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At the heart of a warehouse is the order picker who facilitates the transition of products in storage to move them on to eager buyers. Because they are at the very hub of the process, it is reasonable to say the order picker may be the most important person in a warehouse.

An expansive facility dedicated to shipping and receiving, warehousing, or order fulfillment and distribution continuously looks for ways to improve efficiency and productivity.  Positive improvements in these areas can start small and expand outward like ripples in a pond. 

For companies with warehouse operations at the core, dramatic improvements to efficiency and productivity of the workforce happen by adding portable printer carts.  When the carts include portable power supplies, the staff celebrates and productivity can improve 50%.

Rather than having lists, labels, order picks, and inventory data produced at a stationary printing location, the staff works while on the move which reduces unnecessary downtime eliminating wasted steps.

As you search for information beyond generic warehouse carts and narrow yit to order picking carts on the Internet, most will provide only one or two benefits in any detail.  To get the full scope of benefits, you will take more time to conduct searches, which is unnecessary and unproductive downtime.  

Unproductive downtime has been and remains a very real concern for companies that are involved in manufacturing, warehousing, and distribution operations.  You might be taking for granted one simple addition, order picking carts, which can translate into a variety of benefits and savings and dramatically improve the accuracy and efficiency of your warehouse.

One of your primary concerns may be the reduction of unnecessary downtime your company experiences on a daily basis.  This downtime may often go unnoticed, resulting in expenses and losses you are unable to account for or eliminate because you aren’t aware of the loss.  While hidden downtime can be costly to your company in many ways, did you know you can actually make changes to the workplace that will substantially reduce, if not entirely eliminate, this downtime altogether?

Warehouses can be optimized for improved operations in less time than many managers think - but a solid plan is the key to ensuring that everything continues to run smoothly.

Mispicks in the order picking process can be easily defined and understood.  Order picking is the process of pulling items from inventory in the warehouse to fill a customer order.  However, eliminating mispicks is a costly and ongoing dilemna.

In fact, distribution centers are losing an average of nearly $390,000 per year due to mis-picks, according to a study conducted by Intermec, Inc. 

To understand how the warehouse operational performance can be improved, there needs to be an assessment relative to an achievable "standard" or "benchmark."  There are two pieces to this: Measurement/metrics and benchmarks.

Can Lean Consultants be a valuable asset to a Company?  We use an infographic to get a big picture look at the many aspects of lean to consider whether a lean consultant is beneficial to you business:

To err is human and order picking is not an exception.  To accept marginal performance and not be diligent with finding solutions for picking errors is costly.  To conquer problems related to errors in order picking, below you will find suggestions from those who have already found solutions.

Dollar General's massive distribution center which opened in Bethel, PA is fully up and running in northern Berks County.  It's made of enough steel to build 6,400 cars, and the number of pallets it can hold would stretch from Bethel to New York City. Check out Dollar General's new distribution center...