warehouse Productivity

Running productively is the goal of every organization even distribution and warehouse companies. It is becoming increasingly difficult to run your business efficiently and control costs when gas prices are unstable and the economy is making it difficult to conduct sales projections effectively. The Warehouse Management Benchmark Report notes that productive, cost efficient, and successful warehouse logistics companies have several commonalities.

Most notably: leveraging technology to improved your current warehouse practices and use a flexible warehouse management system application to automate equipment and services in order to streamline the work flow and manage labor costs. The use of an integrated warehouse management system allows for the capability of providing labor management planning and report recapturing. Along with the above, use slotting and warehouse layout tools and conduct warehouse analysis and capturing data in real-time.

Another key area of concern is keeping an agile work environment in order to meet the needs of the customers. As the economy fluxuates and the needs of client changes, you will need to be flexible enough to change with the business plans of the customer and still have competitive pricing. Another area of consideration is extensive cross training of all your associates.

To determine the areas that should be addressed, conduct a warehouse analysis and review areas such as the effectiveness of your WMS, inventory, task management, materials handling effectiveness, and measure the productivity of your current system. Measure the changes you implement before and after the changes are instituted. You should continue to make adjustments, and measure productivity, and the effectiveness of your changes continuously.

Source
Aberdeen_Warehouse_Benchmark_Report