28 November 2021

Slotting: the WMS that automates processes, bringing greater efficiency and cost reduction

28 November 2021

In the past, with the affordable value of properties, fewer SKUs, stability, and availability of labor, moving into a horizontal storage facility was simpler and had lower operational costs. This reality has changed over the years. Real estate prices have increased, as has the variety of stored items.

In light of this scenario, companies have begun to invest more in vertical integration and multiple types of storage and picking, trying to make the best use of available space. But along with these transformations came a great challenge: having vertical structures and various forms of storage requires impeccable warehouse organization. It is necessary to allocate each product considering its turnover, storage rules, distances traveled by the employee, and the intelligent use of equipment. Processes must be well-defined, with an organized distribution of tasks among employees. All of this has a significant impact on the efficiency of the operation.

To cope with this complexity, the manager must have the right tools. One of these is the warehouse management system, the WMS. The software is designed to ensure the best use of the valuable resources of the DC: people, equipment, and territory. For this, it has a solution that helps in both inventory and movement management and activities: the Slotting module. Combined with appropriate processes, Slotting makes the operation organized and efficient.

In the following topic, we will demonstrate how important it is to ensure that the management of space, people, and equipment is as efficient as possible to generate productivity gains.

Space and Work Management

Managing storage space in a distribution center is almost like composing a large puzzle: in addition to respecting storage rules for each product and organizing goods based on their batch (for items with batch control) and rotation, it is important to make the best use of available space, as every m² is valuable. It is also important to try to allocate products to reduce movements.

Alongside stock organization, the warehouse manager must organize each employee’s tasks, define who does what and when, and monitor their performance.

This is because if the warehouse is organized, but the tasks are poorly distributed, efficiency is lost. On the other hand, inventory disorganization opens gaps for errors and rework, which affect the operation’s performance. That’s why we say that what, with whom, when, and where the product is stored and moved directly affects productivity, as well as the accuracy of the operation. This statement can be confirmed through the situations presented below:

– Fragmented stocks: if the same product is located in distant positions in the warehouse, without their addresses being fully filled, in addition to improper use of space, employees will spend more time passing through the DC to locate and sort the goods. If they were in nearby positions, they would be quickly separated and with a shorter path.

– Products stored in inappropriate places: there are products that have storage rules, whether regarding the room temperature, the levels/floors on which it should be (for example, liquids cannot be placed in high positions to avoid consequences for possible leaks) or weight (the load cannot exceed the weight of the structure chosen to store it), among others.

If the decision of where to store is under the responsibility of a person, it may happen that they do not know these rules well or are unable to relocate the items in the warehouse to store the goods in the right place, causing the risk of losses and damage. With technology that uses algorithms to define the best positions, respecting both the product rules and the warehouse layout, this could be avoided.

– Unstocked picking positions: this is a very common situation in warehouses where work is done manually, as it is difficult to intuitively define the right time to restock and how many items need to be moved. Furthermore, it is important to consider that the stock must rotate following the picking. Imagine that all movements of all products are made by a person’s decision! The chances of errors and oversights occurring are great.

If an operator receives a picking order, goes to the picking position, and finds it empty or without the required quantity in the order, they will have to go to the excess/buffer to pick up the products. This means more picking time and consequently a loss of productivity.

Relying on technology that manages the entire stock based on picking, coordinating the movements of products in the storage area, and defining restocking times, you will be sure that every merchandise will always be available in the right place at the right time.

– Workers making decisions based on feelings: in manual operations, it is very common for employees to decide where to allocate a product or load, when to restock the picking area, when to make new purchases, among other situations. And without the support of technology, it can be very difficult to make the right decision.

Moreover, the same work management is another obstacle when the operation is manual. Distributing tasks among the team and balancing each employee’s workload is a complicated equation to solve, especially with the ongoing operation. It is also necessary to respect some rules, for example: forklift operators must always receive the order to pick in the highest positions, while pallet truck operators must pick in the lowest positions. Each employee has their specialty and needs to be called for each task at the right time.

It is to solve these and other difficulties, ensuring maximum productivity in the operation, that technologies capable of making accurate decisions exist, taking this responsibility away from the worker and avoiding the occurrence of errors. When there is a system that acts with algorithms, crossing information and making a macro reading of the operation, performance increases significantly.

– Unnecessary use of equipment: in addition to the competition for equipment use, quite common in manual warehouses, there are also situations where they are used unnecessarily. This is because, sometimes, to fulfill two orders that have products located nearby, the forklift or pallet truck may be used at two different times, and these orders can be intelligently grouped so that the equipment can separate in a single shift.

If the company has an intralogistics management system, this order grouping could occur strategically, and the employees managing the machines would be automatically called at the right time.

Did you notice that what seems like a small gap in the operation could mean a loss of time, money, and even the possibility of losing the customer due to delays or errors in deliveries? That’s why making the best use of available materials and human resources and monitoring their performance makes the difference.

With the Slotting module, it is possible to overcome all the situations mentioned above and ensure the maximum yield of your operation. Understand how.

What is Slotting and What are Its Features?

