How to Improve Your Manufacturing Company’s Shipping and Receiving Methods
Why shipping and receiving affect the entire process
A recent idea that reduced product weight by 60%, lowered fuel bills and cut tire costs by 6%. With a fleet of more than 100 vehicles, this is just one small project idea of five stemming from a high-impact change management program. Internal procedures and methods are easy to proclaim but difficult to translate into reality. Whether you’re starting from scratch or upgrading existing systems, this list of general notices is a helpful guide. Equipment and layout become considerably easier when you have a map with a clear path marked out for you. Presented as a 10-point list of rules of thumb and consequences, the idea is to help you think about subject headings and support the thought process in an ordered set of steps. This method will help produce a workable system with a minimum of shocks and surprises that inevitably plague all change management. All quality systems benefit from fully thinking about the job. Micromanaging the process now will save you a lot of money and time later, and equipment selection will be a lot less risky.
Design- Start with a design for the entire system; Otherwise, you’ll discover to your own expense that changes rarely affect only a small area of your business. Rule 1, therefore, is not to play around with the small areas of malfunction because you are likely to make things worse.
traceability- If you don’t have time to get it right the first time, where are you going to find the time to get it right? Rule 2: Spend some time thinking about how to return what you sent to your customer to your supplier without breaking the bank in the process.
Driving – If you think storage and handling systems are expensive, wait until you foot the bill for labor, injuries, duplicate and damaged stock. Rule 3: Design your operation to be able to efficiently manage throughput. Everything in its place and a place for everything… even to charge batteries! (18 months ago, just a few weeks after receiving his new forklift, one of my customers let the battery die. This truck cost almost £38,000, replacement batteries cost just under £5,000. They also lost a lot time while things were fixed).
The smallest unit of measurable cost – How much control do you need? The size of a palette or a pint, do you sell bricks or diamonds? This is the size of your report for your monthly performance review and seriously affects how you interact with your support logistics and distribution work. Rule 4: Round the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves
Storage- Considerations for this include on-site or off-site stores, work-in-progress, and what you expect vendors and customers to have for you. Never hold onto junk or old stock, get rid of it and use the cash or space for something more productive. Rule 5: Be very sure of your operating space needs. These are your fixed overheads, and if it doesn’t work out, you’ll find these costs expensive and risky to manage. Use other people’s overhead as your first low-cost option before committing to long-term leases. Fixed costs have that title for a reason!
Picking systems – Typing is faster than walking, so start with a well-thought-out, efficient list. Avoid storage or production work at the same time as picking work. Make sure your shelves have all your picking requirements ready for picking. Keep inventory recognizable for both picking and counting, either by sight or by scanning. Keep stock within reach of pickers or harvesting machinery. Rule 6 – Apply the main Grand Prix, the fastest movers get pole position!
Equipment – You will need it. Rule 7: Treat your company like your children. Get the best and keep discipline and training as a matter of priority. If you think training is expensive, you can’t afford to be ignorant!
Packaging – For this it is necessary that the product arrives at its destination duly identified and nothing more. Make it like Christmas for the new owner but at the same price as Christmas paper. When opened, it should still have that magical Christmas treat and like Christmas, if it’s going to be thrown down chimneys, it should be protected from Santa’s little helpers and pummeling reindeer. If you’re going to send as many Christmas gifts as Santa does, make sure you have good cross-sorting systems that count and sort quickly. Rule 8: Think about the journey from the shelf to the opening ceremony. You don’t want it back in bits. Shipping products twice wastes resources and alerts the customer to potential system issues.
Packaging – This is an operation and it should flow with everything at hand and with as few process interruptions as possible. Quickly connect it to the issuance of invoices or content notes, or receipts if it has been prepaid. Rule 9 – Make packing as continuous and seamless as possible as it reduces errors due to distractions.
minimum order values – Add up the time it takes for your product to sell based on activity. Add them to the minimum amount that produces enough gross profit to pay or make your minimum charge regardless of the amount, then factor in the goodwill…or not! Rule 10: Study your order book carefully and make sure the value you add covers your costs.
Additional idea – All systems must consider the environment. All systems must allow for an orderly workplace. Make sure your products are well protected but easy to access. Products that have their own boxes or cases need to keep the ongoing function and environment in mind by staying current and well supported with application and maintenance ideas. Never miss an opportunity to let the user know what else you do, especially if it makes their day better.