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Large office supplies retailer
Enhancing the collection in the warehouse
Background:
Customer expectations regarding the delivery speed of online stores have risen sharply. Office supplies can be delivered on the same day at best.
Problem:
The current process in the warehouse cannot accommodate same-day deliveries due to the long turnaround time of the picking process. In addition, picking errors occur too often, and working hours struggle to stay within the weekly working time.
Goal:
To improve quality and flow, as well as to balance the workload. The goal is to first create a model that allows delivery the next day, even if orders are placed only in the evening. After that, a model will be designed to enable same-day deliveries.
Implementation:
The project began by conducting a value stream mapping of the entire warehouse process: receiving - storage racking - picking racking - picking - inspection - packing - shipping. For the picking aspect, a motion study was also conducted by video recording and analyzing picking events.
Based on the data, the most significant bottlenecks in the process and the factors causing quality variation were identified. A future state process description was then designed, where some operations were combined, some removed, and some modified. For example, the layout of the picking area was redesigned in such a way that the distance traveled by pickers was halved and unnecessary waste (such as sorting waste, searching, climbing stairs, etc.) was reduced by more than half.
In addition to picking, the receiving process was modified, and receiving carts with barcode readers were introduced. In storage racking, a new layout with flow racks was designed, which saved space and accelerated the process. Additionally, daily management was implemented to enable continuous improvement.
Results:
Quality errors decreased by 25% over 6 months. The lead time of the warehouse process reduced by 20%. The amount of overtime decreased by 40%.