The WMS Slotting module is fundamentally composed of three main features:

Address Suggestion

Active Call
Kanban determines when a product must be moved from one address to another and the optimal amount to move. This transfer order occurs only when it is really necessary, avoiding waste. The address suggestion, in turn, determines exactly the source and destination address, always aiming for the most strategic position for each product, reducing movements and making the best use of spaces. And the active call ensures the execution of the move order as planned, using the right resources (people and equipment) at the right time. Get to know each of the features better:

Kanban
Also known as “Visual Management,” “Toyota System,” or “Just in Time System,” Kanban was born in Japan in the 1970s, having been developed within the Toyota Motor Company in the 1970s. The idea was to reduce delays by developing a method to coordinate the production of parts according to demands, managing stock efficiently.

The methodology worked through the use of colored cards indicating the progress of production flows in series-producing companies. Through these cards, it was possible to identify the right time to move raw materials to production lines.

Taking this methodology as a reference, the WMS added a feature aimed at restocking picking addresses (flow rack) through movement orders that are generated and made available automatically. For this, it is necessary to pre-parameterize the minimum and maximum level of product units for each address in the picking line. When the minimum number of units for the address is reached, the Kanban process generates the move order.

In addition to the minimum stock, Kanban considers other variables for creating activities, such as the supplier’s packaging multiple, weight, expiration date, batch, and other product attributes, as well as seasonal variations.

We can say that the main objective of Kanban is that stock movement is carried out only when necessary, thus avoiding waste. Other gains obtained in the operation are:

Reservation of higher value addresses for higher-cost products
Grouping products at nearby addresses to shorten the path taken
Maintaining an organized flow within the storage area
Agglutinated movement of fractions through ideal multiples
Reservation of addresses for products in the receiving phase
Optimization of resources by sharing activities based on the operator’s role and the equipment used
It is worth adding that, with the restocking of the picking area at the right time, order breakage is avoided.

Address Suggestion

Defining the most strategic position for each product is also the task of the WMS, through the address suggestion. The system determines the best stock positioning, organizing products and many addresses that allow quick and easy localization, and especially in positions that favor picking, after all, as Kanban well shows, picking in a warehouse should be seen as a production line, where anomalies are unacceptable.

As highlighted above, all address suggestions follow the storage rules of each product, taking into account its specific characteristics, demand, and CD layout.

Active Call

One of the most important questions to consider in warehouse management is: “Who defines who does what? What should be the priority?” But making all decisions intuitively can be difficult and not very assertive.

Within the Slotting mode, there is an active call function, through which, when a task is generated, the WMS automatically chooses the operator who is available and has the appropriate equipment to execute it. The priority order is also defined by the system, based on the need and stock availability, mainly in the picking areas.

The active call system must:

Activate activities for mobile/RF devices
Support multiple picking modes
Address activities based on profile and equipment
Manage the task queue and priorities
Create sequential and paperless processes
Perform task interlacing
Execute and manage activities from automated systems
Generate alerts when activities are not executed as planned
By meeting these requirements, the following benefits can be obtained:

Elimination of order interruption due to line shortage
Reduction of effort and labor (workforce)
Ensuring that the task has been executed
Implementation of best practices
Reduction of displacement
Less dependence on specialized human resources
Reduction of training costs
Reduction of the number of activities/movements
The active call is not limited to picking (fraction or closed box). It also deals with storage processes, inventory, and internal movements such as stock defragmentation and picking area balancing.

And, to coordinate all these activities and operation execution, the WMS system offers KPIs and dashboards, as well as a notification system that automatically reaches the manager, facilitating warehouse monitoring and decision-making.

How Does Slotting Help the Operation as a Whole?

In a standard operation, the storage space is divided into segregated, excess, buffer, reserve, and picking. Considering the movement curve of each product, its weight, and other attributes, as well as possible seasonal variations, Slotting ensures that the stock is correctly distributed, as shown in the image below:

In the image, we can see a stock distribution where a product with a large stock volume is proportionally distributed to its demand between excess, buffer, fixed, and picking.

When movements depend on the operators’ intuition, various undesirable situations start to occur. We can cite some examples that the Slotting system must ensure do not occur:

  • Receiving docks occupied waiting for address release for storage
  • Deadlock of movements when an operation cannot be executed, as it is waiting for another to be completed
  • Overload in the use of high-cost equipment
  • Picking in excess addresses
  • Store excess in buffer addresses
  • Depleted automatic systems
  • Break in picking even if there is stock

So, in general terms, we can cite 10 advantages provided by the Slotting module to the operation as a whole:

  1. Reservation of higher value addresses for higher-cost products
  2. Balanced storage between excess, buffer, fixed, and picking
  3. Approximating movement addresses of the same product
  4. Works by zone and storage area
  5. Prioritizes movement orders
  6. Avoids fractional moves by working with ideal multiples
  7. Ensures an area for storing products in the receiving process in advance
  8. Anticipates movements during downtime
  9. Prioritizes movements during peak hours
  10. Controls the execution of movement orders

Mobility

In short, the Slotting module with a product to be moved at the minimum and maximum speed possible. From the moment the product is received at the dock until its shipment, it must be moved exactly as planned, neither more nor less. The correct decision to store the received product at the most suitable address contributes to achieving the desired operational and financial goals.


Slotting: the WMS that automates processes, bringing greater efficiency and cost reduction Deagor WMS per ecommerce può aiutarti!


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