home Business How to make a good warehouse: complete instructions and calculation. Optimization of the work of the warehouse and warehouse technologies How to increase the efficiency of the finished goods warehouse

How to make a good warehouse: complete instructions and calculation. Optimization of the work of the warehouse and warehouse technologies How to increase the efficiency of the finished goods warehouse

Do you need to increase the productivity of your warehouse, but you can't afford to spend a lot of money on it? The ever-increasing costs of transport and fuel are a growing part of the budget for logistics operations, and you, the head of a company specializing in logistics services, are looking for ways to improve the situation? There are many ways to solve this problem. A survey of leading foreign experts made it possible to formulate 21 practical tips on how to do this. They are suitable for warehouses of any size and level of complexity. All recommendations are divided into four groups: general issues of organizing work in the warehouse; movement of goods and warehousing; selection of goods and selection of orders; receiving, packing and shipping.

General issues of organizing the work of the warehouse

1. Think strategically. Apply forecasting. Look for solutions ahead of time instead of reacting to problems that have already arisen, which are most often the result of poor planning. Rely less on buying new equipment and more on improving warehouse organization.

2. Remember, there is always room for improvement. Collect feedback from employees and their opinions on how the warehouse can be improved. Establish regular meetings of key employees to discuss performance improvement issues.

3. Make sure your employees are healthy and satisfied with their jobs. Healthy and satisfied with their work staff work with the greatest impact. Show concern for people's morale, be aware of their personal circumstances, and establish a pay system that encourages performance. To make their work less tedious, the warehouse should be divided into ergonomic technological areas, primarily for order picking and packaging. Deliver goods with a high consumption to areas where it is more convenient to take them. Packing materials should always be at hand, and packing tables should be comfortable to work with and have the right height.

4. Pay special attention to daily tasks. Walk around the warehouse and take a closer look at what operations are performed most often, analyze whether they are rationally organized. You may find something that interferes with work. And planned formalized checks will reveal all the factors that reduce productivity.

5. Cross-docking. The use of cross-docking is the most effective way to increase warehouse productivity. With this technology, the goods arrive at the warehouse and, practically without placement and storage in it, are sorted directly at the dock, reloaded onto other vehicles and sent to their destinations. To organize cross-docking, it is necessary to determine the consumption of goods, the fluctuations in demand for which are known, and make a forecast for the future. Think about whether low-demand items might be more conveniently placed in more remote areas of the warehouse, where they won't interfere with work and where they can be shipped only when needed.

6. “Get rid of excess and unusable property”- advise experts in organizing the work of warehouses. Sell obsolete equipment and products at discounted prices, sell them to companies that sell discounted goods, sell them through online auctions. By getting rid of excess property, you will be able to concentrate all human and material resources on the work that brings the greatest profit.

7. Organize your work with suppliers in such a way that they help you. If your relationship with suppliers allows, try to have them, for example, pack the goods delivered to your warehouse in quantities that are necessary for each business or store where they will be shipped. Each such package must be labeled with the destination of the goods, i.e. the address to which they must then be delivered. You will not need to unpack and repack the cargo, all that remains is to sort the finished packages according to their destinations and load them onto transport. Be sure to check that the barcodes and radiocodes are correct and accurately identify the product and its destination.

8. Make the most of all existing information technologies. Warehouse management systems (WMS), radio technology (RF) and bar coding are central to the organization of many warehouses. However, not all managers are able to take full advantage of these technologies. Here's what often escapes the attention of warehouse owners: WMS and RF technology should serve to streamline warehouse operations. For example, the forklift driver must first be instructed to remove a loaded pallet, and then drive the nearest free pallet to the loading area to stack the goods. If the commands are given in the correct sequence, the truck will never travel empty. In addition, the WMS system and RF technology should be used to ensure that the areas adjacent to the transport aisles of the warehouse always have goods that are being exported at a given time.

Cargo handling and warehousing

9. Carry the maximum number of pallets. It is necessary to speed up the process of exporting goods, use trolleys and stackers that can simultaneously transport two or more pallets with goods of the same type. Before introducing such a technology, it is necessary to calculate whether the capacity of handling equipment and warehouse space will be enough for such an increase in cargo turnover.

10. At the end of narrow warehouse aisles, create areas where you can leave and take the goods. Slower three-way stackers should be used primarily for hauling and delivering goods through narrow warehouse aisles. Cheaper and more versatile, counterweighted, high mast forklifts can be used to transport palletized goods in large open spaces at the ends of narrow aisles.

Selection of goods and selection of orders

11. Use walk-through or drive-in racking for crates, boxes and pallets to speed up picking and restocking. Instead of stacking boxes and pallets, use walk-through racks. Walk-through racks are inclined shelves on which pallets or boxes are placed closely. The weights are placed on the higher edge of the rack. No forklifts or stackers are needed to move the loads: boxes and crates move under their own weight on the rollers of the rack, they are automatically marked with labels that are pasted on the front side of each package for faster picking. Similarly, pallets are marked with labels on the front side of gravity walk-through racks. Gravity pallet racks consist of several vertical frames with inclined roller conveyors of different widths mounted on them, along which, under the action of their own weight, the pallets move towards unloading, as the goods are consumed, new pallets are loaded to the higher edge of the rack.

12. Create a dynamic picking channel in the warehouse. Use gravity drive-in racks for back-up storage of goods above the aisle racks. On drive-in racks, pallets are placed on trolleys with rollers. The next pallet is inserted into the guides and pushes the previous pallet. When a pallet is removed from the rack, the pallet following it is automatically labeled from the front. In this way, goods are handled faster than with any other deep storage rack systems, as the trucks pick them up from the end of the rack in the warehouse aisle.

