Operion Group
    NL

    Warehouse

    Optimise your warehouse: the warehouse scan

    Where do you lose the most time in your warehouse? The warehouse scan gives a well-founded answer. Here you read what we look at, how we work and what you hold at the end.

    Explained

    What the warehouse scan is

    To optimise your warehouse you start by looking. Not with a new system or new racking, but with an accurate picture of what happens now. The warehouse scan is that first step: a structured look at your warehouse, carried out on the floor, in conversation with the people who work there.

    We look at four parts: the goods flows, the layout, the way orders are collected and the way your systems are used. The result is a written improvement plan. It states what we saw, where most of the walking and waiting sits, and which improvements we propose in which order.

    The scan is a product with a fixed scope. What is included and what it costs, we agree in advance. So you know where you stand before we start.

    Parts

    What we look at

    For each part we ask the same question: where do you lose time, and why?

    • Goods flows

      The path a product takes from the loading door to dispatch. We follow that path step by step and see where goods wait, come back or are handled twice. A calm, uninterrupted movement is called flow.

    • Layout

      What is stored where, and does that match how often it is needed? Items that leave often belong close to where they are packed. You can read more under warehouse design and in the explanation of the warehouse layout.

    • Collecting orders

      The round along the racks to put an order together, in trade language picking. We look at the routes, the sequence and how often someone walks into the same aisle.

    • System use

      What the system lets you do, and what you do with it in practice. Do employees work around the system, or is the data wrong? You see that in the stock accuracy.

    Method

    How the scan works

    The scan follows five steps.

    • 1. Getting acquainted

      We talk with the owner or the warehouse manager about your goals, your complaints and what you have already tried.

    • 2. Looking along

      We walk the floor with your team: at receiving, storage, order collection and dispatch. Also at the moments that are difficult, such as busy periods.

    • 3. Mapping

      We draw the flow of product and information, with a method called value stream mapping. That shows where time is lost.

    • 4. Writing the plan

      We put the findings in a written improvement plan, with the improvements ordered by effect and effort.

    • 5. Discussing

      We go through the plan with you and answer your questions. After that you decide what to do with it.

    Result

    What you hold at the end

    The improvement plan is a document you can also use without us. It describes how the warehouse works now, where the bottlenecks are and how you can solve them. Each improvement has a short justification and an estimate of what it asks of your team.

    Some improvements you carry out yourself, such as changing the place of an item or agreeing a fixed route. Others call for a next step: a redesign, a move or the introduction of a WMS.

    If you already use BizBloqs, we also look at the settings and the reports. That connects to getting more out of your WMS.

    Sound familiar?

    When does a scan make sense?

    A scan pays off when one of these signs fits you:

    • Orders pile up

      Busy moments lead to a backlog that you never fully clear afterwards.

    • A lot of walking

      Employees walk more than they collect, and nobody knows exactly why.

    • Dispatch errors

      Wrong items or quantities leave the door and the number of returns grows.

    • Stock differences

      The stock in the system does not match what is on the shelves.

    • Growth

      The warehouse has grown without the layout and the way of working growing with it.

    Preparation

    What we need from you

    A scan works best when your team is involved. So we ask for a contact person who knows the warehouse well, access to the floor and access to the most important data: an overview of items and locations, recent orders and, if you have them, the reports from your system. If something is missing, we work with what there is.

    You do not need a system to begin. A warehouse that works with lists or spreadsheets can be scanned too. In that case it often delivers a lot, because the steps have not yet been fixed in software.

    Involve the people who work in the warehouse every day. They see things that are not in a report, such as the aisle that is always busy or the item that keeps ending up in the wrong place. A conversation with them is a fixed part of the scan.

    Next

    And afterwards?

    The scan stands on its own. You carry out the plan yourself, have us do part of it or do nothing. Anyone who wants a next step finds the topics on these pages: lean in the warehouse, improving warehouse processes and moving or redesigning a warehouse.

    Would you like to read first what managing a warehouse involves? BizBloqs explains it in warehouse management explained, and more about working efficiently is at warehouse efficiency at BizBloqs.

    Read on

    More about warehouse optimisation

    Terms for this topic

    Value stream mappingFlowWarehouse layout

    Explained at BizBloqs

    What a system does and how you manage stock, BizBloqs explains itself:

    Part of our warehouse services

    The warehouse scan is part of our warehouse services. We agree the scope and the price with you in advance.

    View the warehouse services

    Have your warehouse scanned?

    Tell us how your warehouse works today. We will tell you what the scan covers and what the fixed price is.