Muda in the Warehouse September 25, 2007
Posted by Lawrence Loucka in : Consulting, Definitions, Lean, Lean Sigma, Logistics, Supply Chain , add a comment
Although created in the manufacturing environment of Toyota by Taiichi Ohno, the Seven Wastes can be found almost everywhere, if you learn how to see them. Here’s some lean thinking for the warehouse:
Overproduction - Think about the consequences when consumers, retailers, wholesalers, distributors, and manufacturers justify "just in case" or Murphy stock as a hedge against unplanned demand. Money, time, people, physical assets, the environment have all been tied up for something that isn’t needed.
Waiting - the ‘hurry up and wait’ of trucks sitting idle or drivers killing time awaiting their turn at the dock, or DC workers or lifts standing by waiting for tools, instructions, materials to arrive or to be taken away. Waiting comes from poor layout, lumpy demand, system batching. Then once the blockage is cleared we hustle.
Defective Product or Service - from picking errors, incorrect order quantities, misplaced stock to shipping on the wrong carrier or the wrong mode these errors consume resources of time, people and materials to no useful end. Worse yet, additional resources, often 2 or 3 times the original, are usually needed to correct the error.
Overprocessing - how about dock audits, redundant approvals, pick/pack/ship audits, cycle counting? Another example of overprocessing the the warehouse is the failure to rationalize the supply base and concentrate relationship management on a few top-tier suppliers. What about rationalizing the carriers? Both result in inefficient duplication of resources, decisions, and communications.
Moving Product - like overproduction, the unnecessary movement of product can occure both within the warehouse and throughout the entire supply chain. Too many steps, too many stops, unnecessary movement from suppliers though master DC’s to regional DC’s for further deployment to customers can be deadly drivers of cost and time, labor, and space.
Moving People - in the warehouse an enormous percentage of people’s time is devoted to movement, such as picking, put-away, and replenishment. If a facility isn’t well laidout with easy access to "A" items an enormous amount of time can be wasted in traveling empty. When good aren’t where they’re supposed to be the movement to the wrong location is both a defect and a waste of human motion.
Ineffective Inventory Control - creates waste a several levels. Excess inventory based on bad inventory data diverts limited capital into creation and maintenance of waste. Excess inventory results in consuming valuable storage space to hold unnecessary goods. A scarcity of items, on the other hand, results in stock outs, expediting, or lost orders.
50 things to do to free up warehouse space August 31, 2007
Posted by Lawrence Loucka in : Lean, Logistics, Supply Chain , add a comment
Business is growing and running out of space in the warehouse. What to do before moving to a new facility or pouring concrete? Fifty things to consider:
- Cross dock
- Narrow aisles
- Double deep racks
- Bridges over aisles, cross aisles, aisle ends, truck doors
- Re-slot forward pick locations
- Relocate slow movers and consolidate
- Change batteries rather than park and charge
- Pushback racks
- Pallet flow racks
- Carton flow racks
- Carousels horizontal or vertical
- Use uprights that only go to the top beam, close pack the top deck
- Shorter beams; 96" not 108"
- Triple wide beams
- Vary beam heights
- Double stack pallets
- Mobile shelving
- Purge excess, slow moving, obsolete
- Improve put away and pick cycle time and then cut safety stock
- Direct or Drop Ship
- Drop items from the catalog
- Put carton flow racks under pallet racks
- Put pick shelves and bins under pallet racks
- Slip sheets or low profile pallets
- Daily delivery of new pallets and packaging supplies
- Check out bound while picking or loading
- Check in bound while unloading or put away
- Store more than one item per shelf or pallet
- Consolidate partial pallets, cartons, bins
- Receive and ship on different shifts
- Redesign package
- Optimize pallet stacking pattern
- Select the right pallet
- Buy/Make to Order
- Buy in smaller lots
- Ship in smaller lots
- Receive and ship more often
- Make inbound receipt appointments
- Make delivery appointments
- Spot out bound trailers & load directly into trailer
- Eliminate inbound inspection
- Recalculate safety stock
- Recalculate order quantities
- Sell slow moving, return for credit, fire sale
- Donate, scrap, recycle obsolete
- Take assemblies apart and sell spare parts
- Combine parts in to kits
- Reduce the in and out queues
- Control SKU proliferation
- Pick directly into the shipping container