Active floor supervision enables supervisors to improve performance in the distribution center in 3 key ways. Be sure to frequently walk the floor to stay abreast of issues.
By having management show presence on the floor regularly, it helps to identify which employees might need more training and which might be the next to be promoted to a managerial position; it shows you consider the floor and everything that occurs there and the workers to be essential to the overall operation and extremely vital; lastly, you could address problems as they occur.
Determine the Utilization of Space: Begin by examining cube utilization within your facility. Check if there is a lot of empty space near the ceiling. Implementing higher racks and narrow aisles and certain forklifts which operate in those kinds of environments could really increase how you store and transport materials. What might not seem like a lot of wasted area could translate into thousands of extra dollars and square feet with some adjustments.
Check for Obsolete Inventory: If you notice a stock-keeping unit or SKU has not moved in more than a year, it is definitely consuming valuable space. In addition, if you have numerous half-full pallets stored or staged in aisles, you are also not utilizing available space to its full potential. By re-organizing existing stock and doing an inventory overhaul, much space can be made to accommodate objects that are moving faster.
How is the Flow of Product? Make the time to trace how exactly product flows through your facility regularly. Check to see if the flow is sequential and logical. About 60% of direct labor in the warehouse is allotted to traveling from one place to another. You can potentially have less staff finishing the same amount of work by being aware of product flow. Being able to move employees to complete other tasks instead of having personnel doubled up moving items will get more work out of the same amount of employees.
The order filling procedure should be reviewed and if it is identified that a variety of SKUs are mixed-up in one location. If orders do not need things of this mix, pickers are wasting time. One more huge waste of time is having the same SKU located in many locations inside the warehouse. Get the employees used of going to a particular place for each and every particular thing so that they are just looking in one area and not traveling all around the warehouse checking more than one location for the same item. These small changes can greatly improve the overall effectiveness in your warehouse.