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10 advanced experiences in foreign warehouse management

Today's warehouse operation and inventory control operations have been very diverse and complex, and it is very difficult to rely on manual memory processing. If we can't guarantee the correct purchase, acceptance, quality assurance and delivery, it will lead to waste of time, inventory, delayed delivery and increase of cost, so as to lose the opportunity to serve customers.
 
The warehouse remains and will always be an important part of most supply chains, acting as a buffer and a regulating valve between manufacturing and demand.
 
How to make the best use of valuable warehouse resources to get the best customer service? The following are ten points of experience in the US report:
 
1, effective manual management
 
Labor is the most important factor in any successful storage, however, with the development of the economy, the process of manual processing is becoming more and more complex. Managers use engineering labor standards and support systems to evaluate the performance of warehousing workers, motivate workers, and calculate the time needed for any given task.  But technology is not everything, and success depends on how these systems are applied.
 
Brandon Drew, production manager of Manhattan, Georgia, USA, says the artificial management system is of great value in determining the number of manpower needed. For two years, the company has greatly increased its productivity as a result of the use of new systems. Especially in some big distribution centers, retailers and suppliers, the profits are so small that the company has to dismiss employees. Even without expensive systems, employee problems often perplex the warehouse. Tompkins, North Carolina, Brian Hudock said, especially in multiple shifts of business, this problem is particularly significant. At the peak of demand, they will make full use of temporary workers.
 
Fred Radcliffe, President of the Toronto branch of Radcliffe, Ontario, Canada, said that artificial management technology is shifting from manufacturing to warehousing. Last fall, his company bought a set of artificial management software and then sold it to Nestle's branch in Canada. In just a few months, there was a return on investment. He added: "labor costs account for a large part of the cost of inventory."
 
Kenneth B. Ackerman, the founder of the Columbo K.B. Ackerman company in the United States, says the company should provide incentives to a team of employees rather than individuals. The warehouse operation is very diverse and it is difficult to have a fair standard for every employee. Simon Bragg, the research director of the ARC consulting company in Cambridge, UK, strongly advocates that the company localizations prior to the use of engineering labor standards. "Although in the United States is very popular, but in Germany, it is extremely failed."
 
2. Maximizing flexibility through intelligent systems and layout
 
Bragg says it is very meaningful to put fast transmission equipment at every end of the channel, which is good for the staff to repair the equipment. But fast transmission devices can't be too close. Hudock suggests that the warehouse should be divided into different sorting areas according to the product category. In this way, FCL, unpacking, the entire disk separate operation, can avoid the scene clutter, reduce cargo damage.
 
Bill Tyng, a system consultant of Forte Industries in Ohio, said that flexible warehouses can meet different customers' needs for labeling and shipping advance notification (ASNs). Many major warehousing management system providers can generate specific retailers, such as the shipping labels accepted by WAL-MART.

3. Integration with the warehousing management system of partners
 
Integration and cargo tracking are the key factors that make the supply chain effective. First of all, we should seek the connection between the warehouse management system and the transportation management system. Previously, these two systems were sold separately by different suppliers and are now more likely to be bundled. Jim Stollberg, vice president and general manager of Irista, new Berlin, Wisconsin, said, "few companies now sell one of them."
 
The ultimate goal of any system integration is to get real time information.  This information helps to determine when to order, how to minimize transportation costs, and how to make the best use of the sorting staff and so on. "only real time information systems can achieve these goals," says Stollberg. Susan Rider, vice president of RedPrairie, New Zealand, said many warehouses were not clear about the location of the product, let alone the location of the supply chain. However, the use of real-time information can accurately and reasonably distribute goods in a multi node network.
 
4. Do not only be limited to receiving, storing and transporting
 
Retailers want to receive the goods they need, or special sales of goods, so the value-added service between retailers is becoming more and more popular. Similarly, manufacturers also want to be able to provide products for multiple markets. To achieve the above purpose, the warehouse should be moved upstream as far as possible. When talking about mass customization, Mary Haigis, White Plain J, a marketing manager of Optum company in New York, Bai Yuan, believes that it is the practice of mass customization of customized products and services.
 
Value-added services also contribute to the growing number of online orders. DELL is a pioneer in this field, now a subsidiary of Reflect True Custom & Beauty have been involved in cosmetics online ordering, distribution center of Chester District in the west of America has been implemented according to the customer demand for product design, packaging and labeling.
 
5. Install the reverse transmission in the warehouse
 
Warehouse operations are the easiest jobs to be ignored today, but the demand for effective reverse logistics can not be ignored. The recovery, processing, repair and replacement of products have an extremely important impact on customer service, and the nerve center of any job is a warehouse.
 
Haigis believes that "one hundred percent of the storage management systems are designed to promote sales, but now we have to consider the reverse logistics problem." This is particularly serious in Europe because the European retail policy is broader and reverse logistics can account for 30%.  And reverse logistics is becoming more and more important in the United States. This trend gives many suppliers new market opportunities, and they provide software and services for handling reverse logistics.
 
"Reverse logistics can be said to be a defect in warehouse operations," Haigis says. The efficiency of the recovery process is very low, but it is easy to solve under the appropriate technology and processing. "
 
6. Building a central command center in the warehouse
 
Kuehne & Nagel logistics company Naugatuck town in Connecticut state in the United States in the field of labor dispatch, keep excellent quality. The company quality improvement department vice president of Dan DeWispelaere, this operation can take the number of employees of any day and the number required to complete the task, compared to the end of the day in the warehouse can accurately know the various departments and even each employee's performance. Regardless of whether these tasks are centralized or not, each job will design standards rather than the same standard for each task.
 
This centralized management idea of DeWispelaere extends to the handling of customer problems. He set up a project management agency to guide the completion of the new inventory, the results of the report, and the progress of each department. Moreover, the project manager can be used as a link between the warehouse and the external customers, so that the warehouse does not have to involve too many tasks.

7. Accurate measurement, rapid reaction
 
There are many ways to measure the performance of the warehouse operation, and the key is to find the most appropriate method. Kuehne & Nagel logistics company adopted a method called "5Ups". This method assumes that the device runs at the highest efficiency, and only needs to evaluate 5 key performance indicators. This method is easy to handle, and the vast majority of warehouse managers agree with the 5 indicators.
 
From the software side, the event management system can greatly improve the response speed of the warehouse. This software has an automatic monitoring tool that reminds the manager of a problem when there is a problem. Such managers do not have to regularly check the process of delivery. And, if it's a small problem, it can be solved automatically, and only those very complicated problems need an artificial expert.
 
8, the combination of radio frequency and voice technology
 
Radio frequency technology has been adopted by the US Department of defense and the Wal-Mart Store Inc. As companies are showing more and more interest in this technology, such as TI and other companies will be potential beneficiaries. Speech technology is also important in dealing with inefficient manual jobs, especially for those medium-sized businesses who can afford investment costs and want to reduce labor costs. The combination of radio frequency technology and voice technology will increase the efficiency of warehouse operation unprecedentedly.
 
9. Optimize the warehouse in the supply chain
 
Effective warehousing tools must include strict daily arrangements, order generation times plan and stacking management plan, including capacity planning and dynamic positioning.
 
But don't rely solely on technology. As Ackerman points out, artificial experts still need to play a role in the best allocation of limited resources on the basis of large amounts of data. He also said, "warehousing is not automated and needs manual, because there are too many uncertainties in warehousing."
 
10. Don't be confused by the technology
 
Introduce the technology according to the actual demand. Suppliers are very happy to show off advanced applications without considering the need for such complex systems in warehousing operations.
 
Source: the warehousing and logistics of the Internet and wisdom

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