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Mail Order Picking Case StudyWhilst working for a major internet and mail order retailer of lingerie products, there was a need to find ways of reducing the labour cost in the warehouse. Analysis showed: · Average order size is very small at around 2.6 units per order · The physical size of the orders, being lingerie, is also small. · The method of operation was to pick each order individually from a paper-picking list, necessitating a large amount of walking for each order. · The order was then placed in a holding area prior to packing for despatch, which was also performed on an individual order basis. · That the proportion of time taken to walk around the warehouse for the order pickers represented some 90% of their workload. A “normal” way around this problem is to batch orders together, and then using automated equipment, sort the batch into individual orders. However: · The capital cost of such a solution is very high · It is very inflexible · The uncertainty surrounding the likely future volumes made this option unattractive. What was needed was to find a way of minimising the walk time, by ensuring that more than one order could be picked each time the picker went around the warehouse. The solution: · A picking trolley was developed which allowed up to 24 orders to be picked on each walk sequence · The principle was extended to the packing operation by using part of the trolley containing 8 orders being delivered to the packing station. · A new layout was devised for the packing stations. The result: · The theoretical picking performance increased by a factor of 12. · The packing performance was increased by 70% · The capital cost of this solution is in direct proportion to the throughput as additional trolleys are only purchased as the existing ones become fully utilised. · This gives a fully scalable solution, which can easily be transferred to new warehouses as they are set up. |