Where stock sits no longer matters Companies with stock in more than one place eventually face the same question: centralise or spread out. Is the combination possible too — a network of stock points you manage as if it were a single warehouse? Where the goods...
What research says about performance indicators on the shopfloor Almost every warehouse works with KPIs. Productivity per hour, picking errors, order lead time. But measuring performance indicators changes nothing in itself. What matters is what management and operators do with the figures. With Sander de Leeuw, professor...
What it is, which questions it answers, and where it stops To run your warehouse you use a WMS, or the WM module of your ERP. These systems support the people on the floor: order pickers, forklift drivers and staff at packing stations. But planners, team...
[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="grid" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern" z_index=""][vc_column][vc_column_text] More service, more dissatisfied customers? That's the service paradox. I recently spoke with the logistics manager of a fast-growing wholesaler. "We do everything to serve our customers," she said. "That's our strength. Customers call, we arrange it. But...
[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="grid" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern" z_index=""][vc_column][vc_column_text] How can innocent choices double warehouse costs? The answer: cost discontinuities. In my previous blog about the service paradox, I showed how an excessive service focus can paralyze warehouses. But when does service actually go too far? Let's take...
[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="grid" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern" z_index=""][vc_column][vc_column_text] When a company grows, the warehouse eventually hits its limits. Do you expand? Build an additional hall or open a new facility? Growth requires space, you might think. But how much more can your existing warehouse actually...
[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="grid" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern" z_index=""][vc_column][vc_column_text] New solution optimizes planning of 40 to 60 containers per week Via Chassé, a wholesaler in office supplies and hobby materials, has automated container planning with Metrica from Jeroen van den Berg Consulting. The solution replaces the existing...
[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="grid" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern" z_index=""][vc_column width="2/3"][vc_column_text]Where does activity concentrate in the warehouse and where is there little movement? Warehouses have plenty of data, but often lack insight. A heatmap of your warehouse makes it immediately clear where bottlenecks exist. But how do...
[vc_row css_animation="" row_type="row" use_row_as_full_screen_section="no" type="grid" angled_section="no" text_align="left" background_image_as_pattern="without_pattern" z_index=""][vc_column][vc_column_text] The first AI applications in WMS are now emerging. Instead of building reports, you can simply ask a chatbot: which pick aisle was busiest today? Or: where did wait times occur during replenishment? AI can also make warehouse...
A year ago I wrote that AI was barely visible in WMS. That has changed. AI is moving quickly toward the warehouse floor, although the gap between marketing and reality remains large. It helps to distinguish three kinds of AI: algorithms, machine learning and deep...