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Editor's Note: Take a look at our featured best practice, 8D Problem Solving Process & Tools (206-slide PowerPoint presentation). The 8D Problem Solving Process has become a standard in many industries as problem solving or improvement process, as internal Corrective Action Request (CAR) Process or as Supplier Corrective Action Request (SCAR) Process. The 8D Problem Solving Process Training Module includes: 1. [read more]
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In managing and improving the operations of your warehouse, consider Lean initiatives to eliminate all waste and bring value to your customers beyond their expectations. Here are 13 principles to follow.
1. Communicate effectively and often.
Clearly communicating to workers your organizational goals, key performance indicators (KPIs), and the processes to achieve them is one key to effective warehousing operations. When managers fail to create an environment of open and clear communication, employee productivity suffers, resulting in high turnover and wasted resources.
2. Standardize your processes.
Standardize processes by reducing potential variation in areas such as unloading, accounts payable, shift scheduling, and facilities management. Standardization saves time and money, and reduces errors. Remember: There is always a better way to do anything.
3. Measure what matters for continuous improvement in your processes.
If an outcome is not important to customers and shareholders, don’t waste time measuring it. One 3PL-managed distribution center for a major U.S. manufacturer adopted a work measurement program to gauge and report warehouse performance at the employee level. The facility increased productivity by 10% and reduced labor costs by 11.3%.
4. Determine what drives processes to ensure the proper causal connection between outcomes and enablers.
Key performance indicators reflect the past; standardization and error proofing are the answer to productivity now.
5. Use the five step approach to understand the “why” of your operations, not just the “how.”
This approach: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control reduces costly process variations. The backbone of Lean Six Sigma methodology, DMAIC ensures sustained, defect-free performance and highly competitive costs.
6. Involve, align, and empower your associates.
Listen to the Voice of the Employee (VoE): The people who do the work every day are process experts who know how to reduce or eliminate waste. Aligning your managers and staff to a company culture committed to inquiry, responsibility, partnership, and customer satisfaction can significantly impact warehouse productivity.
7. Educate your leadership.
Educate leadership to ask the right questions, gather necessary information, make decisions, and take appropriate, corrective action. This is vital to improving processes, products, and services. Leadership should visit the shop floor often, and work together with their people to improve processes and solve problems.
8. Create a strong training program that incorporates cross-training.
Break a job down and present the operation to new associates. Allow them to test their performance before releasing them to the process. Try having your employees “shadow” tenured employees to gain valuable hands-on experience.
9. Incorporate the use of work output analysis to achieve a steady fulfillment flow with standardized work instructions.
By specifying the maximum cycle time allowed to produce a product in order to meet demand.
10. Look at variation to increase productivity.
This is the heart of Lean Six Sigma: reducing variation to make a process more stable and predictable. Find a significant measure that reflects your process, then reduce the variability of that process as much as possible.
11. Have occasional team meetings to review these goals and objectives.
Let your employees speak freely. Successful organizations take team building seriously. Take your organization to a new level and improve productivity.
12 There is nothing wrong with setting up internal competitive warehouse teams.
Award the team that has the best idea: improved process or problem solving. Meet monthly or quarterly to review these ideas, and award the winning team.
13. Finding the right level of automation and systems.
ROI analysis could put automation into your planning for cost improvement. The wrong material handling equipment can be creating hidden lost time and inefficient product flow, impacting cost and customer service
You can download in-depth presentations on Lean and 100s of management topics from the FlevyPro Library. FlevyPro is trusted and utilized by 1000s of management consultants and corporate executives.
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These best practices are of the same as those leveraged by top-tier management consulting firms, like McKinsey, BCG, Bain, and Accenture. Improve the growth and efficiency of your organization by utilizing these best practice frameworks, templates, and tools. Most were developed by seasoned executives and consultants with over 20+ years of experience.
