The Use of an Interactive Voice Response System in a Warehouse

Undoubtedly, there is a use for Interactive Voice Response (IVR) in your warehouse distribution center; particularly if you have high call volume and would like to extend the service provided to your customers. An IVR integrates well with Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) systems, which uses caller identification or passwords to extract information from the customer.

IVR allows you to service customers by providing an extension to your call center. An automatic attendant detects your answer via voice or keypad entry thereby processing the pre-recorded voice commands by answering your questions, providing services such as purchases, payments, or directing the customer to the appropriate agent for further service. Responses can be in the form of voice commands, fax, callback, or call center forwarding.

This additional service can be an added benefit to your organization if it is constructed well to provide additional customer service to your client rather than put them in voice mail hell. The system should not be complicated to use, needs to be customer centric, and flexible enough for individuals that have an accent to use. The repercussion of a poorly designed system causes your customers a great deal of frustration, which ultimately results in loss of customer satisfaction and business.

If you are interested in acquiring an IVR or CTI system for your warehouse distribution center, contact various warehouse companies that specialize within your industry and ask for recommendations for vendors, information about customer satisfaction, as well as effectiveness. Research several vendors and consider the industries in which the system provider has provided service in the past.

Warehouse Clothing

The proper clothing is an important consideration for your employees to ensure their safety as well as comfort. The type of clothing required depends on the activities within your warehouse. For instance, if your workers handle food in sub-zero conditions, it is recommended that you provide jackets and bibs that are specifically designed to protect them from cold, harsh environments. If your laborers work in an environment that exposes them to high heat, then it is recommended that you provide him or her with clothing that is flames resistant

It is essential that the clothing supplied meet the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and International Safety Equipment Association (ISEA) requirements. The variety of clothing includes bibs, jackets, safety colors, gloves, shoes, etc. Consider the following when making your decisions:

Flame resistant clothing coated with a special flame resistant coating should be used for employees that may be burned by electricity, work with oil, or flammable material.

Laborers that are exposed to low temperatures such as freezers should use jackets and bibs that are quilt lined and made with arctic weight nylon.

High visibility clothing such as safety green, yellow, and orange with reflective tape is available for employees that place them in a situation that in which they are not easily visible.

Hand protection is available for any number of uses such as driver gloves. Gloves made of neoprene are specially designed to protect against heat and acid burns. Gloves made from Kevlar or steel thread are excellent cut resistant protection.

You also have a number of choices when it comes to the type of boots needs. For instance, they should be slip resistant, but is toe protection also required?

The above is just a smattering of what you need to think about when considering the proper attire required to protect your employees. Review the requirements through the International Safety Equipment Association to ensure that you are within safety compliance.

Include Key Performance Indicators Along With Financials

Many warehouse and supply chain organizations emphasize the balance sheets and forget about the non-financial aspect of measuring productivity. In order to get a fully encompassing view of your organization, it is recommended that you include non-financial metrics like Key Performance Indicators (KPI). The use of both financial statements and KPIs helps to control performance by measuring any number of indicators within your warehouse or supply chain. It should be targeted, systematic, and have the ability to display the results graphically. One of the most important aspects of using a KPI is to have a benchmark from which to make a comparison. Your numbers will not mean much if you have nothing to compare them to.

To run an effective supply chain, it is recommended that you measure inventory, suppliers, and customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction metrics include such areas as shipping accuracy, re-orders, customer service response, and overall contentment with service. Inventory metrics can include cycle time, inventory levels, loss from damage, and lead-time. Supplier metrics may include such performance indicators like quality, accuracy of orders, shipping cycle, and defects.

Ultimately, the goal is to create metrics that are as accurate as possible. Better accuracy results in less inventory requirement, shorter inventory to cash turnaround time, and overall better financial performance.

There is no doubt that there is a direct correlation between financial success and the use of metrics to measure both a balance sheet and key performance indicators. It is not necessary to begin with a sophisticated software program if you do not have the financial resources when starting out. Consider using an excel spreadsheet to get started until you can afford to institute a more sophisticated system. The important thing is that you begin measuring performance now.

