From Order To Fulfillment Asset Management
Bar-code data collection technology ensures that the right orders are shipped on time. Asset Management Inventory data show a one-in-three-million-character error rate for hand-written documents. Additionally, bar-code-based data entry is quicker and more efficient than manual methods. Products are identified with their own bar-code numbers and, if serialized, a bar-code serial number at point of manufacture. When the products are grouped in larger units, these numbers are combined and tracked as lots. The products with this bar-code are manufactured and stacked on pallets or combined into other kinds of units (i.e., ocean containers or trucks). Each unit has a "license plate" designating shipment contents by product number and/or serial number, down to the product level.
By scanning the license plate, we know exactly what each shipment contains and, upon receipt, can make the contents immediately available for sale and distribution from our warehouse. As we progress toward JIT distribution, we'll move products from the receiving docks directly out the door to the customer. This promises tremendous savings in inventory carrying and storage costs. For now, the system directs the placement of a pallet load in a slot whose availability is based on established criteria: stocking levels, inventory turns, shipment frequency, preferred staging location, etc. Each storage location has an attribute attached which is matched to the incoming shipment. The system suggests to the lift truck operator where to place the pallet in a particular bay. This is a random-storage-based system. Before the computer, we relied on human logic to organize storage. This has proven costly. Our minds tell us to put like products into like areas, leaving open large blocks of space earmarked for similar products. Last month 5,000 of these large blocks of space went unfilled because we didn't receive 5,000 pallets of similar products. Random storage has increased space efficiency and provided substantial cost savings. Customer orders are electronically transmitted to the distribution system. The orders then are sent to the warehouse and assigned to order pickers based on type and variety of order, and picker location and workload. The system sends a signal to the RF terminal on the lift truck and instructs the operator where to go, which pallet to select, and where to take it. The operator never has to leave the lift truck or deal with paperwork. He simply scans his location to confirm he is in the right spot, and then scans the pallet to verify he selected the right one. Per RF terminal instructions, he takes the pallet to a new location and scans the location to ensure it's correct. Once the order has been pulled, the system knows where all the items for that order have been assembled and sends an order checker to that area. The checker electronically verifies the pallets are correct and that all pallets attached to the order have been pulled. After the order has been checked, documentation is printed, and the AS/400 directly faxes this documentation to our transportation carriers as well as to the customer. |