BetterProcess.ca » Warehouse without memorize

I recently worked in a 7,500-square-foot disposable container warehouse that had no orientation system at all. You get a regular invoice with a list of items to pick up, and you go to collect/search for it all. Initially, I was surprised that I had to remember what was where, but Nolens Volens, after a while, I got better at navigating the warehouse (although it was still inefficient). Orientation was also complicated by the fact that no product had a permanent place. To prevent an empty space from being idle, it was filled with another type of product (and when the previous product was available again, it was already in a different place).

Of course, this process is not conducive to business growth, because new employees need a lot of time to memorize and atypical flexibility to get oriented. That is, the challenge for recruitment (a candidate must own more skill sets than necessary) is one, and two, wasting time on a slow search for the right items when picking an order.

I am sure that there are a lot of computerized orientation systems for warehouses, but since this is my first experience working in a warehouse, I have not been able to see how the orientation process should work before. Therefore, I wanted to develop a simple, flexible system that would use free tools at hand (laptop/smartphone and Google spreadsheets) and take into account the fact that goods are constantly changing (!) places.

What I propose and have already partially implemented

Numbering

We had four three-store shelves, each of which I labeled at the top on both sides, at the beginning and at the end of the row (rows A, B, C, and D were formed). Above each niche (spot) that holds one pallet, I stuck a number (from 1 to 20).

For ease of use, I abandoned the idea of labeling each niche of the three-level shelving. This makes no sense, since you can mark only the bottom, and if you need to find the same niche only higher, just add a level in front (the number “2” for the second level, the number “3” for the third). For example, D-12 would be the 12th spot at the bottom of row D, 2D-12 same spot at second level, and 3D-12 at third level.

Spreadsheet

Create and fill out a Google spreadsheet (with access to it for all employees who will enter/update information or who will use this data). Here is an example of my spreadsheet.

Updating

Once or twice a day (depending on the intensity of sales and the movement of goods along the scaled), one of the employees has an additional task of updating the data. He goes through all the racks in order and marks changes in the table. For example, “blank” or “product name/code”. This takes from 30 to 60 minutes.

Usage

First of all, both warehouse workers and anyone in charge from the administrative can access the table at any time and find out where the desired product is located. Ideally, integrate this data when printing out the Pick List so that the location of the item is marked before its title. And the list of required goods should be sorted in such a way as to cut off chaotic movement through the warehouse, collecting goods for the client. In addition, the items that are not on the bottom are marked separately (with "forklift" label) so that another worker can take them down with a forklift while you collect everything on the bottom.

For example, a customer needs 5 types of goods:

PRINTED PICKLIST

Bottom

1. Location: A-12 / Name: Green box / Quantity: 5 pcs.

2. A-15 / Red / 1 pc.

3. B-1 / Blue / 7 pcs.

Forklift

4. 2B-8 / Black / 13 pcs.

5. 2B-12 / Yellow / 11 pcs.

Bottom line

This orientation system can be useful for beginners and those who are developing their warehouse without investing in it. Because it is completely free, it helps to save time and make the process of searching and picking goods in the warehouse more efficient. In addition, even more effective solutions may emerge in the course of its implementation.

It may be useful

You are free to use/edit/download any of below:

spreadsheet with prefilled data
document with big letters (from A to D)
document with numbers (from 1 to 20).

What do you think about this idea? Please write a comment using the link below:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/warehouse-without-memorize-anatolii-melnyk-d1b7c/