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Most companies that have attempted to implement automated materials handling equipment have discovered that these projects can be particularly vulnerable to Murphy’s Law, the principal that, “anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.” This blog is twelfth in an ongoing series on “Beating Murphy’s Law in Warehouse Automation Projects.” Blog 13 DC On warehouse automation projects, the outbound processes of picking, packing, and shipping often receive a disproportionate degree of attention during the design process, to the exclusion of inbound processes like receiving, put-away, and bin replenishment. Companies often reason that, because failure to ship product can put them out of business quickly, all resources must be focused on this area, and that somehow the replenishment process will “figure itself out.” While it is true that problems with outbound processes can negatively impact the operation in immediate and direct ways (orders don’t ship), inbound problems may be slower to manifest themselves, but every bit as serious to the operation. Many material handling systems appear to go live successfully at first, with just “a few minor problems” putting away product and replenishing the forward pick areas. However, as these “minor problems” build up, they can eventually cripple an operation over time as each day, more and more pickers arrive at bins that do not have enough product to fill their orders. More and more labor must be dedicated to getting product in the right pick faces, or inefficiently performing picks from reserve locations. Often, when trying to quickly stock bins to get product out the door, workers may take short-cuts and make product moves without taking the time to record them in the WMS system. This creates another insidious problem as inventory accuracy begins to drop, making the WMS incrementally less able to effectively trigger replenishment tasks. The impact […]
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