Archive for the ‘Warehouse managment’ Category:
Toyota Material Handling Fleet
A leading Melbourne fruit business, Scicluna’s of Mentone has expanded its Toyota Material Handling fleet by winning the door prize at the annual Vic Fresh dinner. It won a BT hand pallet lift truck. Vic Fresh Dinner sponsor Toyota Material Handling donated the pallet truck as part of its on-going association with the Melbourne Markets and the Victorian produce industry. Scicluna’s Of Mentone was one of ten finalists from across Victoria in the 2006 Victorian Fruit and Vegetable Markets Retailer of the Year Awards. Ferret has published an article on the Same Topic.
Chris Scicluna said the attributes he appreciates in Toyota’s material handling products are the same qualities he strives to provide in his retail outlets.
Subscribe to the comments for this postManaging Material Handling
Warehousing always requires effective management of time and space. The material handling tools used in facilities are designed to conserve both time and space. Within the four walls of distribution centers, material handling equipment is divided into three types. They are:
• Static equipment
• Mobile equipment
• Order picking tools
Static equipment consists of items without wheels. They are usually storage equipment in the form of metal rack. While some equipments are movable, others are mobile. Order picking tools are used in most warehouses in order to ensure safe and secure handling of the materials.
Navis Launches SmartTurn Warehouse Management system
Navis has launched SmartTurn Warehouse Management System at the DC Expo. It is important to be noted that Navis is a global leader in enterprise software solutions for supply chain execution. SmartTurn WMS is the first real on-demand warehouse management system in the industry. Industry experts believe that it will streamline purchasing, receiving, inventory and shipping operations. The system is aimed at small and medium sized businesses.
More Information: Read Here
SmartTurn provides a consumer-like experience in terms of usage, with intuitive interfaces designed to accommodate a wide range of user capabilities for a typical warehouse. Customers can easily configure and scale the application themselves by adding new users, warehouses and SKU’s as their business requires.
Warehouse Operations
Warehouse operations are facing many new opposing pressures. The need for warehouse consulting is being felt today for effective and efficient warehouse operations. A new marketplace has been created, thanks to E-Commerce. Now, customer expectations are forcing the new marketplace to incorporate new functionality and new capability to their warehouse management. The relationship between supply chain partners is driving new capabilities to fulfill the enterprise platform.
Material Handling Operations and distribution centers account for the largest segment of assets in material handling. Warehouse companies are now providing their clients with warehouse layout and warehouse management, and implement their physical distribution infrastructure. These operations also help them address changes in their environment. New functionalities such as inventory management, cross-docking and value-added services have forced traditional warehouses to evolve into integrated distribution centers.
Producing Profits
Management and handling of perishable goods like fruits and vegetables is always a challenging task simply because the slightest mistakes and delays lead to a considerable loss in both goods and goodwill. Most wholesale distributors of fresh produce will find it to their advantage to establish a centralized, automated distribution center (DC) in order to avoid time and delivery pressures.
A minimum inventory turnaround time and short holding period of goods make it essential to utilize space in the most efficient way. Voice recognition technology is one way to enhance and expedite order processing and shipping.
Another challenge in this business lies in keeping produce fresh. This means continuously monitoring temperature and humidity levels, and ethylene sensitivity which is important in controlling the rate at which fruits and vegetables ripen. Each storage area has to have different climatic conditions depending on the nature of the product it is meant to house.
Most firms in the produce business do well if they have a strong and well-trained management team that knows the ins and outs of the automation system in place and the software that drives it.
Efficient Warehouse Management
Order placement and processing are often complicated and time-consuming procedures. A chain of retail outlets depends on the flow of goods from a centralized warehouse for a steady flow of products that should be delivered on time and in good condition in order to maintain good relationships with their customers and show profits.
Previously, orders were fulfilled in a completely manual process where workers in the warehouse walked up and down the aisles of a warehouse searching for items on the order form. This resulted in an unnecessary waste of time and energy.
