Active floor supervision enables managers to enhance performance in the distribution center in 3 key ways. Be sure to frequently walk the floor to stay abreast of problems.
It helps to recognize which workers might need more training by having regular presence on management on the floor. These frequent visits could be used to see who might be the next to be promoted to a managerial position; it shows you consider the floor and all goings on there and the employees to be essential to the overall operation and really vital; finally, you can deal with problems as they occur.
Determine the Use of Space: To begin with, you should determine the cube utilization within you workplace, making sure to examine how much empty space is situated near the ceiling. Implementing narrower aisles and higher racks and certain forklifts which work in those types of settings can really increase how you move and store supplies. What may not seem like much wasted space can translate into thousands of square feet and extra dollars with some adjustments.
Check for Obsolete Inventory: Like for instance, if a stock-keeping unit or SKU has not moved in over a year, then it is considered to be consuming valuable space. Also, if you have a lot of half-full pallets stored or staged in aisles, you are also not using available space to its full potential. By re-organizing existing stock and doing an inventory overhaul, much space can be made to accommodate things that are moving faster.
How is the Flow of Product? Take the time to trace how exactly product flows in your facility on a regular basis. Check to see if the flow is sequential and logical. About 60 percent of direct labor within the warehouse is allotted to traveling from one place to another. You can potentially have less personnel completing the same amount of work by being aware of product flow. Being able to move staff to complete various other jobs rather than having workers doubled up moving objects would get more work out of the same amount of personnel.
Review how the order filling process is occurring. If you notice that a variety of SKUs are mixed-up in one location and orders do not need things of this mix, pickers are wasting time. Another huge time-waster is having the same SKU located in multiple locations in the warehouse. Get the staff used of going to a particular place for every particular thing so that they are just looking in one place and not traveling through the warehouse checking more than one location for the same thing. These small changes could vastly enhance the overall effectiveness inside your warehouse.