Active floor supervision enables managers to improve performance within the distribution center in 3 key ways. Be sure to frequently walk the floor to stay abreast of issues.
It helps to identify which workers might need more training by having regular presence on management on the floor. These frequent visits can be used to see who might be the next to be promoted to a supervisory position; it shows you consider the floor and everything which happens there and the workers to be vital to the overall operation and very vital; lastly, you could address problems as they arise.
Determine the Utilization of Space: To start with, you should determine the cube utilization within you workplace, making sure to check how much empty space is situated close to the ceiling. Implementing narrower aisles and higher racks and specific forklifts that operate in those types of settings can really increase how you store and transport supplies. What might not seem like much wasted area can translate into thousands of square feet and extra dollars with a few adjustments.
Check for Obsolete Inventory: Like for example, if a SKU or stock-keeping unit has not moved in over a year, then it is considered to be consuming valuable space. Also, if you have numerous half-full pallets staged or stored in aisles, you are also not using valuable space to its full potential. By doing an inventory overhaul and re-organizing existing stock, a lot of room can be made to accommodate faster moving objects.
How is the Product Flow? Check to see if the flow of products is both sequential and logical, by making the time to trace how precisely product flows in your facility on a regular basis. Around 60 percent of direct labor in the warehouse is allotted to traveling from place to place. You can probably have less employees completing the same amount of work by being aware of product flow. Being able to move staff to complete other tasks rather than having workers doubled up transporting things will get more work out of the same amount of personnel.
The order filling method must be reviewed and if it is identified that a variety of SKUs are mixed-up in one place. If orders do not need objects of this mix, pickers are wasting time. Another big waste of time is having the same SKU situated in multiple locations in the warehouse. Get the staff used of going to a specific place for each specific item so that they are just looking in one place and not traveling through the warehouse checking more than one place for the same thing. These small changes can greatly improve the overall effectiveness within your warehouse.