Non-Putaway Processes For Your Warehouse
Friday November 28, 2008
Supply chain management in all industries is being asked to reduce costs and the expenditure involved in storing products is constantly under review. This week I read an interesting paper on reducing picking costs and on a number of non-putaway distribution models.
The most familiar non-putaway practice is cross docking. This distribution model has become a cost saving necessity for retail companies. Their inbound deliveries are taken directly from the receiving dock to the shipping area where they are immediately sent to stores or customers.
The paper goes on to describe other methods that can be used to minimize warehouse picking such as plant direct shipments, merge-in-transit and flow through. As supply chain managers debate where to reduce costs, consideration should be given to the implementation of one or more of these non-putaway processes.
The most familiar non-putaway practice is cross docking. This distribution model has become a cost saving necessity for retail companies. Their inbound deliveries are taken directly from the receiving dock to the shipping area where they are immediately sent to stores or customers.
The paper goes on to describe other methods that can be used to minimize warehouse picking such as plant direct shipments, merge-in-transit and flow through. As supply chain managers debate where to reduce costs, consideration should be given to the implementation of one or more of these non-putaway processes.
Comments
Good blog. My key thought on this is that when you do these types of operations, you need to make sure that you’re not just pushing your safety stock somewhere else in the supply chain. In addition to these strategies, things like postponement and part standardization must be considered.
Dave, I think you are absolutely right, part standardization should be a key consideration.