13. Draw up the correct layout of goods in the warehouse. The most demanded goods should be stored in the most convenient places for loading. At the same time, make sure that low-consumable goods are not in the path of forklifts and stackers and do not lengthen the route of movement of goods. Select the correct picking trolley size for each product. Do you have to replenish your walk-through rack with boxes five times a day? If this is the case, perhaps it would be more expedient to use pallet racks?

14. Analyze the structure of selected orders. What is the proportion of orders with a small number of items? What proportion of these homogeneous orders are orders for the same product? To prevent an employee picking orders from going for the same product twenty times, documents for them should be selected in such a way that orders for the same product are processed simultaneously and the employee picks up the same products to complete all orders at once.

15. Organize order picking in batches. Use inexpensive budget equipment. If you store slow-moving goods on a mezzanine (rack-drive) located in the far corner of the warehouse, try to pick up goods in batches, transporting them in stacked packages on carts. Place packages on a pallet that can be lowered to the floor with a forklift. And the cheapest and most cost-effective way to pick orders from small items is to equip pickers with aprons with multiple pockets into which they can place each order individually.

16. Select orders for low-demand items directly from the storage location (warehouse shelves). This is more rational than transporting them first to the picking sites, since in this case the path for moving goods is lengthened.

Receiving, packing and shipping

17. Use non-mechanized conveyors to unload vehicles. When a truck arrives with cardboard boxes stacked from floor to roof, the rhythm is disrupted and the productivity of the unloading area is reduced. For example, in one large clothing warehouse, a cargo truck was unloaded by three people within four hours. They selected packages with the same product throughout the body, sorted them, counted them and put them on pallets. When a low-cost, non-powered conveyor from the floor of the unloading area to the back of a truck was installed, one man in the back began to quickly transfer the boxes to the floor of the warehouse, where the rest of the workers sorted the boxes and stacked them on pallets. All unloading began to take much less time.

18. Make more use of bar coding. Require suppliers to label packages with barcodes. If it is difficult for the supplier to provide the coding himself, it is possible to supply the supplier with pre-printed barcode labels for each package, providing detailed instructions on how to apply them. Label your pallets with barcodes and allocate a specific space on the site for each load. Workers with the help of a radio scanner will read the codes and arrange the pallets quickly and correctly.

19. Make a clear schedule for the arrival and release of goods from the receiving dock. Lack of order seriously complicates and slows down work. The schedule for the receipt and shipment of goods from the site must be consistent with the rest of the work in the warehouse. In many companies, where there are no separate specialized shipping and receiving docks, different shifts are allocated for these operations.

20. Use the most productive cargo indexing systems. For example, shipments marked with radio codes are scanned and sorted quickly and accurately by workers. You can additionally use weight checking devices, some of these devices are inexpensive - less than 20 thousand USD. Such a system compares the weighing result with the weight indicated in the documents, and if it detects a difference, it signals this. Accurate, timely information about the cargo is very helpful.

21. It is necessary to select the goods directly into the shipping container. If orders need to be carefully inspected and double-checked during picking, it makes sense to pick them directly into shipping crates. Packers will only have to shift the goods with packaging material, seal the boxes and attach labels. Make sure that boxes of the right size are always available. Nothing delays work like a sudden stop to look for larger boxes and reloading some of the goods into them.

New - well forgotten old

Modern, expensive equipment and technologies can undoubtedly significantly increase the productivity of a warehouse. In a large warehousing business, a lot of work time can be saved by automating the final packaging step mentioned in point 21 to recoup the cost of packaging, sealing and labeling. If your company is not ready for such an investment, you can use an inexpensive technology - identification labels.

These tips can increase the productivity of any warehouse, not just businesses on a tight budget. Some of the ideas described in the article have been known and used for a long time, but they are still effective. If you apply them creatively and with common sense, these well-known and simple techniques are sure to help make your business even more successful.

Based on the materials of the foreign press prepared S. Protasov

Any owner of a commercial warehouse dreams of a client who will place for a long time several tens of thousands of pallets of dangerous goods (expensive storage) and will receive / ship only a couple of trucks per month. However, in real life, there are practically no such customers left. More often, cargoes are very diverse, turnovers are solid, batches are far from always multiples of a pallet. To stay in the warehouse services market, you need to learn how to manage all this.

Dear reader, this article is part of the author's training by Elena Pavlova "Warehouse optimization". Please credit the author when using the material. We will also be very grateful to you for reposting the article on social networks.

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Quality is in short supply

Today, the situation on the market of warehouse services can be characterized as consistently poor quality. In recent years, warehouses have spontaneously appeared on the site of former vegetable bases or empty industrial workshops, which they simply wanted to occupy with something. The main indicators of the work of such a warehouse were the price and the time of unloading/loading. High-quality warehouse services were not provided, because there was neither the proper experience of warehouse operators, nor, in fact, the conscious need for such a service from their customers. Most of the cargo was on pallets, unloading and loading was not difficult, and accounting was quite simple.

In the same way, events developed with their own warehouses, for example, in production. The increase in the turnover of enterprises, along with the inability to manage stocks and the lack of any kind of warehouse technology, dictated an increase in warehouse space.

But with the development of business, the consolidation of the sales market and the growth of competition, any product, in addition to acceptable quality and price, “required additives” in order to be sold. And this "additive" was the service. Many companies are now forced to ship products to customers not in pallets, but in units. Moreover, the goods must be carefully selected and equally carefully packaged. And some customers also require special labeling. Expiration dates are also of great importance, and, accordingly, the time of picking and shipment, etc.

