Company Profile: Distribution
Problem: Owner wanted to know how efficient his warehouse employees were, as it seemed that there was a lot of walking being done by employees. Why were so many people busy walking, and how much time was being wasted?
Findings:
This Company had rapidly doubled in size in less than 2 years. The warehouse square footage also more than doubled. At the business initial startup, the warehouse had a receiving office, with one terminal and two printers. The receiving office is in the far corner of the building. This company received and shipped all orders via printed orders. As the company grew no changes were made to accommodate operational growth. All personnel; still needing same paperwork to do their jobs, where dependent on walking to the sole printers; in a very obscure area.
Recommendations:
Install multiple printers in convenient and accessible areas to employee work centers. As the company continues to grow, ensure printer accessibility to new or shifting employee work centers. Investigate the possibility of installing Radio Technology (RF) to negate printed paperwork for warehouse work flows and process centers.
