Continuously decreasing delivery times, increasing demands regarding product safety and a persistent shortage of labor. A small selection of the challenges that you are currently facing as logistics service providers. And then we are not even mentioning the far-reaching wishes of customers. Orders must be processed as quickly as possible at the lowest possible costs – without compromising the quality and safety of products.
What is the magic trick of staying financially healthy and simultaneously meeting market demand in these challenging times of tight margins and high expectations? In short: how do you achieve your warehouse KPIs? The answer is actually quite simple: put your WMS to work and save some time.
A Practical Step Towards Innovation
With a tight labor market and small margins, automation is often a practical investment. That may not sound innovative. But it is precisely a practical move that gives you the space to engage in innovative projects. Because with the right tools you can process larger volumes with minimal (manual) operations, so you don’t have to burden your colleagues with additional administrative tasks. That makes a difference; you no longer have to worry about it so you can focus on other things.
Your Warehouse KPIs Worked Out In 5 Quick Wins
For example, how you can meet the demands of your customers. Consider the communication desire and the traceability of products. Or what the optimum distribution of assignments is between people and machines. Something that you can outsource to the analytical insight of AI. But also how you prevent traffic jams at your loading docks. Therefore, we have brought together 5 quick wins for you in one blog.
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Track & trace your goods
Due to the increasing quality standards and regulations you are constantly confronted with the challenge to guarantee product integrity throughout the entire supply chain. That can put a lot of pressure on your business. Because it usually concerns a large number of (check)points that your colleague in the warehouse must record one by one in the system. Followed by effortlessly sharing these with your customer. If that has to be done manually, you can easily hire an extra employee for it.
At VCK Logistics SCS they ensure that they can follow orders throughout the entire process with the help of serial number registration. If something unexpectedly goes wrong, they always know how to track it.
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Prevent traffic jams at your docks
On an average working day, the number of trucks arriving at your docks can increase considerably. In an ideal world, deliveries follow each other one at a time. However, practice turns out to be a little more unruly: suppliers all arrive at the same time and in no time there will be a big jam in front of your docks. The result? Your employees are working their pants off, while they have barely anything to do an hour later. Not exactly the ideal distribution of resources and time. Also not particularly conducive to productivity and the relationship with suppliers. Because in the end you and your logistics partner are stuck with an inefficient and therefore costly process. Avoid chaos on your site and give logistics partners the opportunity to reserve a time slot via the App Platform. Drivers arrive during a pre-agreed period, drive onto your site with a unique access code and your employees are ready to (un)load as quickly as possible.
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Optimize the warehouse KPIs turnover rate and occupancy rate
We do not have to tell you that with a streamlined procedure you can process large volumes as efficient as possible. Your employees and machines carry out assignments throughout the day, so there is a good chance that improvement is possible in every area. But how do you know where you can get the most profit? Firstly, by measuring the performance of resources such as speed, accuracy and reliability. Secondly, the specific location where you store goods. And thirdly, the route that your warehouse employees follow to collect orders. This affects one of the other warehouse KPIs: performance per employee.
By mapping one of the most important warehouse KPIs, the average lead time, Jonker & Schut was able to organize their warehouse more efficiently. Simply by placing goods in a strategic place in the warehouse: the fast moving foods in front and the slow-moving goods in the back. In addition, just like Nedcargo, it pays to calculate the most economic route within the warehouse on the basis of XYZ coordinates.
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Go for automation and robotization
The combination of a tight labor market on the one hand and global competition on the other will give the use of (semi) automated warehouses and robotization a major boost in the coming years. This immediately gives you at least three advantages: you need less staff, you can use your current staff for other tasks and the process can continue to run 24/7. But it is not the only reason why automation and robotization will become mainstream. Market demand is also constantly changing. The need for being able to take orders in smaller quantities is growing. Preferably with a shorter lead time in a specific time window. By automating processes even more, you can increase the speed of the settlement process – without compromising on income.
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Think along (pro)actively with customers
Of course you take good care of your customers and you do everything to meet your expectations. Or preferably surpass them. That does not have to be a brain teaser at all. Because with the data you have collected, it often turns out to be quite easy to gain valuable insights. You know exactly how many goods are in stock, what the average lead time is and what the trend is in terms of demand. Data that allows your customers to reduce inventory – without having to sell no to their customers.
How does Solution PL’ WMS provide more control over your warehouse KPIs?
With input from the entire sector, Solution PL’ WMS has gained many features throughout the years. Solely for and by logistics service providers.
This article was written by Daphne Tollenaar from our partner Boltrics
