Active floor management 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.
By having management show presence on the floor regularly, it helps to identify which workers might require more training and which may be the next to be promoted to a managerial position; it shows you consider the floor and everything which occurs there and the workers to be essential to the overall operation and very essential; finally, you can deal with issues as they occur.
Determine the Utilization of Space: Begin by examining cube utilization in your facility. Inspect if there is a lot of empty space close to the ceiling. Implementing higher racks and narrow aisles and specific forklifts that operate in those types of environments could really increase how you move and store supplies. What may not look like much wasted area could mean thousands of extra dollars and square feet with a few adjustments.
Check for Obsolete Inventory: For example, if a stock-keeping unit or SKU has not moved in more than a year, then it is considered to be consuming valuable space. Additionally, if you have many half-full pallets that are stored or staged in aisles, you are also not utilizing available space to its full potential. By doing an inventory overhaul and re-organizing existing stock, much room could be made to accommodate items which are moving faster.
How is the Flow of Product? Make the time to trace how exactly product flows through your facility on a regular basis. Check to see if the flow is sequential and logical. Around 60 percent of direct labor within the warehouse is allotted to traveling from one place to another. You could potentially have less staff finishing the same amount of work by being aware of product flow. Being able to move employees to complete various other jobs rather than having workers doubled up transporting items would get more work out of the same amount of staff.
The order filling procedure should be reviewed and if it is identified that a variety of SKUs are mixed-up in one location. If orders do not require things of this mix, pickers are wasting time. Another huge waste of time is having the same SKU located in many places in the warehouse. Get the workers used of going to a particular place for every specific thing so that they are just looking in one area and not traveling all over the warehouse checking more than one place for the same thing. These small changes can vastly improve the overall effectiveness within your warehouse.