Things to do to improve warehouse productivity

Business may be slow now but before you know it you’ll be jammed again. Want to get more done with the folks you have?  Things to consider:

1. Keep the lifts in good repair
2. Batteries getting old?
3. Stagger shift starts – replenish forward picking before the first wave
4. Reslot often
5. Not enough space, then make more – get to 10% empty forwards and 20% empty reserves
6. Qualify and prioritize the inbound freight – need the trailer now, or later?
7. Qualify the product going into reserve
8. Get the inbound current and under control before tackling pick, pack, ship
9. Fix any and all inventory inaccuracy root causes
10. Have fresh eyes look at the problem – select different supervisors or warehouse workers look at other areas
11. Eliminate touches
12. Minimize travel
13. Right size the forwards, so inbound doesn’t need to go into reserve
14. Align the picking method for each product with its order pattern
15. Can the WMS round up order quantities to an easily picked unit or measure?
16. Engage the troops
17. Every DC worker makes thousands of decisions each day; understand and guide discretionary decision-making
18. Solve the workforce’s boredom problem
19. Most supervisors spend less than 5% of their time on motivating employees, double that and double productivity
20. Inbound congestion means waste and extra touches
21. Housekeeping
22. Address the annoyances that demotivate
23. Keep inbound under control and putaway as timely as possible
24. Recalculate Safety Stock
25. Update leadtimes
26. Bust the inbound batch sizes
27. Increase inbound visibility, smooth the spikes if you can
28. Publish metrics for all to see and encourage friendly competition between zones, departments, facilities
29. Create a ‘dog pound’ and move slow movers out of the way
30. Study and fight outbound congestion
31. Adjust the number of pick zones; fewer the better
32. Synchronize order filling across all zones
33. Keep current on replenishment
34. Never run out of supplies (totes, pallets, carts, tape)
35. Adjust the organization chart
36. Constantly monitor outbound flow; rebalance pick, pack, and loading
37. Reduce the number of job classifications
38. Use inbound teams and eliminate staging areas: unload, receive and put away with one touch not two or three
39. Brainstorm and then brainstorm some more
40. Be careful what you measure
41. If you are in a meltdown, get help
42. Consider postal pick location address scheme; going down an aisle picking on left and right instead of down one side and coming back the other