Requirements have increased not only directly to warehouse operations, but also to the quality of accounting, since many trading companies are constantly expanding their range and are not distributors of any exclusive goods.

Only individual warehouse companies have adapted to such rapidly changing conditions, mainly foreign companies represented on our market. Domestic operators - owners of warehouses - provided customers with the right to independently organize warehouse processes, taking money only for renting space.

The reasons for this are simple:

inability to predict the needs of the warehouse services market and calculate investment projects;
inability to model logistics warehouse processes and choose the optimal information and accounting system;
the hope that the current situation will last for a long time;
lack of modern warehouse equipment and warehouse technologies;
introduction of any new technologies in parts and haphazardly, etc.

Most warehouse owners explain their unwillingness to change anything by the fact that having invested funds, they may not find customers, that they do not understand for whom it is necessary to develop warehouse technologies. But the service is not natural resources, the sale of which will be very profitable for a really long time, and the warehouse business is not a monopoly (like, for example, railways or customs). Therefore, the lack of development and progress in the near future will lead to the fact that the owners of warehouses, who do not change anything, will be forced to abandon this business.

But if now there were distribution centers that provide quality service, they would have lines of customers. To really understand this situation, try to imagine that you need to find a warehouse that can provide:

processing of several thousand items;
complete set of units;
order picking time - 2-3 hours;
the amount of damage (losses) - no more than 0.01% per month;
the possibility of adapting the information system with the customer's system.

Operators who are able to do all this can be counted on the fingers. And if we add, for example, that the time for unloading and loading should not exceed half an hour, then the number of applicants will be reduced to almost zero. Therefore, today many trading, manufacturing and distribution companies are engaged in non-core business - they themselves build, equip and maintain warehouses, have their own staff, accounting system, etc. in them. While almost all Western companies have already abandoned their non-core business in order to direct all their efforts to their core business. So domestic companies providing warehouse services should forecast the market situation a bit and engage in their own development.

And what is wrong?

The main problems of the vast majority of warehouses existing in the country today are known:

lack of necessary services;
imperfect accounting;
poor control of the movement of goods;
obsolete mechanization and automation;
large losses of goods or deterioration of their quality in the process of warehouse processing;
low speed of cargo handling;
the absence of a system for evaluating one's own work and developed (and not taken from nowhere) criteria and their limit values;
lack of statistics and, as a result, analysis and the possibility of predicting the results of work;
lengthy execution of accompanying documents, etc.

Until now, there is also a shortage of qualified specialists not only in the field of warehouse logistics, but also in logistics in general. First of all, it manifests itself in mutual dissatisfaction: companies using logistics services are dissatisfied with the employees who are responsible for their provision, and service providers complain that customers do not have specialists who understand and are able to evaluate the level of service. This is explained by the fact that at the generally accepted level, logistics specialists mean either customs brokers, or warehouse workers, or simply truck drivers. And this is reflected in the average salary level of logisticians, and the prestige of the profession is still not at the proper level.

However, a positive trend is clearly visible. Already today, many people understand that a qualified warehouse logistics specialist must know not only, for example, the design of racks, but also deeply understand economic laws, as well as be familiar with probability theory and mathematical statistics, without which it is impossible to put into practice this aspect of warehouse logistics like inventory management.

The situation is no better with automation. In domestic warehouses, if it is used, it is fragmented, without the introduction of an integrated management system. It is not uncommon to find "home-grown" information systems that depend on the qualifications of their own programmers. Such automation cannot be taken seriously. The development and implementation of system products in the field of automation requires certain investments, and due to the same lack of qualified personnel, no one can accurately estimate the timing of their return. And the owners of warehouses are not yet ready to invest in the qualitative development of the warehouse economy.

The need to automate a warehouse does not depend on its size, but on the goods that are processed in it. If this is a commercial warehouse (and not your own in a certain production, when all the nomenclature is known in advance), then automation seems appropriate, as this makes it possible to better adapt to constantly changing external conditions.

Moreover, the design and layout of the warehouse itself should be designed in such a way that it is possible to expand the range of functions performed without a fundamental reconstruction. Therefore, in this article we will consider the first mandatory stage - warehouse modeling. Here is an example of optimizing the layout of an existing warehouse during production (for confidentiality, all specific figures have been changed).

WAREHOUSE SIMULATION

Layout optimization

Any work to change something must begin with an analysis of the existing situation. And the warehouse is no exception. Before building a simulation system, it is necessary to analyze the functioning of the warehouse, incoming and outgoing flows to determine the efficiency of work at the moment. Then you should develop an optimal layout of the warehouse with the definition of technological zones, the location and size of which will increase this efficiency.

The criteria for evaluating the efficiency of the warehouse can be divided into four main groups:

I. Indicators characterizing the efficiency of the use of warehouse space;

II. Indicators of efficiency of warehouse technological processes;

III. Assessment of the level of cargo safety;

IV. The overall efficiency of the warehouse.

To assess the first stage of the project - the development of an optimal warehouse scheme - the indicators of the first group are used. In our case, we considered technical and economic indicators for each technological zone, as well as the overall efficiency of the warehouse.

1) analysis technique

The following basic input data are used for the analysis:

warehouse plan showing the placement of racks and each pallet, as well as the main elements of the warehouse - gates, elevators, conveyors, weights, etc.;
nomenclature list of products indicating its main parameters (manufacturer, name, overall and weight characteristics, packaging parameters, storage conditions, etc.);
actual data on order volumes for each type of product;
actual data on the total volume of orders for each of the clients for certain periods of time;
actual data on warehouse personnel.

