St. Onge Company’s Matt Kulp recently published an article in Modern Materials Handling about how put systems increase efficiency in a distribution facility. He also discusses how some scenarios may require more robust systems to in order to be most effective. Matt highlights the importance of properly evaluating business before implementing such systems. Use the link below to read the article!
Double handling: Bad.
No double handling: Good.
Well, that was confusing. What do I mean? Few, if any things in life are simple or easy. I can’t remember how many times I’ve heard someone say: “We can’t do that, that’s double handling.”Well, OK, I admit “multiple touches” sounds inefficient. But counting touches is not the way to measure productivity. After all, the least amount of touches would be for one person to form a carton, travel the warehouse, pick all four items (theoretical example here, work with me), put them into the carton, tape the carton closed, print a label, walk the carton to the shipping dock and put the carton on the trailer. One touch per carton, one touch per piece. But was it the most efficient method for fulfilling the order? Certainly not!
The picker could have put carton on a conveyor that transported the order to a pack table where a second packer touched the pieces and carton, finished the order, put the carton onto a conveyor to which a third person touched the carton and loaded it onto a trailer. Three touches vs. one, but we all can see how that took less labor hours. So now we’ve dispelled the myth that more touches equals less productive.
Click here to read the article!
