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.
Posted in Order Picking & Fulfillment|
When your conveyor motor stops working, do you know what you need to know to replace it quickly? How do you even know what the original motor was rated?
Tags: motor, single phase, 3-phase, Baldor, replacement motor, Conveyor, enclosure, electric motor, horsepower, rpm, frame size, voltage
Posted in Conveyor Optimization|
Transportation management solutions are no longer just for moving freight at the lowest possible cost. Companies are using effective transportation management as a competitive advantage tool in the ever-challenging economic and commercial landscape. Additionally, shippers are now seeing both internal and outsourced transportation management solutions less as a commodity and more as a collaborative relationship between themselves and carriers as well as third party logistics services providers (3PLs).
Tags: logistics, transportation management
Posted in Docks & Shipping|
UNEX’s high profile Span-Track was the first full-width roller track in the industry. Span-Track made its debut in 1992 and revolutionized the carton flow industry. High profile Span-Track increases efficiency by providing better flow, fewer hang-ups, and greater storage density than the alternatives—plastic wheel rails or other carton flow solutions.
Tags: carton flow, Unex, Video
Posted in Order Picking & Fulfillment|
I received a newsletter the other day that really hit home during this busy Christmas season. It was about keeping warehouse order pickers motivated in their work and I thought, “That’s really key during peak seasons when highly stressed workers can get burned out quickly.” So, how do you keep order pickers moving when they’re already under the gun?
Tags: warehousing, order fulfillment, worker safety, worker satisfaction, motivation, performance improvement
Posted in Order Picking & Fulfillment|
The year is coming to an end, and many operations need to address records storage. We see an influx of companies coming to work with us on their records storage and archive storage areas from October through April. With new healthcare and other regulations, companies must store an increasing amount of paper records. If you have enough of a records storage load, and lack either the space or the time to manage your archives, you may opt to use a third party records storage facility.
When you are specifying a vendor, here are some questions you should ask.
Tags: pallet racks, ROI
Posted in Storage, Organization & Workstations|
Cluttered receiving docks seem to plague far too many industrial facilities. Part of the problem is that the way receiving affects the entire operation isn’t clearly understood. Also, receiving functions are sometimes seen as a low-value-add part of the operation. Either way, adequate focus isn’t always given to this vital function. When you can’t effectively receive shipments, everything upstream is compromised.
Posted in Docks & Shipping|
When it comes to those costs, the pressure is always on. Particularly in those unfortunate companies where the distribution center is considered just a cost, not a chance to add value. Even if you are hitting cost targets, you are probably interested in reducing operational costs without reducing effectiveness.
Tags: 3PL, ROI, Third Party Logistics, ecommerce
Posted in Warehousing & Distribution|
Hand trucks are great for moving heavy loads faster and easier than hauling them by hand from point to point, but don’t elevate them vertically. Can everyone working in your operation safely and easily lift the load to shelving or a work table?
Tags: Lift 'N Buddy, platform, wheels, trucks, carts, hand truck
Posted in Material Handling|
Industrial engineers have envisioned fully automated factories since at least the middle of the 20th century. But the real race to automate manufacturing can be said to have begun in the 1980s, when US car manufacturers came up with the vision of “lights-out” manufacturing. The idea was to beat their rivals by automating the factories to such an extent that the entire manufacturing process could be left to robots. To a great extent, it has remained only a vision so far. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Automation, Manufacturing, Robotics, Industrial Robots
Posted in Automation, Labor & Efficiency|