In the example, the methods and algorithms of statistical data processing were implemented in the form of an information system developed on the platform "1C: Enterprise 7.7". A generalized database has been created for all the information provided, a system of indicators for evaluating the efficiency of the warehouse for specific conditions has been developed, and the actual values of these indicators have been determined. A system of indicators for evaluating the effectiveness of the proposed options, a modeling system that allows choosing the optimal model according to certain criteria, and a modeling system for a preliminary estimate of the costs of warehouse reconstruction were also developed.

2) analysis results

Warehouse layout and performance indicators The total area of the warehouse in accordance with the provided plan can be represented schematically in the form of a figure, where S 1 =3000 m 2 ; S 2 \u003d 1000 m 2; S 3 \u003d 1100 m 2; Stot. \u003d 5100 m 2. There is one closed platform equipped with automatic gates and two open ones. In total, there are 7 automatic gates and 7 weight gates located along the perimeter of the warehouse.

Technological zones of the existing warehouse and their ratio

The volumes of product storage in the compartments of the storage area in accordance with the warehouse plan are shown in the table.

The area of premises intended for storage of products:

	Compartment #1	Compartment №2	Compartment №3	Compartment №4	Compartment №5	Compartment #6	Compartment No. 7	Compartment No. 8	Compartment #9	Compartment №10	Total
Qty. p/m	80	108	106	116	135	58	30	60	86	138	935
m 2	180	144	144	216	288	72	36	144	162	432	1818

The pallet area (1200 x 800 mm) is 0.96 m 2, and the number of pallets stored (both on racks and directly on the floor) is 729. Thus, the area occupied directly by pallets and racks, without aisles and approaches to them , is about 700 m 2.

The total area of all premises intended for storage (including passageways and corridors) is 1818 m 2 . The total number of pallet spaces is 935. Elevators and conveyors occupy up to 40 m 2 . There is also a closed platform with an area of 504 m 2 and zones that can be classified as auxiliary or technical (~ 900 m 2).

Summarizing all the results, we get the size and ratio of the areas of various technological zones that exist in the warehouse today.

Technological zones of the warehouse: size and ratio:

	total area	Packaging and labeling area	storage area	picking area	Zone shipments (platform)	Technical zones(including elevators and conveyors)	Passages and unused zones
m 2	6500	0	700	0	500	900	4400
%	100	0	11	0	8	14	67

Estimating the volume of daily orders and determining the parameters of the warehouse for processing and storing products

The allocation of the share of orders of regular customers is of fundamental importance for the organization of the warehouse. They provide a constant (planned) demand, which allows pre-packing of orders, providing the necessary quality of service. In our example, the total average daily order amounted to ~ 200524 kg, of which the share of orders from chain stores for all types of products was ~ 15%.

The total number of personnel serving the warehousing facilities (engineers and workers) is 210 people. The distribution of job responsibilities is shown in Diagram 1. The warehouse operates around the clock, which means that there are an average of 70 employees per shift.

Distribution of duties in the warehouse:

Warehouse performance indicators

For the first stage, only the indicators of the first group were calculated, which characterize the efficiency of the use of warehouse space. The second, third and fourth groups will be calculated at the second stage of work.

Below is a description of the indicators of all four groups for evaluating the effectiveness of the warehouse.

GROUP I. EFFICIENCY OF THE USE OF STORAGE SPACE

The main indicators of this group are cargo density and capacity. The first one (GN) characterizes the loading in tons per storage area area. The maximum load density (MHL) allows you to evaluate how efficiently each square meter intended for product storage is used. The higher this indicator, the more efficiently the area is used.

The maximum value of the indicator is determined by the technical characteristics of the warehouse and the equipment used. It is calculated as the ratio of the maximum volume of products that can be stored to the usable area of the storage area. The numerator can be measured in tons, m3, units of value, or in some reduced units in the case of a heterogeneous cargo. In the example, weight units were used, since all accounting is kept in them.

Based on the results of the analysis and the average weight of a pallet with goods equal to 500 kg, the maximum net load density (i.e. without taking into account the area of working aisles) of the existing warehouse is as follows: MHL net = P/S net, where P is the weight of the stored goods; Snet - the area occupied directly by the racks.

MGN gross = P/S gross, where P is the weight of the stored goods;

S gross is the total storage area. In our case: MHL net = 935x 500/700 ~ 667 kg/m2, where 500 kg is the average weight of a pallet, 700 m2 is the storage area without aisles, 935 is the total number of pallet spaces. Since certain actions are required to work in a warehouse, for example, placing pallets on racks, removing pallets, inventory, etc., then, as a rule, a more accurate assessment indicator is the maximum gross traffic density, i.e. taking into account the working aisles to the racks. For an existing warehouse, it is equal to: MHL gross = 935 x 500/1818 ~ 257 kg / m2, where 500 kg is the average weight of a pallet, 1818 m 2 is the area of the storage area with aisles, 935 is the total number of pallet places.

If we use the indicator of the load density of the warehouse not as a constant, but consider, for example, statistics by day, then it can be used to assess whether the dimensions of the storage area are optimally set. With the optimal storage area, the difference between the maximum possible load and the actual one should tend to zero.

Thus, the traffic density characterizes the state of the storage area at each specific point in time and can be used as one of the effective optimization indicators.

Warehouse capacity is an indicator that characterizes the amount of cargo that can be placed at a time. It is expressed in tons or m3. The capacity utilization factor is a value derived from the useful volume of the warehouse (for all technological zones). And the usable volume, in turn, is a derivative of the layout of the warehouse and storage equipment. It is calculated as the ratio of the amount of stored cargo to the volume in which this cargo is stored.

