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In our logis\u00adtics blog, we will ana\u00adlyze the typ\u00adi\u00adcal ware\u00adhouse challenges.<\/span><\/p>\n Finnish \u2013 A lan\u00adguage of neg\u00ada\u00adtiv\u00adi\u00adty? Well, prob\u00ada\u00adbly not. Nev\u00ader\u00adthe\u00adless, our lan\u00adguage con\u00adtains proverbs that tend to under\u00admine or ques\u00adtion new things and the imple\u00admen\u00adta\u00adtion of new ideas.<\/span><\/p>\n Many of us Finns know a say\u00ading that can be rough\u00adly trans\u00adlat\u00aded as \u201cAn old trick is bet\u00adter than a bag of new ones\u201d. Still today, there are many orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtions that have old mis\u00adcon\u00adcep\u00adtions of the days past, and dur\u00ading my career, I have had to hear the sen\u00adtence \u201cThis is how we\u2019ve always done it\u201d sev\u00ader\u00adal times.<\/span><\/p>\n Logis\u00adtics, how\u00adev\u00ader, is going through a major par\u00ada\u00addigm shift. This means that stick\u00ading to old ways of doing things can be a crit\u00adi\u00adcal risk for orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtions. There\u00adfore, some com\u00adpa\u00adnies have already stepped out as pio\u00adneers by renew\u00ading their entire logis\u00adti\u00adcal chain and gen\u00ader\u00adal way of thinking.<\/span><\/p>\n Nev\u00ader\u00adthe\u00adless, many orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtions still find that their logis\u00adtics process\u00ades are derived from the 90\u2019s \u2013 an era where tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy was only first being intro\u00adduced to warehouses.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n To step into the shoes of your cus\u00adtomer for a moment, it is easy to see why logis\u00adtics is among one of the most val\u00adued aspects in a cus\u00adtomer jour\u00adney. Let\u2019s use the fol\u00adlow\u00ading as an example.<\/span><\/p>\n Think of the dai\u00adly deci\u00adsions you would make as a cus\u00adtomer and ask your\u00adself the ques\u00adtion: What are the fac\u00adtors most impor\u00adtant when buy\u00ading a prod\u00aduct? I believe the answer you would give your\u00adself is at least, price and speed of delivery.<\/span><\/p>\n I argue that the ease of pur\u00adchase, deliv\u00ader\u00ading a promised prod\u00aduct, and the speed of deliv\u00adery are the most impor\u00adtant aspects for cus\u00adtomers: both as end users and resellers.<\/span><\/p>\n Let\u2019s dive deep\u00ader into the logis\u00adtics process\u00ades. Let\u2019s go into the ware\u00adhouse and see what they do on a dai\u00adly basis. Goods are being received, picked and dis\u00adpatched. Based on my expe\u00adri\u00adence, the most impor\u00adtant aspect in the func\u00adtion of logis\u00adtics is to make the pick\u00ading pro\u00adce\u00addure a smooth part of the order-to-ship\u00adping process in the ware\u00adhouse. There\u00adfore, in this blog, I will pri\u00admar\u00adi\u00adly focus on pick\u00ading process in ware\u00adhouse using exam\u00adples I have expe\u00adri\u00adenced first-hand.<\/span><\/p>\n As a start\u00ading point, the col\u00adlec\u00adtion of dif\u00adfer\u00adent items must be made so sim\u00adple that the pick\u00ading can be per\u00adformed by any ware\u00adhouse employ\u00adee with\u00adout pos\u00adsess\u00ading in-depth knowl\u00adedge on the items to be collected.<\/span><\/p>\n I have worked in a ware\u00adhouse, where to pick the right items, you had to know the prod\u00aducts very well. Often, the col\u00adlec\u00adtable items had their indi\u00advid\u00adual addi\u00adtion\u00adal com\u00adpo\u00adnents to be col\u00adlect\u00aded with only a men\u00adtion in the pick\u00ading list, if that at all. One can make the point that the col\u00adlec\u00adtor must be also a prod\u00aduct expert to know all the addi\u00adtion\u00adal parts that need to be picked up for a cer\u00adtain delivery.