More or less?
In this case, the client is based in New Zealand and had never used any form of productivity measurement in their three warehouses, although their warehouse management system had a productivity module .
At one of their warehouses (located on the north island), the client was picking orders for 60 stores using 80 order pickers. They were working two shifts per day Monday to Friday, one shift on Saturday plus overtime as required each day.
With a lot going on and not a simple set up for the scale of the organisation, management was concerned that they needed to either increase staff or trim back clients in order to ensure a profitable operation.
But before making any decisions, they decided to make use of their productivity module and Hadrian Logistics Solutions was only too happy to assist.
Just the facts
Hadrian used the facts available from data gathered and observation of the processes to set up engineered standards for selection, put away and replenishment tasks.
This was supported by an incentives scheme to reward employees who consistently exceeded requirements.
Twelve months after go live - the client was able to consolidate the stores picked by each warehouse.
More and less
At the DC on the north island they had increased the number of stores supported by the warehouse to 75 and decreased the number of pickers to 60.
On top of that, the amount of overtime being worked was at a minimum and they were considering if they really needed the Saturday shift.
The GM Supply Chain for this company advised “that we would not be where we are today without engineered standards”. If you would like to be put in contact with this person, please contact us at Hadrian.
Do you have a performance measurement system in your WMS that you are not using?