The utilization rate of the warehouse capacity reflects the degree of uneven loading. This indicator can also be defined as the ratio of the average current load (total for all zones) to the maximum theoretical load (taking into account the maximum load in tons per unit area during a unit of time).

For this example, since there are no actual packing and labeling or order picking areas, the average occupancy of the storage and loading areas will be used in the capacity factor (CV) calculation.

where P is the weight of the stored goods; V is the amount of storage.

Storage area capacity factor:

Storage area CV = 935 x 500/(1818 x 6) = 43 kg/m2, where 6 m is the height of the warehouse, 500 kg is the average pallet weight, 1818 m2 is the area of the storage area with aisles, 935 is the total number of pallet spaces.

GROUP II. INTENSITY OF THE WAREHOUSE

The main indicators of this group are: cargo turnover, specific cargo turnover, load unevenness coefficient, cargo turnover ratio, ton-days of cargo storage and average order service time.

Cargo turnover (Gosklada) characterizes the complexity of the work. It is measured by the weight of various types of goods that have passed through the warehouse for a specified period of time (day, month, year). It is possible to calculate GO on arrival or departure (one-way cargo turnover). In the example under consideration, it can only be determined based on the average daily order (ADR), which is equal to 200 tons / day. In addition, it is better to bring this figure to hours, since in fact the entire warehouse should "skip" the entire stock in one day.

The specific cargo turnover of a warehouse is characterized by the amount of actually processed cargo in a certain period of time per 1 m2 of warehouse space.

The coefficient of load unevenness is defined as the ratio of the turnover of the most busy month to the average monthly. This indicator is important for determining the presence of a seasonality factor, that is, for managing the planning process of cargo traffic.

The turnover ratio of goods reflects the cycle of the full turnover of stored goods, or, in other words, the intensity of the passage of goods through the warehouse. This indicator is necessary, first of all, for the effective management of the flow of goods passing through the warehouse.

The indicator, expressed in ton-days of cargo storage, characterizes the total work of the warehouse and is generally defined as the product of the weight of an individual consignment and the number of days of its storage. For the example under consideration, this indicator is practically a constant value (and a limitation for the modeling problem), since the manufactured goods are actually shipped within a day.

The service time of an average order characterizes the intensity of the warehouse (with a constant number of employees). This indicator will most fully reflect the intensity of work if it is calculated for selected groups of customers (the group is formed by the volume (weight) of orders per day), and in each group, subgroups are determined by the number of items of products received. This indicator is important for determining the number of warehouse personnel.

GROUP III. SAFETY OF CARGO PROCESSED

The main indicators of this group: the number of cases of losses (shortages) at certain intervals, the number of losses (shortages) per day in relation to the total volume of storage of goods per day and the number of returns of low-quality products, defects that occurred due to the fault of warehouse workers (for example, exceeding the deadlines storage, damage during packaging, improper storage conditions).

These indicators are not considered at the stage of building a warehouse model. They are accepted as existing. But at the second stage of work, when creating a system for effective management of packaging, labeling and shipping processes, they must be considered and optimized. However, in order to achieve a minimum precisely for these indicators, it is necessary to create an effective system of motivation for warehouse workers.

GROUP IV. ECONOMIC INDICATORS THAT CHARACTERIZE THE EFFICIENCY OF THE WAREHOUSE

The main indicators of this group are: storage costs, cost of storage, labor productivity of employees and warehouse income (in the case of commercial use of storage facilities).

All these indicators can only be assessed after a detailed analysis of the management of incoming and outgoing flows, warehouse workflow and warehouse handling, as well as all standard costs for maintaining the warehouse at the moment.

Storage costs are the sum of the costs of organizing the storage of various goods + the amount of administrative costs.

The cost of storage of goods is determined as the ratio of the total costs associated with the performance of warehouse operations to the number of ton-days of storage. This includes the costs of packaging, labeling, storage, paperwork, insurance, as well as administrative costs, staff salaries, etc.

Labor productivity is calculated based on the size of the cargo turnover of the warehouse and the number of warehouse operatives and assigned auxiliary workers.

The income of the warehouse depends on the current rates of fees by type of cargo per ton-day of storage. This indicator for the example under consideration can only be estimated conditionally, since this warehouse is not commercial.

The profitability of a warehouse is the ratio of the profit received from the operation of the warehouse to the cost of warehouse processing. Since the warehouse in question does not sell services, if necessary, this indicator can also be calculated conditionally, assuming that the cost of the service is equal to the market average.

Conclusions based on the results of the analysis

Both on the plan and in fact, in our example, neither the size nor the location of technological storage areas are determined. The storage sectors selected and listed in the table are randomly dispersed throughout the warehouse and do not have any technological differences. There are no packaging and labeling areas, and the corresponding operations are carried out in each workshop. There is also no order picking zone - it is carried out by loaders directly in the storage areas.

The maximum stock that can be kept in stock under the current layout is two days of sale. The dimensions of pallets and the requirements for placing goods on them "have developed historically." This means that there is no reasonable laying scheme.

There is also no functional division of personnel. Judging by the percentage, all functions are performed mainly by loaders. The main results of the analysis of the use of warehouse space are summarized in the table. Indicators of the efficiency of the use of warehouse space (I group) - in the following table. Based on the results of the analysis, proposals were developed for the optimal layout of the existing warehouse.

