Any operation with dock doors faces an uphill challenge when it comes to preserving the climate inside. In particular, air-conditioned and heated facilities must face the reality of losing large volumes of treated air when trailers must be loaded or unloaded. Managers will be asked to scrutinize every expense, and the loss of climate controlled air can be a significant expense.

So how can you minimize air and energy loss?

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Retail distribution facilities have multiple options for shipping product to store locations. They can send full pallets which must be unwrapped, unloaded, and stocked at the store location. They can send packed carts that can easily be rolled onto store floors and stocked at the point of sale. What method works best?

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We are often asked who should “run point” when a client determines it is time to upgrade an existing facility or consider a new location to meet their supply chain requirements.  How might they move forward with professionals who will provide a solution without a product bias, or a predetermined template.
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Finding qualified candidates for warehouse and production work isn’t easy

This is particularly true with supervisors who understand how kitting, ticketing, and storage operations. You want people who know the work, and who can supervise and motivate your employees. Qualified candidates are often the kind of people who aren’t online perusing jobs. They aren’t going to temp agencies. It’s a unique and difficult situation for warehousing operations. Quite often, they must be bilingual to supervise an increasingly Spanish-speaking workforce. Read the rest of this entry »

In a pick-to-tote operation, you have the advantage of a dedicated packing function that allows more precise packaging and evaluation of order quality. That added quality comes at a price, however: floor space, time, labor and dollars. Can the same functions be executed in a pick-to-carton operation?

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When it comes to storing controlled substances, in particular prescription drugs, the warehouse and bulk storage aspects are important for pharmaceutical, hospital central supply warehouses, or retail outlets. This is an area where many people who should not have access to medication may find easier opportunities for pilferage. The FDA offers some guidelines on how to operate securely, and within regulations. State licensing laws will typically reflect the minimum Federal requirements, but may exceed those, when it comes to the storage and handling of prescription drugs.

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In the not-too-distant past, most companies that weren’t running immense distribution operations, who didn’t have multiple facilities, who didn’t run 24-hour shifts, didn’t even consider automation. Too expensive, they’d say. Too much risk. Too little upside if things go wrong.  All valid in context, if it was 1998. But the reality is this: While most costs—personnel, land, energy— have increased, automation costs have remained steady or declined across the board. The reality today is that the four guys stacking pallets at the end of a line, even for a single shift, even at low wages, are more expensive than a well configured palletizing system.

Those costs aren’t going to do anything but escalate, either. Listed are ten ways automation has become more relevant, even to mid-size operations:

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It’s important to control costs in your operation. What are some warehousing cost-cutting methods you can employ that don’t require extensive investment or re-tooling? Most of the costs of warehousing operations fall into the following categories:

• People
• Real Estate, Utilities & other Fixed Costs
• Inventory
• Technology

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Especially in heavy manufacturing, machine shops, petroleum or chemical operations, large bundles of pipe, tubing, bar stock or other long, heavy loads must be stored and picked during the day. Multiple ways are available to store these loads.  They can be picked by forklifts, by hand, by hoist or by crane. The choices you make will determine how you access the product (and how easily), how much space it takes and its safety. Here are the options:

Storing it on the floor

In some operations, this is the default method. Sometimes these loads are floor-stored between bollards and a wall, or other obstructions that prevent them from rolling or falling outside the defined storage area. This method is the baseline, and it’s not pretty.

• Cost: Floor storage has no direct cost. There is not much if any equipment to purchase. Some installations require bollards or posts, or floor striping for organization.
• Space Consumption: The floor is going to host exactly one bundle in a given area. It’s not going to stack well, and if it does, that’s a potentially dangerous stack.
• Ease of access: Ever try to pick up a 12′ bar of steel from the floor, or even off a stack? Typically you can use a hoist, but not a forklift. Most of the time, floor loads are hand picked.
• Safety: An unsecured bundle isn’t safe. But one that sits on the floor isn’t going to fall on anyone, although it might slide out onto legs or feet.

For any significant operation, this is going to slow you down, endanger people and cause inventory damage. It’s acceptable for a very low moving stock that is near to its processing machinery or otherwise in a niche somewhere that isn’t expected to grow.

Stacking racks

Stacking racks are the most versatile option, but also have severe limitations.

• Cost: These racks are inexpensive, but you have to buy multiple ones to accommodate greater lengths of stock or tubing.
• Space Consumption: Stacking racks can provide a fairly dense product storage method. They can be stacked (depending on type) four to six layers high. They will require aisles for loaders or forklift access. They do not have the vertical utilization a cantilever system does.
• Ease of access: You must unload the top layers to get at the load in the middle or on the bottom layers, no matter the method you’re using for loading or unloading. This results in what amounts to extra picks every time you access anything but the top layer. For a product that is all the same in a given rack, that’s not a problem – pick a layer off and go to the next. For mixed stock, it’s a disaster.
• Safety: Stacking racks are stable if specified and stacked correctly. Don’t overfill them or add layers over what the specifications tell you.

Improving a warehousing operation is a complex endeavor that can be approached from any number of angles. Here are 13 common actions you can consider in any warehouse improvement effort:

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