general changes in demand.
4. Review your data capture devices
Review your use of paper and manual based systems within your warehouse and analyse the benefits of automating data capture and automatically processing the information. Ideas can range from using automation for faster goods receipt and despatch processes, using voice technology in areas from goods receipt to picking, inventory counting, damages and returns recording.
In addition we find many damaged data capture device equipment in warehouses that is still used however severely slows down productivity. So these assets should be regulalrly checked to ensure they work correctly.
5. Understand more about your stock counting processes
The regularity, timing of and type of stock counting completed has a huge impact on both cost, order fulfillment and warehouse labour productivity. So this is one area worth looking at in more detail. For example is stock counted by location every quarter or less frequently as well as after every pick? With inaccurate stock picking locations will run out of stock faster, stock movements will be mis-timed to picking and despatch locations, inventory adjustments can be more regular and for higher amounts and order fulfillment is reduced or can require overtime or extra labour to complete.