Most of us that work in the warehousing sector are
constantly looking for ways to make it more efficient.
Do you know why? There are many reasons. But one key reason
is that in a Warehouse, we do not increase the VALUE of the product. Both
Warehousing and transportation add COSTS to the product.
As SKU’s keep increasing, we keep expanding the sq.feet size
of the facility. As we increase the size of the warehouse, it is natural for
the order picking costs to increase also. But we know many simple techniques to
reduce these costs.
A key culprit – Travel Time
The graphic below shows that about 60% of the total picking
time OR inbound put-away time, consists of travel time. This 60% ratio is
typical for warehouses in the 100,000 to 150,000 sq.feet range.
If your DC is in the range of 200,000 to 450,000 sq.feet,
you can easily assume that 75% of the picking time in your DC is just travel
time. As the DC increases in size, we must take a serious look at
the cube utilization.
Are we using the correct slot sizes?
Pallet Rack storage (and Bins)
In the graphic below,
** The left most rack design is the most flexible size and
is also the most inefficient cube design.
** The right most rack design, gives the best cube design,
but is also the most in-flexible.
** Hence, is the rack design shown in the middle provides
both flexibility and cube efficiency – to an extent.
At Karma Logistics, we take your entire inventory of SKU’s,
with their Carton dimensions and pallet HI and TI, and heuristically search for
the BEST-FIT rack slot sizes.
Bulk storage
If your warehouse is supporting a manufacturing facility,
with products palletized and stored directly on the floor (Bulk storage), we
take into account the stackabilty of the pallet, pallet dimensions, and aisle
dimensions and find the BEST-Case for the storage depth. We search from 3 deep
to 24 deep storage configurations to reduce the space loss due to
‘honey-combing”.
Karma Logistics uses these BEST-FIT
heuristics to find the BEST options for your DC, based on your inventory and
customer orders. We will not design a
layout for your DC based on what we did for another DC with completely
different product profiles.
Here are the steps to achieve good slotting results.
Step 1. We start with
the outer-most rectangle in the graphic above. Let that represent our current
layout.
Step 2. Using our
BEST-FIT heuristic, we find the BEST-FIT slots for our layout. This will also
shrink the overall effective region of the layout.
Step 3. Now, we do
the slotting based on HITS (and other criteria like, Family, Case height etc)
Step 4. To avoid
congestion in FAST aisles, we suggest a staggered slotting of ‘A” items across
different aisles, closer to the dock
Step 5. Not shown in the graphic. As we slot the ‘A” items,
we need to maintain enough stock in the pick slot to support 1 or 2 shift pick volume.
Otherwise, we will run out of products during the middle of a picking shift.
This will demand stock replenishment and also cause partial picks.
Customer testimonial
O & M has been more
than satisfied with the results of the software. The big push to finish the
project in 18 months has paid off for O & M. Since implementation in all
facilities, productivity has improved by 35 percent. “Not all of the improvement can be attributed
to the software. However, we recognize that DCO software played a pivotal role
in the large productivity gains we have enjoyed.”
Read the full article at this link below:
Slotting made easy – with 3D modeling
YouTube Video - 3D Modeling
We can help you look at your DC, like no one else can.
Karma Logistics uses these BEST-FIT
heuristics to find the BEST options for your DC, based on your inventory and
customer orders. We will not design a
layout for your DC based on what we did for another DC with completely
different product profiles. And our built-in order picking simulations makes
our technique stand out in our industry.
Our advanced slotting techniques provides these 3 results;
1.0 Slot the SKU, based on its attributes and velocity, in the right place in the layout.
2.0 Slot the SKU in the Right size slot
3.0 Slot enough pick units to support picking demand in 1 or more shifts.
And we do this with our field-tested software.
Contact:
651-631-8622 Minnesota