The results of the analysis of the use of warehouse space:

The total area of all premises intended for storage (m2)	1818
The total area of all premises intended for storage (m2)	1818
Total number of pallet places	935
Area directly used for storage (m2)	700
Area directly used for storage (m2)	700
Average pallet weight (kg)	500
Average pallet weight (kg)	500
Total product weight (t)	467,5
Stock in days	2,34

Warehouse space efficiency indicators

Maximum load capacity (net), kg/m2	667
Maximum load capacity (gross), kg/m2	257
Capacity factor kg/m3	43
Maximum stock in days	2,34

Basic Principles of Warehouse Layout Optimization

The main purpose of a warehouse is not to store goods, but to process them to ensure timely shipment to customers and to place finished orders while waiting for shipment. For this task to be carried out effectively, it is necessary that:

1) products from the workshops entered the warehouse in the largest possible container that did not require complex technological operations for packing goods (for example, plastic containers);

2) packaging was carried out in boxes of optimal sizes, multiples of orders. The stacking team must be given the exact number of boxes to stack a given lot. The box with packaged products will be weighed, closed, labeled and subsequently included in the order according to this labeling;

3) the products were stored only on racks - this will significantly increase the efficiency of the use of warehouse space, allocate space for the preliminary formation of orders, significantly improve the quality of warehouse handling of goods (accounting for storage periods, the order of receipt and shipment of goods, inventory, safety of products, etc.). );

4) picking of orders was carried out by selection of boxes, which significantly reduces the time spent;

5) the vehicle was delivered to the gate at the command of the dispatcher only after all the products intended for loading were delivered to the gate (minimizing the time spent by the vehicle under loading).

Technological zones of the warehouse

To ensure the efficient operation of the warehouse, it must be allocated technological zones for acceptance, storage, picking, shipment and technical.

1. Acceptance area designed to receive products from the workshops of its own production. The following technological operations should be carried out in it:

control weighing of products coming from the shops;
its placement at the workplaces of stackers (conveyor, work tables);
stacking products in standard boxes of specified sizes in accordance with stacking schemes;
weighing boxes;
sealing boxes;
warehouse marking (box serial number, product name, weight, date, stacker identifier, etc.);
stacking boxes on pallets in accordance with the stacking scheme;
warehouse labeling of pallets;

Calculation of the main parameters

The most rational equipment for packaging products in consumer boxes is a carousel conveyor.

In our example, the working length of the conveyors corresponds to ~ 70 m.

For packaging, products are placed on the conveyor coming from the workshops in plastic containers measuring 600 x 400 x 300 mm. Full loading of the conveyor with such containers will be: K=Lwork/600~116. Taking into account the gaps between the containers and the rounding of the conveyor, we multiply the result obtained by a factor of 0.85 and reach the number 100 - that is how many units of enlarged in-plant containers can be placed to the conveyor at the same time. In our case, this is approximately 5 thousand units of production, or 5 tons.

The packer's workplace consists of three parts:

actually the place where he stands at the conveyor;
work table for the boxes in which he packs the products. The table must be on wheels and fixed. Conventionally, it is divided into two parts: working and cumulative. In the first part there is a box in which the laying is carried out, in the second part - packed and ready for shipment;
place for empty boxes when folded.

The entire length of the workplace in our example is 2 m. This means that the maximum number of seats for the conveyor is: 70: 2 = 35, i.e. 35 people can work in the packaging module at the same time.

Calculation of time to process a full load of the packaging module

The stacker's unit of work is the complete processing of one box. It consists of the following operations:

take a consumer box blank and bring it into working condition;
take a unit of production from a plastic container located in the workplace area;
put it in a consumer box in accordance with the laying scheme for this type of product;
when filling the box to the standard, put/stick your identification label in/on it;
move the box on the desktop from the working part to the storage part.

The task to the packer (and his performance) can be measured in the number of empty boxes that he receives before starting work.

At the enterprise, the example of which we are considering, the standard time for performing all these operations is 2 minutes. Accordingly, the capacity of the stacker is 30 boxes, or 300 units per hour. Those. one packer can process a full load of a packaging module (5000 units) in 5000/300~17 hours, and 35 people (when the module is fully equipped with manpower) in about 30 minutes.

Thus, the maximum productivity of this packaging module is 10 thousand units per hour (or 1 thousand consumer boxes, or 200 plastic containers, or 14 pallets, or 10 tons of products). In an 8-hour work shift, 112 pallets can be processed, in three shifts - 336, which corresponds to the maximum productivity of the enterprise. That is, with the area of the receiving area, organized according to the above principle and equal to 987 m2, it is possible to process all products, provided that the plant produces 200 tons of it per day.

2. Storage area designed for storing prepared pallets with products. The following technological operations should be carried out here:

moving pallets from the receiving area and picking area;
placing them on racks using special warehouse equipment (carts, stackers, etc.);
unloading pallets from racks using special warehouse equipment (carts, stackers, etc.);
move to picking area or shipping area;
internal technological movements of pallets;
ensuring the safety of products.

storage module

Racks are 3-tiered. Cell size - 1 x 1.2 x 1.5 m. Storage module dimensions - 30 x 6 m. Area - 180 m2. The number of pallet spaces in the module is 30 cells x 3 tiers x 2 racks = 180. The number of modules is 5. The total number of pallet spaces is 900.

Thus,

total area of product storage modules (m2) . . . . . . . . . . 900

total number of pallets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 900

area used directly for storage of products (m2) . . 360

total weight of products (t) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 450.0

stock in days at CVD = 200 tons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.25

3. Picking area designed to complete products in accordance with customer orders. The following technological operations should be carried out in this zone:

control weighing of products coming from the acceptance area or from the storage area;
selection of boxes with products in accordance with the task for picking;
customer labeling of boxes;
placement of selected boxes on pallets intended for shipment to each of the customers;
client labeling of pallets;
ensuring the safety of products.

In our example, the picking area is divided into four sectors, in which the following operations are performed:

disassembly of pallets;
gravity racks with boxes;
picking orders for pallets;
ready orders.

