Warehouse Layout and design

In the previous installments of this short series, we discussed how robotic systems are ideally suited to repetitive duties in the warehouse environment. Without a doubt, recent advances in automation technologies have enabled robots to improve work productivity and quality, which consequently provides opportunities for warehouse staff to focus on more strategic duties. In this […]

Planning for warehouse capacity has become particularly important in the context of tight warehouse supply constraints in many markets.  The assumption cannot be made that growth capacity can be sourced at short notice, and planning horizons for new builds tend to be 3 to 6 years.    Planning capacity leverages the data within the supply chain to […]

Warehouses are of enormous importance to supply chains, providing service and economic benefits to businesses and customers. In Part 1 of this series, we discussed how the drive towards higher supply chain efficiency has motivated companies to adopt robotic technologies to perform fulfilment tasks in their warehouses. We have also seen how the emergence of […]

Businesses today are challenged to maintain pace with economic and market conditions and ever-changing customer behaviour. In response, warehouse technologies have become more complex, while warehouse managers continue to promote robotic adoption and innovation to improve labour productivity, delivery times, employee safety, and supply chain resiliency. Fundamentally, the purpose of warehouse robots is to automate […]

Warehouse improvement and efficiency are very important as they can help reduce costs, improve operational efficiency, improve the utilisation of space, increase inventory accuracy, reduce the need for manual labour, improve customer service, and so on. The topic will focus on warehouse objectives, challenges, and opportunities. The main objective of the warehouse is “to manage […]

It seems timely (as we celebrate our tenth anniversary) to reflect on the journey that has led us to introduce the analytical tools that we subsequently applied in various business engagements. The resulting analyses provided our clients with sufficient insights and helped influence business decisions and performance improvements. It is generally accepted that supply chain […]

Following last month’s post, I’ll discuss the merits of selecting the best planning policies and review the concept and value of economic metrics. Clearly, all inventory systems contain many uncertainties, and these require a probability distribution of demand for items that can be replenished at either a certain level or point in time.  Actually, it […]

Traditionally, it was believed that a high level of stock guaranteed a successful service performance for a company. Nowadays, we have seen consumer demand influenced by many factors (environmental conditions, economic, social, etc.), consequently making supply chains more dynamic than ever. Furthermore, supply chain practitioners are now acutely aware that either over or under-stocking is […]

Dr. Tony McVeigh, Principal, Operations, spoke at the National Manufacturing and Supply Chain Event in Dublin last week, on ‘A Lean Approach to Optimal Warehouse Design’. Tony’s presentation included topics such as warehouse optimisation, order picking routes, work allocation and product mix.

Warehouse Replenishment Pick face replenishment is an essential warehouse function.  It is designed to move items from reserve storage locations to picking shelves.  Properly executed, this process ensures that each picking location is sufficiently stocked.  This allows for the item in demand to be retrieved and packed as soon as an order arrives to the […]