In the last piece “Do You Have Pickers or Walkers” we spoke about how many system integrators don’t know where to focus their attention. Instead of focusing on all of the other components of a job that a picker has, the focus should always be on picking. After all that is what pickers (or selectors) get paid to do.
So how does a good system integrator make sure your pickers are focused on picking? The most efficient way is employing technology to facilitate product-to-person picking. However, product-to-person picking only 
works with part of the SKU base.
That is where it gets fun: figuring out what SKU’s will work with product-to-person and what you should do with the other SKUs. This challenge is the difference between working with a good system integrator and a so-so system integrator.
For example, look at this recent solution we presented to a retail distribution center.
During the peak period of 2010 there were 12,000 active SKUs that needed to be selected. In the original system, these SKUs all have a permanent pick-face due to the use of only one technology throughout the distribution center.
Note: Always be aware of single technology solutions. If all you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail!
In our new system design, we have pick faces for 2,600+ SKUs in the forward pick area, and approximately 2,000 pick faces in the product-to-person system. This means that only 4,700 SKUs out of 12,000 (39%) have to be presented to the selectors at any given time. This is a 61% reduction in pick facings a selector must walk past to get to the items they need to select. This is a 61% reduction in travel distance.
What would be the effect on the operation? When you deliver the items to the pickers who used to walk to get them, you eliminate a significant amount of time; 61% in fact. You can also eliminate a significant amount of touches depending on what technologies you use. You touch it once during put away and once when it is on its way out the door. This increases efficiency and, of course, accuracy.
You can also eliminate a lot of wasted space. Depending on what types of technologies you use in your distribution center, many product-to-person technologies focus on getting SKUs off of the floor and up in the air inside the machine, as opposed to sitting in a rack on the floor.
What effect would a 61% reduction in travel distance have on your operation? How can you use product-to-person distribution in your DC to increase your efficiency and accuracy? Want to have a conversation about it? Contact abco automation and let’s sit down and see what we can do.
