Anyone working in a warehouse environment is well aware of the commercial benefits of having an efficient warehouse. But often this is easier said than done! When just about everyone is offering expert advice on how to improve warehouse efficiencies – run a Google search on the subject and you can expect to be faced with around 29 million results (!) – how do you cut through the noise and make real steps towards creating a more efficient warehouse?
Read on to find out how a recent innovation from Avery Weigh-Tronix has brought technology to the point of pick to deliver impressive improvements to warehouse KPIs.
Order picking (in)accuracy
Warehouse managers are continually tasked with delivering successful performance figures against key metrics, while operating in a fast-paced and often challenging environment. One of the most common performance metrics is order picking accuracy, and rightly so. Incorrect picks cause no end of problems for businesses, from causing delays in production to distributing the wrong customer order.
With just half a percent of inaccurate picks costing a business thousands of pounds, continuous miscounts mean profit is essentially being given away! Despite this, huge numbers of companies are experiencing inefficiencies within their picking operations thanks to badly written processes, wasted labour time and efficiency, and poor inventory management.
Human error is a common problem as it’s easy for pick operators to make mistakes as the repetitive nature of the task makes it easy to zone out and lose count. To combat this, many warehouses employ quality control staff, at extra cost, to check an order is correct before it is shipped. Or they risk sending orders out unchecked, which can impact the customer experience and costs up to ten times the amount of the initial send cost to bring back and correct.
Weighing up your process
A recent innovation from Avery Weigh-Tronix flips the order picking process on its head, by bringing weighing technology the point of pick and removing the need for further checks before distribution.
The Mobile Picking Solution provides simple, on-screen instructions which guide the pick operator through the picking process by displaying images of the item to be picked and the quantity required. Picked items are weighed on a mobile counting scale, which confirms the weight and quantity of the pick before the operator moves on.
The use of imagery and simple, step-by-step prompts ensure that the pick instructions are so easy to follow it delivers a minimum picking accuracy of 99.75% at the point of pick. With a typical warehouse expecting to have an order picking accuracy rate of anywhere between 99% and 99.5%*, how does your business compare?
Working smarter, not harder
Heating technology manufacturer, Vaillant Group, are successfully using the Mobile Picking Solution to improve order picking accuracy after experiencing inaccuracies in their warehouse pick operations. Before using the Mobile Picking Solution, parts were picked and counted into totes by hand before being transferred into the assembly area, but assemblers were continually running out of components due to short or incorrect counts.
These inaccuracies were resulting in unnecessary production stoppages, which not only led to the company missing efficiency targets, but the cost of downtime, impact on lead times and knock-on effect on inventory was providing costly and had the potential to impact delivery times and the customer experience.
Real time results
By introducing the Mobile Picking Solution into their picking operations, Vaillant can now verify pick accuracy quickly and efficiently at the point of pick. The solution brought Vaillant a 4% improvement in cycle count accuracy and a 50% increase in count speeds, without any increase to operational expenditure!
Improving order picking accuracy and pick rate speeds has a knock-on effect on other areas of the business.
Businesses can save on hard costs by cutting down on shift time, removing overtime, or reducing the need for as many quality control staff. In real terms, this equates to money saved in manufacturing costs, making businesses more commercially competitive in the current market and preparing for future markets.
Improve your warehouse efficiencies
To find out more about using weighing technology to improve warehouse efficiencies, increase order picking accuracy rates, and save your business money, search for the Avery Weigh- Tronix Mobile Picking Solution.
*’DC Measures 2018 Trends and Challenges’ by the Warehousing Education and Research Council
AVERY WEIGH-TRONIX
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