A new process called continuous batch picking allows order pickers to navigate the aisles of warehouses that are designed nearly similar to the store layouts, and whose management processes are completely computerized. Product location and quantity details are displayed on a radio frequency scanner that guides the picker through the shortest and most efficient route that will result in the shortest picking time.
This process facilitates order picking for many stores in one stretch, by using carts that contain different container holders for each store. So to process order forms for six different stores, an employee can expend less motion instead of walking up and down the warehouse six times.
Warehouse management software also prioritizes the needs of each store, besides controlling inventory efficiently.
Yard Management - A Dynamic Part of the Supply Chain Process
A dynamic section of the supply chain process is Yard Management. It can show very positive outcomes in the balance sheet and customer service areas. What is Yard Management? It can be defined as the ability to keep a track of pertinent data, regarding trailers and containers. It tabulates and stores such data as who brought in trailers and containers, who owns it, where is it and what’s on it. It can also give information of where it should be and when as also, how long it has been there. YMS (Yard Management Software) is increasingly becoming important. Organizations have become aware of the multiple benefits from effective management of transportation and warehouse. Logistics.about.com reports:
Manual and less than ideal yard management increases cost, hinders productivity and cripples supply chain visibility. Selecting the right solution starts with what problems need to be solved, where improvements can be made, and what software can accommodate the answers to these questions.
Read More: Demystifying Yard Management
The Expanding Role of Warehouse Management
In its most elementary form, a warehouse management system was used to control the movement and storage of materials in a warehouse. Now, the role of WMS is fast expanding. It has Incorporated elements pertaining to manufacturing, order management, transportation management and complete accounting systems. Despite the gains and additions in functionality of a WMS, its core objective remains unchanged. Its primary role still is to control the movement and storage of materials in a given operation and process. The key areas of a WMS pertain to directed picking, directed put-away and directed replenishment. The internal set-up and processing of a given WMS can be different for different software solutions. Nevertheless, the core logic is the same. It uses a combination of location, item, quantity, unit of measure and order information. All these parameters are used to determine where to put the stock, where to pick and in what sequence should these operations be performed.
Warehouse Management Solutions and Techniques as Related to the Specialized Area of Value Added Processing (VAP)
Probably the most difficult area in a warehouse, with regard to management, is that related to Value Added Processing (VAP). What is VAP? It has everything to do with special packaging, that is not mainstream. It is about compliance labeling rainbow pallet building and about all other activities that relate to a customer’s promotional campaign. Value added activities are cyclical in nature and there are major swings in volumes which often requires the need to use temporary workers. An example of this could be a company flagging off a promotional campaign on tea pots, which needs the packaging to be opened, the putting in of tea bags or tea samples and some discount cards and then again resealing the packaging. What is the degree of efficiency and accuracy with which large quantities of such items can be dispatched? And mind you, the kind of work described, may require a batch of 20-30 temporary workers, who have never seen a warehouse ever before! Well, there is help that can be got from data capture technology and a warehouse management system. These should be incorporated to give the necessary flow of materials into and out of the VAP areas.
Read More: Best Practices in Value-Added Order Processing
Critical Warehouse - Inventroy Management Software - The Need of the Hour!
A major uphill task with all companies is with regard to the managing of inventory. Specially those companies, that have to send out a group of technicians each morning, along with a truck full of company assets. Most of the time, such equipment get installed at customer locations. But, sometimes, they get swapped or replaced. Also at times, the equipment cannot get installed. An accurate inventory record is required to be kept, regardless of all this. The inventory record for items at the warehouse as well as that installed at the customer sites; needs to be accurately maintained. This requires information on who has taken out which equipment each morning and knowledge of the assets that have been returned in the evening. This is a critical feature of the entire process of inventory management. Now Inventory Managers need not fret over his any more; as several Warehouse inventory management software solutions are available in the market, that support all functions pertaining to control and tracking of equipment. They address all issues related to the monitoring of material moved into and out of the stockroom locations as well as the reconciliation of the inventory count.