The first three sectors taken together make up the picking area module.

Gravity racks will allow:

make the process of picking orders for pallets technological: lifting equipment moves only along the front of the racks, without driving inside the rack structures;
comply with the FIFO principle, which is very important for products with a limited shelf life. In the future, each cell of the gravity rack can be equipped with a device for scanning the barcode of the box and the date of manufacture (if it is not included in the standard barcode). This will automatically receive in the warehouse system information about the expiration dates of goods ready for order picking;
ensure the safety of goods;
increase the turnover of goods and labor productivity, since the loading and unloading areas of these racks will be separated and mutual interference of loading and unloading equipment will be excluded.

Calculation of the main parameters of the picking area module

The module consists of rack sections. Each contains the number of boxes (400 x 200 x 200 mm in size) that fits on one pallet. For the evaluation of this project, the number of boxes per pallet was 72. The section contains six tiers, each of which can accommodate 2 boxes in width and 6 in depth, i.e. 12 boxes per tier x 6 tiers = 72 boxes.

To determine the ratio of the areas of the pallets and gravity racks dismantling sectors, an analysis of the distribution of products in orders by groups (ABC analysis) was carried out.

Get more information about warehouse logistics management at Elena Pavlova's seminar "Warehouse and Transport", which will be held in Kyiv on February 28 - March 1

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Far-sighted heads of trading or manufacturing companies are always aimed at expanding their activities and increasing commodity volumes. And for this we need to answer the question: will it be possible to cope with the planned flow of goods without commissioning new warehouse space? Is it possible to process a large mass of goods without having the means to expand existing capacities?

An analysis of the financial results of the company's activities for the reporting periods will help to understand whether the warehouse is a bottleneck in the supply chain or can become one, why there are constant failures in the distribution system and the percentage of material losses does not decrease, but increases with the growth of volumes. And if during the period of growth and formation of the company a certain percentage was set aside for losses in the field of processing goods, then it will not be possible to survive in modern conditions without reducing logistics costs.

Usually, the company's management does not pay due attention to proposals from outside to improve logistics operations or simply ignores them. As a result, the heads of logistics and warehouse divisions, tired of the "wall - the company's management", stop developing measures to optimize warehouse and transport operations. The practice of communication with the heads of logistics departments shows that they are mostly able to develop and propose ways to optimize operations when servicing the flow of goods. However, these proposals do not find support among the company's leaders for the following reasons (see Diagram 2):

Carrying out a policy of economy in everything by the management.

Lack of a concept (strategy) for the development of the company and measures for its implementation.

The opinion of the assistant manager or the head of another department that has influence on the management and is not a specialist in logistics.

The role assigned to the head of logistics in the management of the company.

Many company executives do not understand that most decisions to optimize warehouse operations directly depend on comprehensive measures to develop the commercial, transport, financial and other departments of the company.

Since the work of the warehouse in almost all companies was not previously given sufficient attention, it was built on the basis of existing capabilities. For warehouses, former industrial premises or warehouse facilities, but of an old construction, were allotted. The zoning system in such warehouses is not worked out, and the racking equipment is not optimally installed. The technology of working with goods is so imperfect that it allows only the most basic operations with them.

There is only a minimum of technical means for processing goods in the warehouse. And no opportunity for advanced training for warehouse employees. All questions about the improvement of warehouse operations are resolved last, and any attempts by the warehouse manager to do this are suppressed by the company's management.

How to determine the existing potential of the warehouse?

First of all, it is necessary to audit the distribution of goods in the warehouse using ABC analysis for a number of product characteristics. Such an audit will allow assessing the existing capabilities of the warehouse and identifying factors that affect the warehouse processing of goods.

Then conduct an audit of the existing warehouse technology, zoning system and placement of shelving equipment. With the help of such an audit, bottlenecks in the work with goods can be identified and the potential of the available areas can be assessed in terms of the possible processing of commodity volumes and the conditions under which this is feasible.

Next, it is necessary to develop a warehouse model “as it should be”, taking into account the processing of the planned commodity volumes. If the task is to create a warehouse model without significant financial costs, then the main solution will be to improve warehouse technology, optimize operations and use the available space.

Finally, the need for additional storage equipment is determined.

But, as mentioned above, final solutions are being developed that can only be implemented after they have been agreed with other departments of the company, taking into account their capabilities.

Some examples of increasing warehouse throughput on available space

A. Shortening the inventory period

Based on the results of the audit of product distribution, product groups or products with certain shelf life, the speed of their implementation (leaving the warehouse), the actual term of the commodity stock for all product groups and / or articles are identified. This data allows you to see the real work of the employees of the purchasing and sales department, whose activities directly affect the work of the warehouse.

To develop and approve the shelf life of inventory, the following main factors must be considered:

Terms and volumes of deliveries.

Planned sales dates and marketing data for future periods.

Warehouse storage capacity.

Solving the issue of the amount of inventory in the warehouse (two-week, monthly, etc.) allows you to calculate the need for a storage area and the maximum commodity volume that can be in the warehouse. The decision made must be implemented by all the departments involved, primarily the purchasing and sales departments, as well as the logistics departments for the transportation of goods.

On a monthly basis, stale goods (non-liquid assets) should be identified in the warehouse, for which prompt decisions are needed (markdown, write-off, destruction). Some companies have goods in warehouses from several months to 1 year or more. This leads to a decrease in the efficiency of the use of warehouse space and direct losses to the company.

According to the results of the warehouse technology audit, based on the size of the inventory, used racking and handling equipment, the need for storage area area is determined. Depending on the results of the ABC analysis, storage areas are determined for each category of goods according to the speed of their implementation, volumetric and weight characteristics and the accepted procedure for their selection.

