Install Gravity conveyors on declines so that the infeed side sits higher than the end of the line for smooth product flow. Â This is one of the easiest ways to move products quickly and economically. How can you set up your gravity conveyor for optimal product flow?
Tags: Roller Conveyors, shipping docks, skate wheel conveyors
Posted in Conveyor Optimization|
I always look forward to the annual DC Velocity/WERC (Warehousing Education and Research Council) distribution center metrics survey, which provides insight into what measurements are most critical according to DC managers. These concerns have shifted over the years, but perhaps never so significantly in a single year as 2017’s survey, with topics like “on time shipments” falling out of first place for only the second time.
Tags: Third Party Logistics, ecommerce, 3PL
Posted in Material Handling|
As your 3PL grows and attracts more clients, products, and infrastructure, your product movement and storage capacity won’t be able to keep up with the increased volume. Growth is a great problem to have, but it’s still a problem.
Intelligent warehouse automation is an effective way to create better flow, enhance efficiency, ramp up throughput, reduce errors and improve your processes. Â Introducing automated systems into your current warehouse environment can produce drastic reductions in time spent on certain day-to-day activities.
Tags: warehouse technology, Conveyor, Automation, 3PL, logistics, storage, warehouse, Third Party Logistics, warehouse flow
Posted in Automation, Labor & Efficiency|
Light-directed picking is the heavyweight champion when it comes to productivity gains, order picking speed, increased accuracy, and ease of operator development.
Because it’s 100% hands-free and requires no headpiece, it’s also highly flexible for many challenging fulfillment operations. We’ve compiled ten ways to analyze your operation to determine if these systems would be a fit for you. Obviously, more specific information will be needed, but this should get you started.
We spoke with Lightning Pick’s Dave Broadfoot about the best ways to ensure you are making a good pick-to-light decision.
Tags: Order Picking & Fulfillment, pick to light, 10 tips, ROI
Posted in Automation, Labor & Efficiency|
You see them all over the place in warehouses these days – the ubiquitous blue forklift light gliding over the floor ahead of or behind a lift truck as it winds its way between rack rows, down aisles, across docks, and out of trailers. AÂ wide variety of choices are available, including many inexpensive imports with a bewildering number of dense specifications. How can you tell the difference?
Let’s break down the ways you can avoid the “bargain” light that could cost you plenty.
Tags: forklift safety, dock safety, warehouse accidents, lights, spotlights
Posted in Forklift - Pedestrian Safety|
Companies spend lots of time trying to understand the best ways to increase efficiency in their operations. How do I increase pick rates? Why do we spend more time on things that add no value than we should? Why do we make so many mistakes, and how do I stop it? Why is there so much waste in the system? How can this be better organized?
These are all good questions, and the answer to solving these problems usually lies in developing people to work their best.
In this day and age of increasing industrial productivity, tough global competition, and tight labor, integrating personnel development with best practices facility design, automation, processes and management is key to reducing labor costs, increasing margins, and becoming a more profitable operation. People thrive in good environments where they are set up to succeed. What can you do to build the right situation for your people?
Tags: 3PL, order fulfillment, labor, Third Party Logistics, employee development, ecommerce
Posted in Warehousing & Distribution|
Order fulfillment operations come in all sizes, shapes and types, including a basket of challenges that diversity creates. One of the most difficult challenges in this industry is developing order picking talent. It’s competitive these days, as you know, for distribution facilities and e-commerce fulfillment centers. One of the best ways to enhance those operations is to develop your labor force more fully. What can you do?
Tags: 3PL, order fulfillment, distribution systems, labor, Third Party Logistics, picking, ecommerce
Posted in Order Picking & Fulfillment|
Distribution is growing — booming, some would say — particularly in larger markets. This tend is being driven by many factors, including a sustained economic recovery and low unemployment rates. Also, e-commerce powers like Amazon are in the midst of one-day or same-day delivery guarantees that require larger, more capable distribution networks that can serve major markets faster and usually within close proximity. These factors help to create stress on labor shortages in these cities, as newer distribution facilities open and existing ones expand. Add to that, the ongoing woes with skilled labor and a generally aging labor force.
How can you cope with a tight labor market?
Tags: Third Party Logistics, skills gap, labor shortage, ecommerce, 3PL, distribution centers, labor management
Posted in Warehousing & Distribution|
Safety has always been important to warehousing and manufacturing, but in recent years, the emphasis has grown – and it’s no wonder.
The forklift has always been at or near the top of these concerns, due to its common use. There are nearly 900,000 forklifts in use in the United State. Forklift accidents are always in OSHA’s top ten  safety violations lists. But the reality is that despite the dangers they can present, forklifts are indispensable for material handling operations.
We sat down with Randall Chamberlain, assistant manager of Cisco-Eagle’s Safety Automation Group, to discuss some common questions involving ZoneSafe, a proximity detection technology that helps alert drivers that pedestrians are nearby as they do their work.
Tags: OSHA, training, forklift safety, sensors, dock safety
Posted in Forklift - Pedestrian Safety|
There are some inherent safety and security issues when it comes to pallet rack – goods failing to be appropriately stacked on the pallets, failing to shrink wrap goods on the pallet, over hanging pallets past the rack beams into the flue space, and failing to secure high dollar products being stored in rack bays. Each of these situations present hazards either in safety or security.
Tags: Safety & Ergonomics, enclosure, straps, guard, netting, cage, security, rack safety
Posted in Security|
