In the distribution center, active floor supervision could assist the managers to improve performance in 3 main ways. Be sure to walk the floor on a regular basis to stay abreast of problems.
By having management show presence on the floor regularly, it helps to recognize which employees may require more training and which may 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 very vital; lastly, you can address problems as they happen.
Determine the Use of Space: Start by checking cube utilization in your facility. Inspect if there is much empty space close to the ceiling. Implementing higher racks and narrow aisles and certain forklifts that work in those kinds of settings could greatly increase how you store and transport materials. What may not look like a lot of wasted area could translate into thousands of square feet and extra dollars with a few adjustments.
Check for Obsolete Inventory: If you notice a stock-keeping unit or SKU has not moved in more than a year, it is certainly consuming valuable space. In addition, if you have numerous half-full pallets that are staged or stored in aisles, you are also not using 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? Check to see if the product flow is both logical and sequential, by taking the time to trace how exactly product flows through your facility on a regular basis. Approximately 60 percent of direct labor within the warehouse is allotted to traveling from place to place. You can potentially have less staff completing the same amount of work by being aware of product flow. Being able to move employees to finish other jobs rather than having personnel doubled up transporting items would get more work out of the same amount of employees.
Review how the order filling process is happening. If you notice that a variety of SKUs are mixed-up in one place and orders do not require things of this mix, pickers are wasting time. Another big waste of time is having the same SKU located in multiple places inside the warehouse. Get the employees used of going to a particular location for every particular thing so that they are just looking in one area and not traveling through the warehouse checking more than one place for the same item. These small changes could greatly enhance the overall effectiveness within your warehouse.