There is a lot of savings potential in order picking. Our xalution experts have recovered a good part of it in various projects for our customers in the past months. Four starting points and their results for successful optimization in the warehouse are shown here!
1. 25% time saving: MDE replaces paper in order picking.
Mobile data entry devices (MDE) in the warehouse are still far from being standard. Especially in SMEs, there is still a lot of paper in use – documents that are passed on from employee to employee. From goods receipt to storage and picking. Sometimes even with additional handwritten notes. Only to be manually posted and digitized afterward.
Sounds complicated and error-prone – and it is. That’s why we have completely converted this process to mobile data capture for one of our customers. With accurate inventory management for inventory transparency in real-time, from which online stores in particular benefit. Time savings for employees in order picking and in the warehouse control center: around 25 percent.
„It was particularly important to us that all physical movements of goods in the warehouse be carried out using MDE (Mobile data entry devices), so that the postings are automated and true to time in D365.“, says Alexander Buchheit Senior Consultant at xalution and Supply Chain specialist.“
→ Technological must-haves: MDE devices, WLAN illumination of the warehouses, warehouse management module from Microsoft D365
2. 20% time savings: cluster picking replaces individual picking
If you walk each way twice or even more, you spend more time in the warehouse. The solution: cluster picking. The idea behind this is that the picker only has to visit each pickup location once, if possible because he picks the same item for different orders from one storage compartment in one go.
This is possible because an order picker processes several orders at the same time, which are compiled using cluster logic. The result at one of our customer companies: 20 percent time savings in order picking thanks to the significantly shorter walking distances.
→ Technological must-haves: MDE devices, WLAN illumination of warehouses, Microsoft D365 warehouse management module, picking carts with bins.
3. multiple advantages: Perpetual inventory replaces annual marathon
Anyone who takes inventory once a year knows the effort involved: the warehouse has to be closed, employees have to work overtime and possibly even hire additional staff, and in the worst-case scenario the result is a hefty inventory difference.
This is no longer the case with our customers for whom we have introduced perma-inventory. They have significantly less work and organizational effort, less time pressure, satisfied employees, and above all: maximum transparency. Inventory differences are uncovered almost immediately, so that – in the event of theft, for example – a quicker response is possible. Read more about Perma-Inventory here!
→ Technological must-haves: ERP system, warehousing module with inventory module, MDE devices + acceptance of the process by an auditor
4. cost and time savings: easier change of forwarding agent, faster dunning process
Many of our customer companies work with several transport service providers in parallel to optimize their shipping costs. The problem is that each carrier provides different software for labeling and data transmission. This has to be maintained by the administrator and mastered by the employees. We say: complex and unnecessary.
That’s why we have successfully integrated multi-carrier shipping software at some companies, which brings together individual solutions from over 180 forwarders on a single platform. The advantage: only one system to maintain and only one system to master as well as maximum transparency of all freight costs offered. On top of that, an integrated tracking & tracing module speeds up the dunning process, as proof of delivery for each shipment is automatically fed back into the system.
→ Technological must-haves: multi-carrier shipping software, warehouse management module from D365, label printer