Like the Paul Simon song goes, there are 50 ways to pick an order—except in reality there are far more.

With such a variety of methods, processes, technologies and equipment options out there, it can be challenging to determine the best ways to improve order processing efficiency and productivity. In this article, LIDD’s Charles Fallon discusses 10 ways for distribution center managers to boost their order picking crew’s performance.
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OSHA requires safety training in manufacturing, warehousing and forklift environments to help prevent accidents and injuries, and you should absolutely train your staff. However, all the training in the world may not prevent the worst types of accidents. People make poor choices from time to time, get distracted and are not aware of conditions in their environment, or are just plain fool-hardy. How to limit such circumstances is probably the next step in your safety program plan. Cisco-Eagle has spent the past few years building up a safety arsenal to aid you in that concern.

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In the past year I’ve toured manufacturing facilities that have office space right on the plant floor.  Those offices had been added as the company grew and needed more supervisors or engineers on the floor. They were using modular offices, of course. Later, I was fortunate to attend a training session on modular offices done by one of our suppliers, and it was amazing the forethought and engineering that goes into these modular buildings.

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Carton flow expedites pick operations by making stock accessible in an easily replenished first-in/first-out pattern. Gravity flow racks can reduce labor costs up to 75% in pick operations compared to static storage picking by delivering cartons and split case goods to the pick aisle rather pickers pulling from the static pallet rack storage. It is a commonly used storage/picking method in many operations, but there are many options and types of flow storage available. Which fits your need best?

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Our partners at Steel King sometimes release information on specialized steel bulk containers, and we like to pass it along when they do. This heavy-duty industrial recycling container was the company’s container of the month for February 2015. It’s equipped with rollover fork legs, crane eyes, and has valves for oil draining. It’s stackable and can be equipped with casters for easy movement (even if loaded). It can also be constructed water tight on request. If it fits your application, contact us for quick assistance.

Most operations maintain at least some numbers on the most critical aspects of the business. For order picking operations, you might track number of orders picked per day, hours per pick, cost-per-pick, on-time rates — and error rates. The question is this: how accurate are those numbers? For instance, if your system reports 50 order picking errors a week, does that represent half your errors? All of them? Most of them? It’s can be difficult to understand.

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