Manufacturing & Warehouse Distribution equipment, service, rentals & support from Abel Womack, Raymond forklift NE Distributor

Skip to content
  • Online Catalogs
  • Contact
  • Locations
  • Customer Login
  • Cleanrooms & Controlled Environments
  • FANUC Industrial Robots
  • Automated Storage and Retrieval Warehouse Systems
  • Manufacturing Solutions
  • Modular Building Systems
  • Raymond Forklifts
  • Mobile Storage Systems
  • About Us
    • Careers
    • Customer Service Policy
    • Customer Testimonials
    • Discover the Difference
    • Our Locations
    • Management Staff
    • Raymond Solutions & Support Center
  • Forklifts
    • Used Forklifts and Equipment
    • Forklift Rentals and Leases
    • J1-TSV Task Support Vehicle
    • Raymond Basics
    • Power Solutions
  • Parts & Service
    • Equipment Maintenance & Repair
    • Forklift & Conveyor Parts
    • Forklift Safety Training
    • Shop Warehouse Products
    • Tennant Sweepers and Tennant Scrubbers
  • Optimization
    • Fleet and Warehouse Management Solutions
    • Lean Management
    • Labor Management
    • Asset & Maintenance Management
    • Operator Assist Technologies
    • Real Time Location System
  • Robotics
    • Industrial Robots
    • ROBOXX
    • FANUC Robot M-20iA
    • FANUC Robot M-710iC
    • FANUC Robot M-410iB
  • Integrated Systems Solutions
    • Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV)
    • Automated Storage & Retrieval Systems
    • Conveyor Systems and Sortation
    • Deep Lane High Density Pallet Storage
    • Pallet Racking and Shelving
    • Mobile Storage Systems
    • Warehouse Automation and Software
    • Indoor Vertical Growing
    • Modular Building Systems
    • Cleanrooms and Controlled Environments
  • Engineering
    • Automated and Robotic Simulation
    • Facility Design and Layout
    • Project Management
  • Information
    • Blog
    • Case Studies
    • Industry Solutions
    • Videos
    • Media Kit
You are here: Home / Blog / Warehouse Best Practices – Part I, Automation Prep

Blog: Warehouse Best Practices – Part I, Automation Prep

March 21, 2022 – 

As far as warehouses go, they’ve always looked to me like giant boxes. Boxes where things go in and come out – sometimes exactly as they came in, sometimes dressed differently. Similar to giant toasters – which is actually what intrigued the 6-year-old me as to what happened inside the little box (toaster) to give me the product I want (warm, toasted bread).

So… my mom found 6-year-old me one day with the toaster completely open with its “guts” on thetoaster kitchen counter trying to figure out the inner workings of this little box. This is what started my path to solution finding and system design (engineering). I took this toaster apart to better understand each piece and their value. I put the little box back together to find I left a piece out, but it still worked!

Note: nothing was blown up or burnt.

Note 2: this helped my understanding of EFFICIENCY and OPTIMIZATION – words the 6-year-old me had no definitions for but would definitely need.

When it comes to your operations, facility, warehouse… “giant box,” efficiency and optimization are key words to maximizing profit – which is what keeps businesses alive.

While our job is to help clients automate, automation is mostly fit for efficient and optimized facilities. In layman’s terms, don’t look for a new toaster until you know 1what kind of bread you’re handling, 2when it’s being handled, and 3have an idea of who’s eating. These are all part of your warehouse best practices – automation prep.

Warehouse Best Practices – Part I

1. What kind of bread are you handling?

a. The other KYP – Know Your Product
If you’ve done warehousing for a while, you have an idea of the burden of costs like shipping. These can make or break a product/business if the costs aren’t optimized and minimized. To do that, you should.

i. Get a scale – rate-shopping software is a great plus but should work in tandem with an inline scale or similar, which can minimize your shipping costs.
ii. Get a dimensionalizer – it doesn’t matter if that’s not a real word, yet. The dimensionalizer is a piece of equipment that can “grab” the dimensions of your product or shipping carton and store it in your system (WMS, ERP, or similar).
iii. Optimize product locations – this can only happen if you know more information than just product weight and dimensions. Once you understand the velocity/speed of that product (item or SKU) you can determine the best location for it in your facility.

