In its recent study of more than 550 warehousing and distribution operations, analyst firm Aberdeen Group determined that the top pressure driving warehouse improvement at companies deemed "best-in-class" is the high cost and low availability of warehouse labor. While companies said to be "average" or "laggards" are hard pressed just to meet their customer service objectives, the best-in-class firms have moved beyond this struggle and are now concentrating on operational efficiency.
So how does a company achieve this "best-in-class" status? Aberdeen Group offers the following PACE (pressures, actions, capabilities and enablers) scenario to explain the process that goes from identifying a problem to identifying the solution.
Pressures
- High cost and/or low availability of warehouse labor
Actions
- Improve warehouse throughput
- Reduce or contain warehouse labor costs
Capabilities
- Bin-level location management
- Paperless receiving
- Real-time put-away and stock moves
- Order picking with mobile devices
- Incremental cycle-counting
Enablers
- Warehouse management software
- Wireless networking in the warehouse
- Mobile warehouse devices (handheld computers, bar code scanners, wearable computers)
Source: Aberdeen Group
See Also
- Global Logistics is on the Move
- Supply Chain Solutions
- The Chemical Supply Chain: By The Numbers
- Bookshelf: Supply Chain Excellence: A Handbook for Dramatic Improvement Using the SCOR Model, 2nd Edition
- U.S. Military Launches Supply Chain Partnership
- The Five Myths of Import Compliance
- Supply Chain Spending Spree
- MIT Launches Supply Chain Center in Latin America
