Tag Archive for: slotting

Project Spotlight Smart Slotting

Project Spotlight: Smart Slotting

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You may have heard us mention our new Smart Slotting tool recently. In this project, the customer came to us looking for an answer to their low storage utilization percentage of 20% across the entire facility. With Smart Slotting, we were able to provide a practical answer to this problem, while also increasing productivity and efficiency.

By collecting some preliminary data, our experienced team uses Smart Slotting to provide a layout that best suits your needs. This new layout provides you lower operating cost, while also increasing the daily throughput of your facility.

In this example, the customer saw over a 12% decrease in their daily labor costs. They were able to find a location for all of their SKUs, and raise their storage utilization numbers over 70%. In addition, they were able to cut their storage mediums in half after the Smart Slotting evaluation. The new location types and sizes designed for stored items is much more efficient and simple.

This project had a significant impact on the customer’s operation by improving space utilization, reducing labor costs, and increasing throughput to lower operating costs. The new storage configuration also set the customer up with space for product growth for a minimum of five years.

Interested in learning more about the methodology and analysis behind this project? View the full case study here and contact us today to see how we can assist with your operational needs.

Workplace Productivity Increase with Ergonomics

Utilizing Warehouse Design & Ergonomics to Improve Warehouse Productivity

We often examine the positive effects an efficient warehouse design can have on your operation, but what does it mean for your employees? When it comes to warehouse productivity, one of the main components of keeping your facility moving is keeping employees safe. Taking small adjustments into account when setting up your warehouse can be huge for your employees in the long run.

Warehouse Ergonomics

Part of keeping your employees safe is keeping them comfortable. One way to do this is by storing items at the optimal level to reduce strain on pickers. Along with keeping items at a certain level, another aspect of warehouse ergonomics is keeping highly selected items around the same area to lower foot traffic in the facility.

Another way to keep your employees in good health is to integrate some type of automation within your facility. Automation will help you decrease the foot traffic needed to transport goods to all parts of your warehouse. Less exertion means fewer ergonomic issues down the line, helping you keep your staff healthy and comfortable. This will also assist with your overall warehouse productivity as well, which makes it an all-around win.

How We Can Help?

When it comes to keeping high pick volume items in the same area, we offer our newest service, Smart Slotting. This inventory slotting tool takes all of the data provided, such as picking and replenishment rates for different SKUs, and will give you the blueprint to optimize your space and help cut down on unnecessary movement around your facility.

Another way to support ergonomics is through automation. We offer a variety of dynamic solutions that can help with cutting down strenuous movement and wasted time. This includes powered conveyor to move items with ease throughout the facility, and Vertical Lift Machines (VLMs) to allow for fast and ergonomic picking with almost no walking being required.

Another dynamic solution we offer is Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs). AMRs give your employees the ability to stay in one area to work as opposed to moving around the facility. This keeps employees out of the way off forklifts and other machinery moving throughout the warehouse.

Want to learn more about how we can help you keep your facility safe and productive? Click here for more information on our Dynamic Solutions.

design solution process

Why Utilize Our Design Solution Process?

Here at Storage Solutions, you may know us as the “pallet rack guys”, but the truth is we offer much more than just storage equipment. One area that we have expanded on quite a bit recently is our Design Solution process. We’ve always had a team of experts in place to help you create a design layout that is right for your facility, and that isn’t changing. However, we are excited that in recent years we have grown that team to allow us to offer more complex design capabilities.

Design Solution Processes & Offerings

One way that we can work side by side with you for your design needs is our C-A-R-E-S process. Through this process, we can point out specific operational challenges and ways to address those challenges. We will also help you prepare for future growth or change that you will inevitably face down the line. The C-A-R-E-S process is a customer-focused process in which we do the following:

  • Collect data
  • Analyze the data
  • Recommend alternatives
  • Execute the solution
  • Support the new system

Another design solution offering is our latest tool, Smart Slotting. This warehouse slotting optimization tool can help you address the ever-changing demands of customers, increases in labor costs, and other inefficiencies causing challenges within your warehouse. Not only will this tool offer a proven, cost-saving analysis, but it can all be accomplished very easily by working with our team to collect the appropriate data.

In addition to these design tools, we also offer a variety of other options to address pain points within your operation. These services include storage assessments, overall facility assessments, material flow assessments, and more. We also can work with you to create a complete facility design for your operation. Regardless of what your needs are, our Design Solutions team will help take the guesswork out of it all.

Does our warehouse design solution sound like something that may help fix some of the bottlenecks in your current operation? Learn more about our Design Solution offerings here!

 

Smart Slotting

Smart Slotting: Our Newest Design Solution

Here at Storage Solutions, we recognize that the demands of your customers are constantly changing. With that, we are always looking for new and innovative ways to help you make sure your operation is running at optimal efficiency. That is why we are excited to announce the addition of our newest service offering, Smart Slotting. Smart Slotting is a warehouse slotting optimization tool powered by Slot 3D.

Smart Slotting Capabilities

Our slotting solution is fully integrated with AutoCAD®, the world’s leading design software program. With Smart Slotting we will help take the guesswork out of your facility layout. The software uses several factors when determining the best solution possible for your operation. These factors include things such as space costs, replenishment costs and equipment costs. By simply pulling together and inputting the necessary details, Smart Slotting can then run the numbers, analyze the data and help us define the lowest cost operation plan for your facility.

Concerned about seasonal spikes or future growth? Not a problem! Smart Slotting allows us to factor this in and more to make sure you design a facility to fit all your ongoing needs.

Learn more about the benefits of Smart Slotting here, or contact one of our slotting experts today at 866.474.2001.