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NASHVILLE STATE Community CollegeWarehouse & Inventory Management

LOGI 1030

Receiving

Putaway/Stocking

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Receiving

Receiving provides the set up for all other warehouse activities. Problems related to receiving reverberate throughout the entire operation.

Is the process of confirming that you received what you ordered

Data collected from receiving determines what your accounting departmentpays to your vendors

Success or failure in receiving determines what you pay for your receipts and errors can be very costly

Ideally, the best receiving practice is to move items to their storage locationswith as few touches as possible.

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Receiving

Good receiving begins with good labeling

Get suppliers to correctly label product before it arrives

Some data you may want to include on the label

Shipper/supplier information (company name, telephone nbr, etc..)

Purchase order number

Pallet labels and quantities

Case labels and quantities

Product number and description

Package count

SKU

Make sure the labels can be read by both human and data capture devices

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Receiving

Vendor Quality and Compliance

How your vendors ship product to you strongly affects the fate of your receivingoperation

Regularly track your vendor’s performance. Some things to look for:

Wrong productWrong quantityDefective or damaged productLate/missed delivery datesUsing the wrong freight method or carrierIncorrect Quantity…

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1. Cross-Docking: Loads are received and sorted on the receiving dock and then transported directly to an outbound dock. No storage required.

Generally no staging or inspection is required (big time saver)

Instead of multiple pickups (trucks), consolidate into one shipmentand ship to a regional local area for splitting into local shipments (big cost savings)

Effective method to receive and fill large orders quickly. (no storage required)

“short circuits” the standard putaway, replenishment, and picking processes

Receiving

Four Receiving Practices:

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Receiving

Four Receiving Practices:

2. Receiving Scheduling: Essentially cross-docking but based on a timed schedule.

3. Pre-Receiving: Information about the incoming load is communicatedelectronically prior to delivery.

Allows the inbound operation to pre-assign storage locations and reducesreceiving cycle time.

Save’s timeBetter use of resourcesFewer touches

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4. Receipt Preparation: Act of preparing product to fill orders before orders come in.

Pre-apply labels/stickers

Pre-packing of product into case quantity incrementsReduces occurrence of split pallets or split cartonsOpportunity to move more product

Receiving

Four Receiving Practices:

Putaway

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Put Away/Stocking

The process of taking product from receiving and placing it in the mostappropriate storage location

The most logical first choice for put away is NOT to put product into a storage location, but rather to ship it directly to a customer via cross-docking

Alternatives to cross-docking:

1. Locate directly to active (forward pick) picking locations+ Minimizes future replenishment+ Improves overall productivity

2. Locate near eventual active picking locations+ Minimizes replenishment travel time

Note: There are two primary types of stocking locationsa. Reserve: for bulk storage and case/pallet pickingb. Active/forward pick: for less than case quantity picking

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Put Away/Stocking

3. To a location based on velocity: Consider the shipping volume (quantity over time) of the product

A fast shipping product requires a reserve location close to itsforward pick location because it will replenish more frequently

A slow shipping product may be located further away from its forwardpick location because it will replenish less often.

4. Use a system: Use a warehouse management system (WMS) to direct putaway

Whenever possible, always try to put away into empty locations.+ You get a free cycle count+ If there is product still in an “empty” location you have just identified

an inventory issue AND recovered missing inventoryAlways try to use the smallest location possible for the quantity on hand to maximize your storage space

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Put Away/Stocking

1,000 units of a specific SKU just arrived. It is packaged 10 unitsto a case/carton. If space is available, do you want to locate all 1,000 units/100

cases to a forward pick location?If so, why?

If not, why?

What would you do?

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Put Away

Four Types of Put Away

Direct Put Away: Stocking directly to an active or reserve storage location.

Directed Put Away:A Warehouse Management System (WMS) determineswhere to send product for storage.

WMS identifies the location and quantity per location based on a variety of factors (cube, demand, space available, size, pre-programmed parameters, etc…)

Batch and Sequenced Put Away:Sort inbound product for efficient put awaySort product by type or some parameter then by location sequence

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Put Away

Four types of Put Away

Interleaving or Continuous Moves:

Perform both put away (stocking) with retrievals (picking)

After completing a put away, the stocker is directed to pull productto fill an order or to re-warehouse.

Eliminates “deadheading” = coming back empty handed

B

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Put Away

Replenishment

The process of relocating reserve stock to forward pick locations. These caneither be loose pick or case pick locations.

Proper replenishment and timing is critical to the efficiency of the picking team.

The product must be located in the directed pick location before a picker reachesthe picking location.

Waiting for restock causes unwanted delays and/or extra handling.

The replenishment process can be time consuming. It needs to be properly managed to balance picking efficiency gains and replenishment labor.

So, how do we determine how and when to replenish pick locationsand maximize our efficiencies?

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Put Away

Replenishment

Selecting the proper replenishment method:

1. Day or Wave Demand Replenishment:Used to move only the quantity needed to satisfy the demandfor each wave (or day) to the forward pick locations

• Works well for unpredictable SKU demand or very slow moving SKUs

• Works well when pick locations are small and can only fit thedemand quantity

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Put Away

Replenishment

2. Opportunistic Replenishment:

Replenishment is based on two to four week forecasted quantities.

Minimizes the number of trips to both the reserve and forward picklocations. Productivity increases.

• Not ideal if picking locations are:Too small to handle additional volumeThe forecast or demand is unpredictable If there are a limited number of forward pick locations

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Put Away

Replenishment

3. Top Off or Lean Time Replenishment:Utilize down time to fill each forward pick location to its maximumcubic quantity.• Used when the picking window is tight, in order to remove the time-consuming effort required to complete the replenishment stepjust prior to picking.

• Use only with faster moving SKUs when time allows.

4. Combination: Utilizes a combination of the above methods. Is usually triggered bya day’s demand or minimum quantity.

5. Emergency Replenishment: Used when a picker goes to a location thatlacks the correct product or quantity.