Making information systems better

Technology is no silver bullet, says John Hill, principal, Esync (419-842-2210). Adding automated data collection, a warehouse management system or automated equipment to a poorly designed warehouse or a flawed process won’t solve problems. It will only bring those problems to light.
But once a company has done the hard work of benchmarking its performance and streamlining its processes, automated systems, like warehouse management systems (WMS) and automated data collection (ADC), can drive even higher gains in productivity.
Despite that, Hill adds, “I’m still amazed at the number of people who aren’t using a WMS or bar code scanning, even when they have the wherewithal to implement them,” says Hill. “There’s still a subset of the warehouse community that is put off by technology, and comfortable with they way they do things, although it may be flawed.”
The cost of technology can also be an impediment. But even companies that can afford the systems are sometimes leery about implementing automated systems. “We have been working for over a year with a client that has nearly $200 million in annual revenue, but doesn’t want to spend $30,000 for a study to develop the value proposition for a WMS,” says Hill. “Yes, that is an investment. But wouldn’t it be nice to know that there’s quantifiable value in moving ahead with a system?”
Even companies without the financial resources to purchase a WMS and ADC system can benefit from the technology by implementing manual processes that impose the same discipline as software and automated data capture. Hill calls this “the fine art of making do.”

He recalls a client that doubled productivity simply by widening aisles so that workers weren’t bumping into one another, investing about $20,000 in additional shelving units, and re-slotting and relocating the forward pick area based on historical inventory profiles. “This was a project that had nothing to do with RFID, bar codes or WMS,” says Hill. “But with some simple steps, they eliminated redundant processes, improved the manual collection of information, and went from 30 to nearly 70 picks per hour per person.”