<\/span><\/p>\n To go even fur\u00adther, many ware\u00adhous\u00ades still use old-school paper pick\u00ading lists where the item pick\u00ading is car\u00adried out using a print\u00aded list.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n With these print\u00aded pick\u00ading lists, col\u00adlect\u00aded items are first hand marked on the paper and only then man\u00adu\u00adal\u00adly input into the ware\u00adhouse man\u00adage\u00adment sys\u00adtem. This labo\u00adri\u00adous process will mit\u00adi\u00adgate all the real-time ben\u00ade\u00adfits of a ware\u00adhouse man\u00adage\u00adment sys\u00adtem as you can\u00adnot see the actu\u00adal process tak\u00ading place live.<\/span><\/p>\n I can tell you, with\u00adout exag\u00adger\u00ada\u00adtion, that often\u00adtimes these print\u00aded pick\u00ading lists went miss\u00ading and a lot of time was wast\u00aded try\u00ading to recov\u00ader them. Talk about time sav\u00adings then.<\/span><\/p>\n A com\u00admon prac\u00adtice at ware\u00adhous\u00ades used to be so that the most dif\u00adfi\u00adcult deliv\u00ader\u00adies of the day would be back\u00adlogged to col\u00adlect the eas\u00adi\u00adest ship\u00adping items first. Nonethe\u00adless, all the pick\u00ading lists had to be gone through dur\u00ading the day mean\u00ading that at the end of the day, there was huge rush try\u00ading to pick the most dif\u00adfi\u00adcult items before ship\u00adping com\u00adpa\u00adnies came to receive the parcels.<\/span><\/p>\n Rush, lack of prod\u00aduct knowl\u00adedge and incor\u00adrect shelf loca\u00adtion also pro\u00adduce col\u00adlec\u00adtion mis\u00adtakes in ware\u00adhous\u00ades. If the ware\u00adhouse sys\u00adtem does not have all the nec\u00ades\u00adsary infor\u00adma\u00adtion for pick\u00ading, the ware\u00adhouse work\u00aders need to oper\u00adate on their mem\u00ado\u00adry and accu\u00admu\u00adlat\u00aded prod\u00aduct knowledge.<\/span><\/p>\n Mis\u00adtakes equal a lot of time spend cor\u00adrect\u00ading them. Addi\u00adtion\u00adal work done to com\u00adplete incom\u00adplete orders or to han\u00addle cus\u00adtomer returns are a huge expense for orga\u00adni\u00adza\u00adtions. Nat\u00adu\u00adral\u00adly, more\u00adover, incom\u00adplete or wrong ship\u00adments dam\u00adage your rep\u00adu\u00adta\u00adtion. Mis\u00adtakes made dur\u00ading pick\u00ading, there\u00adfore, are time con\u00adsum\u00ading, cost\u00adly and decrease cus\u00adtomer satisfaction.<\/span><\/p>\n I have been for\u00adtu\u00adnate enough to see in prac\u00adtice how the intro\u00adduc\u00adtion of real-time ware\u00adhouse man\u00adage\u00adment sys\u00adtem rev\u00ado\u00adlu\u00adtion\u00adized the pick\u00ading process. With new devices and a ded\u00adi\u00adcat\u00aded inter\u00adface, the process was sim\u00adpli\u00adfied, and items were logged into the sys\u00adtem auto\u00admat\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly and immediately.<\/span><\/p>\n Nat\u00adu\u00adral\u00adly, there is an invest\u00adment to be made when upgrad\u00ading your ware\u00adhouse man\u00adage\u00adment sys\u00adtem. Even though you might be able to pur\u00adchase a fan\u00adcy sports car with the price of the upgrade, the upgrade will pay itself back in the course of only a few months. The errors made in pick\u00ading dropped down to only a third of the orig\u00adi\u00adnal amount while ware\u00adhouse employ\u00adees\u2019 work sat\u00adis\u00adfac\u00adtion and per\u00adfor\u00admance were dra\u00admat\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly improved. Addi\u00adtion\u00adal\u00adly, the upgrade led to a decrease in returns and the ware\u00adhouse was able to meet more of its ship\u00adment targets.<\/span><\/p>\n Deliv\u00adery pick\u00ading and its relat\u00aded func\u00adtion\u00adal\u00adi\u00adties are of the essence in logis\u00adtics. When pick\u00ading items is effi\u00adcient and error\u00adless, derived costs sav\u00adings can be fur\u00adther invest\u00aded into logis\u00adtics R&D, for instance.<\/span><\/p>\n