The implementation of the developed technology requires the availability of appropriate capabilities (use of the method of bar-coding of goods, address storage system, generation of necessary reports, etc.). The software product used should allow monthly ABC analysis of processed goods so that it is possible to adjust the storage areas for the most demanded goods and the order of their placement in storage.

B. Increasing the speed of processing goods during their acceptance and shipment

In a constantly working warehouse, the average value of the volumes of receipts and shipments is approximately the same. It directly depends on daily sales volumes, which may vary due to seasonality and other factors.

Based on the results of the audit of goods movement, the following are determined:

the value of the incoming and outgoing commodity flow;

the number and types of vehicles transporting goods;

volumes of batches of deliveries and shipments and other quantities.

The data obtained make it possible to analyze the processes of performing operations with goods during acceptance and shipment and to identify the real capacity of the warehouse for these flows.

If the number of entrance and exit gates is limited and there is not enough space to handle the planned commodity volumes, then a more detailed study of all operations included in the acceptance and shipment process will be required. Such a study as part of the warehouse technology audit allows you to determine:

how many and in what time periods (during the day) cars arrive at the warehouse for unloading and loading;

how the cars are loaded (goods on pallets or in bulk);

what volumes of goods arrive on different types of vehicles;

how much time it takes to unload / load the car manually and with the help of transport carts or loaders;

What warehouse, such business

Warehousing of the enterprise is a link to which special attention should be paid. The importance of this link is confirmed by Scheme 1, which shows the “circulation” of financial and material flows in one commercial firm:

Red lines mean financial flows, and blue lines mean material flows. What goes to the suppliers in the form of a financial flow returns to the company in the form of material values (for example, goods) and enters the warehouse. On the other hand, everything that goes to customers (leaves the warehouse) returns to the company as a cash flow.

Of course, the scheme is very conditional, it does not reflect, for example, the sequence of flows, it does not have a commercial department, without which the process is unthinkable. Nevertheless, the diagram clearly shows the role of the warehouse.

As you know, the company's financial flows are almost 100% regulated by laws, and material flows are mostly regulated by internal procedures. The point of contact of the two main types of material flows - incoming and outgoing - is a warehouse. In other words, a warehouse is a link in which procedures are concentrated that concern not only the warehouse itself, but also its interaction with the rest of the company.

Therefore, the warehouse is a kind of indicator by which one can judge the health of the company. Practice has long shown that if the warehouse is in order, then this certainly applies to the company as a whole. But if some processes in the warehouse are lame, then there will definitely be a failure in the work of the company. That is why underestimating the role of the warehouse is already a mistake.

Where do you get ideas from?

Of course, along with constant monitoring, regular analysis of warehouse processes is necessary in order to establish in advance the indirect causes of all shortcomings. However, it cannot be argued that the deterioration of warehouse operations always leads to the deterioration of other processes in the company. But the slightest failure in the overall processes of the company almost always affects the warehouse first. Thus, regular analysis of warehouse processes will allow us to respond in time to any situation that could harm the interests of the company.

Analysis of a certain activity is necessary not only to identify problems in it. Analysis is a source of ideas for its improvement. And each measure to improve warehouse activities in any case will have a beneficial effect on the activities of the entire company.

However, a reasonable question arises: is it possible once and for all to regulate all processes in the warehouse and control only their implementation? Unfortunately no. In one exceptionally dynamic business environment, rules and procedures quickly become obsolete. And one of the most effective ways to respond to this process in a timely manner is to analyze the work of the warehouse.

What is clear to the storekeeper is not always clear to the logistician

After the company's management understands that warehouse activities are part of a business process, the question arises: how to analyze warehouse processes more efficiently?

Can be distinguished 9 principles of warehousing. They apply to any warehouse without exception, their observance is a kind of guarantee of stability. But if for a storekeeper these principles are taken for granted, then for a logistician, even an experienced one, they are not always clear. Therefore, we will dwell on them separately, since they greatly simplify the analysis of warehouse processes.

Let's see if it is possible to speed up this procedure without reducing its effectiveness? Every warehouse has products that are less error prone than others. So is it worth it in this case to recalculate the entire warehouse every time? Of course not. Here are just a few postulates, the truth of which has been proven by many years of practice.

The more warehouse operations are performed with a particular product in a certain period, the greater the likelihood of an error. The degree of error probability can be determined, for example, by the number of product exits from the warehouse (table 1).

However, the number of exits is not the only criterion. The probability of errors depends on many other factors - the same packaging, piece output, relatively high price. Therefore, the number of exits has to be corrected using a coefficient in the range of 1-2 (and possibly less than one). At the same time, it is important that the coefficient is determined by the method of expert assessment, and the best experts in this matter are the storekeepers themselves. To determine the coefficient, it is also important to use the results of previous inventories and take into account the specifics of a particular warehouse.

Based on the adjusted number of exits, a simplified ABC analysis can be performed (Table 2).

For example, the first 50% of the products will be assigned to group A, the next 30% to group B and the remaining 20% to group C. After that, we decide: we will recalculate group A every month, group B - once every two months and group C - once every three months. As a result, a full inventory of the warehouse will be held once every three months. Therefore, there is no need to recalculate the entire warehouse monthly. ABC analysis allows many times to improve this technique.

The principle of strict regulation of the presence in the warehouse. There should be clear instructions on who, when, in the presence of whom and for what reason, if you like, can be in the warehouse. And no one dares to violate this instruction, not even top management. For greater importance, you can also indicate in the instructions: “Exceptions are not allowed!”