Grants and Training Can Go Hand In Hand

Eventually every company runs into issues finding qualified employees to work within their company. This could be caused by any number of reasons including lack of skilled workers because of specialization, distance between warehouse and available workforce, severe labor shortage, or skilled labor. In order to keep business competitive, many states offer grants that are flexible in or to meet the employer’s training needs.

Almost every state in the union assists employers for work force training grants. Although, each state has its own eligibility requirements, the opportunities are available to assist you in training your workforce.

For instance:

The state of Alabama offers a grant that covers 50% of the costs of training to eligible employees to receive training information technology.

Idaho offers the Workforce Development Training Fund (WDTF), which provides $2000 per eligible employee for job skills training. The employer receives up to 50% reimbursement for on the job training if the employer agrees to hire and train eligible workers. In this case, eligible works are considered new and reentrants to the workforce.

Wisconsin pays for training up to a maximum benefit of 75% of eligible costs. The Business Employee’s Skill Training Program (BEST), covers employee training that involve business automation, manufacturing, medical devices, biotechnology, and more.

There is also the OSHA employee safety training grant that can pay millions in grants to non-profits through the Susan Harwood Training Grant Program.

There are multitudes of employee training grants that may be able to assist your organization to develop a strong and capable workforce. Why not take advantage of a resource that may ultimately improve your bottom line.

Relocating A Warehouse

Moving a warehouse can be an overwhelming task to say the least. It is recommended that you begin planning a year or more in advance. You need to consider transitioning everything from marketing to packing and everything must be coordinated so that you mitigate time that the warehouse is not in operation and that there is no disruption in service.

Organization is a key element is making a smooth transition. Begin by making a list of everything that must be considered during the move; everything from informing the employees and customers to creating new marketing material.

Communication is probably the most important aspect of relocating to a new facility. Employees should be notified as soon as possible and told why, when, where, and what will be involved in making such a major move. It is important to give your employees a sense of security during a period of upheaval.

Moving inventory will be a considerable portion of your budget and time. Sit down with your management team to determine the amount of inventory that will be moved, how much will fit in a truck load, time to load and unload as well as amount of time to make a round trip. This will assist you to determine how much time is needed to move your inventory. Remember to allow a ten percent buffer in case of delays.

Anticipating cost involves a multitude of calculations and the above is just an inkling of what is involved. If the task is too overwhelming for you or your team, consider hiring a project manager or consultant to organize it for you. A bit of investment could mean a considerable savings in the end.

Dunnage Air Bags

Whether cargo is shipped by rail, truck, air, or ship, a large percentage of damage happens in transit. Unless pallets and boxes are secured properly, the bouncing often results in damaged to the packages and merchandise because of the bouncing and jostling. It is essential to protect your cargo by stabilizing and protecting it using the right items that are installed correctly.

The use of dunnage air bags has proven to be a useful method of caring for cargo by bracing it. Dunnage airbags are constructed of several layers of “Kraft” paper and coextruded polyethylene film. The inside is a plastic air bladder and is fitted with one or two air valves. You have the choice of using paper dunnage, which is disposable, or rubber, which must be carefully deflated, folded, and stored in order to avoid damage.

It is essential to install the air bags properly to both reduce load damage and damage to the bags, especially during transit. It is recommended that you use the correct size to fit the height of the cargo so that the force is distributes along the height of the bag. Do not use two bags together. Fifty percent of the surface area should be in contact with the load. Place and inflate the bag in the middle of the cargo so that it pushes the cargo against the walls of the container, on top, or one side to stabilize the cargo. It is advisable to sandwich the dunnage bags between cardboard to avoid punctures, and then inflate until the loads are held tight against the walls or each other. The restraining force should be one-half of the weight of the cargo.

As a manufacturer or warehouse distribution center it is essential to reduce the exorbitant cost of damage caused to product in transit. Whether you use dunnage bag, wood, or cardboard specifically manufactured for the purpose, do not hope for the best make sure that your cargo is safe from destruction.

