How To Improve Logistics Work
You may realize that losses are occurring in logistics work due at many worksites to inefficiencies and a variety of mistakes. But many executives and on-site supervisors involved in logistics and warehousing are concerned that they do not know where to begin making improvements.
In particular at logistics worksites where the volume of receiving and shipping goods varies greatly, it is difficult to assign the correct number of personnel and work must often be performed with a minimum of personnel. This makes process management important. This section introduces improvement points in logistics work.
- Finding Improvement Points
-
In order to clarify what parts should be improved, a system is required to provide feedback on who was doing what, where, when, and in what part the process from receiving to shipping. For example, if you can know the quantity of goods that was picked in an hour, the number of minutes it took to complete picking to packaging, or how many steps staff on site took to complete picking, you can make a guess as to where waste and mistakes are occurring and in what process. Process management is collecting these kinds of results and performing activities that are useful for making improvements at a worksite.
- Issues in Collecting Results
-
The issue is how to collect results. The goal in logistics is having the minimum number of workers making their way around the worksite. Having workers record just the starting and ending times of work is a large burden, and it becomes an impediment to their regular work. As a result, various problems may also occur, such as a decrease in work efficiency and making mistakes. In addition, entrusting the collection of results to people will result in omissions and mistakes, so the degree of accuracy and exactness of the collected results cannot be guaranteed, and there is a risk that the results will not help in determining the issues.
Process Management Using Handheld Computers is Key
To obtain information for making improvements at logistics worksites, care and attention are required so that work is not interrupted and workers are not burdened. Improvements can be made effectively and with a minimum of effort by using the handheld computers that are being used in inspections and picking to collect results.
A handheld computer can automatically and accurately record the time at the start and end of work and the progress of the work. The read data can also be sent to a PC through a wireless LAN so that results can be checked in real-time, and the waste and mistakes in collection work by human input do not occur. Process management using this kind of the latest tool is the key to making improvements.