1. This is what allows some companies to have a lane for “A movers” or “fast movers”
2. “A Movers” are usually what go first in faster throughput automation
3. Knowing the “slow movers” can help keep them out of the way of “fast movers”

b. With the information above, a company can take the next step in optimization by being able to slot products and optimize operational flow.

Note: It cannot be stressed enough that dimensions and weights of your product are key to any automation endeavor. Even if you’ve no plans to automate, this data is key to improving your warehouse, operations, and operational flow.

2. When is it being handled?

a. With slotting (optimizing product locations) and efficiently laying out your operations, comes an understanding of when personnel are needed throughout the work shift and where in therobot automation facility they’re needed. The original KYP – Know Your Personnel plus a little KYL – Know Your Layout.

i. Not all work requires equal talents – know where you can place workers for more repetitive or mundane tasks vs. where high-talent workers are needed.
Note: This is a great indicator of where a robot or autonomous technology may be used for future automation phases.
ii. Not all product gets picked all the time – know where you can place more workers or create dynamic work zones, flex workers, etc. that can handle changes in the day’s workload.

b. With scales, dimensionalizers, and warehouse execution software (WES or similar) products can be picked as it makes sense for shipping i.e., heavier stuff or bigger stuff on the bottom of a pallet, as well as many other customer-set preferences.

3. Who’s eating?

a. Let’s call this… KYC – Know Your Customer
My mom knew prior to the toaster fiasco that I was the inquisitive type – KYC. In this day and age, the age of the internet and shared information, comes the inquisitive customer – or the ones that want their product(s) handled a specific way.

i. If your customer doesn’t know “how they’d like their bread to come out” today, they will want the option to decide in the near future. This may come in the form of specific labels on their shipping boxes, bags or envelopes or a specific pallet configuration based on their shipmentInternet of Things destinations, as well as an assortment of other requests; jam, butter… avocado.
ii. With the internet comes the internet of things (IoT), where customers have the ability to track the bread in your toaster, and once it leaves your toaster until it arrives on their plate.

b. It’s worth noting that with the exception of IoT technology, it doesn’t take much automation to meet most customers’ needs. These best practices are to be put in place prior to the search for automation technology.

If you’re not good with remembering bread in a toaster (No’s 1-3 above) it would be good to remember KYP2, KYL, and KYC to start performing best practices within your operations – though bread just makes sense to me.

KYP2 – Know Your Product(s)/Personnel

KYL – Know Your Layout

KYC – Know Your Customer

It’s okay if you’re unsure of the next steps. Abel Womack has teams available to help you figure out if and when an automated solution can work for your organization. Contact our automation team for more.

Stay tuned for Warehouse Best Practices – Part II, where we discuss the optimal layouts and operational flows for different types of businesses. Should there be 2 slots in your toaster or 8? Are you ever handling waffles or bagels?



About the Author

Irving Suero is an automation specialist within the Integrated Systems division at Abel Womack. He has consulted for, designed, and installed material handling equipment and automation solutions for various customers across diverse industries for 9 years and running.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Search Everything
Subscribe to our Blog
Get a weekly email each time a new blog post is published.


 

Archive
Featured Post

Robots – Staying Ahead of the Game

February 13, 2023

Universal robot

We have been extremely busy for the last few months at Abel Womack working on enhancing our robotic … Read More

More Posts
  • Little Leaf Farms Raises Efficiency & Space with Radioshuttle
  • The Importance of Picking Accuracy and Operational Improvement in your Warehouse

All Blog Posts

Raymond_ASASC_2020

Abel Womack - Discover the Difference - logo
1 International Way
Lawrence, MA 01843
800-554-2887

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • Linkedin
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Forklifts
  • Careers
  • Fleet Management Solutions
  • Professional Design & Engineering Services
  • Parts
  • Service
  • Forklift Training
  • Pre-Owned Forklifts
  • Forklift Rentals
  • Products
  • Contact Us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
Offices In
Massachusetts
Connecticut
New York
Maine
New Hampshire
Rhode Island
Vermont

Copyright © 2023 · Abel Womack 2.0 on WordPress