Freight Forwarding

Although, there is a great deal of detail required with intrastate distribution, there is much more required when shipping merchandise or freight internationally. In the quest to distribute goods efficiently, you may need to turn to freight forwarding companies. They act as a third party provider that arrange on a variety of levels.

Freight forwarding companies handle the import, export, and transshipment, which include changing modes of transportation several times from ship to road or railway to airline and so forth. International distribution is much more labor intensive and requires specific documentation such as commercial invoicing which is provided by the corporation to customs declaration to export in order to calculate tariffs. as well as bills of lading.

A Freight Forwarding company can typically save you money since they negotiate shipping prices while taking into consideration reliability, swiftness of delivery, and cost when deciding on a service. They also work with corresponding agents or employees from their own company to look after the interest of the customer taking into account risk management, and on time delivery.

Save money and headaches when dealing with international shipping, consider using a freight forwarding company to make the multitude of arrangements for you when dealing with the regulatory issues and demands with international shipping.

What You Need to Know

Demand for your product has grown and you are in the enviable position of having to find a way to distribute your goods quickly, and efficiently throughout the United States; perhaps across the world. Unfortunately, you do not have the resources necessary to create an entirely new subdivision to deal with distribution. The next best solution is to hires a warehouse distribution center that can handle the job for you. Remember to look for what you need and pay only for what you use.

It is a smart idea to hire a warehouse distribution facility that can provide the service consistently. An important consideration is to find an organization that has facilities in multiple locations that will work with your delivery needs. This helps solves a meriad of problems such as mishaps with materials not reaching intended location because of poor communication, caused by the lack of synergy when working with deliveries by multiple companies.

Not only is it necessary to use an organization that can provide you the services you require, but pay only for the services you need. This will allow you to save money by allowing you to mix and match according to your needs.

Consistent and flexible service allows your company to grow and flourish while reducing costs and risk to your organization.

Deterring Theft at Your Warehouse

An area of concern for many warehouse managers is loss due to theft whether from internal problems or externally. Unfortunately, you may not consider the problem until it creeps up to you, because of the sheer shock of the loss that occurred and how it affects your profitability. In terms of theft, there are two ways that it happens from either the people who work within your organization or those that do not.

Loss due to theft costs organizations millions every year and a productive method of handling such issues is to install hidden as well as obvious cameras throughout the facility. Cameras mounted in obvious areas outside the facility are a good deterrent to protect the goods that may be stored outside the warehouse especially if you do not have fencing or live security to watch over the goods.

A method to address the theft issues within your warehouse is to use hidden cameras that will help with both theft issue as well as loss because of workers compensation injuries.
The initial expense may be a bit more than you would like to invest, but consider how that initial investment will save you over the long run in less loss because of theft and more profits in your pocket.

Weight and Invoicing Integrate

Warehouse managers are looking for methods to reduce shipping costs and increase profits by improving method in materials handling and shipping. There are several areas of concern such as negotiating with carriers, load planning, and invoicing correct freight costs to the customer. Having an accurate and reliable systems to simultaneously weight and move freight can reduce damage by decreasing the number of times the item is handled, improves invoicing by allowing you to bill by actual weight shipped rather than estimates.

Many warehouses use equipment that allows them to integrate the task of moving the material with the need to accurately weigh the shipment within 2% of the load while loading or unloading the cargo. The operator enters or scans the product code, lifts and moves the freight while simultaneously weighing the cargo. The data is sent via wireless terminals to the billing system, computed, calculates the information, and automatically produces an invoice.

Additional methods include equipment, which stores, handles, and ships the mat
erial by using scales that are built directly into the storage shelves. This system facilitates the picking and packing by comparing the weight of the finished pallet against the weight of the individual item. If the incorrect weight is detected, then the items are diverted to be reworked in order to maintain accuracy.

By using the appropriate equipment, labor costs and shipping expenditures are reduces while accuracy and profitability increase exponentially.