If your operation is going to be successful, then you’ve got to have a firm understanding of your capacity: Both in terms of how much inventory you can hold, as well as in terms of the amount of work your processes can logistically handle.
One of the most important key performance indicators to order fulfillment operations in Total order cycle time. Here are 5 ways you can improve your numbers.
SKU proliferation is a normal part of order fulfillment, but something that can have major impacts on your ability to do business. Are you wondering how SKU proliferation might be impacting your DC or order fulfillment operation? Conducting a SKU analysis can help put things in perspective.
In recent years, autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) have moved from a novelty solution pursued by only a handful of the largest companies to a mainstream technology capable of bringing real benefits to a range of operations both large and small.
Running a successful order fulfillment operation requires many things. One of the most important things is inventory—it is, quite literally, the stuff that orders are made of!
It’s no secret the holiday season is one of the busiest times of the year for retail and shipping industries. And with increases in technology, ecommerce has become the driving force behind record numbers seemingly every year. Just last year, it’s estimated that shoppers spent $122 billion with online retailers alone.
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), in 2015 the Warehousing and Storage sector of the US economy employed 785,000 workers. By 2018, that number had grown to nearly 1.2 million—a total growth of more than 41 percent, or 415,000 jobs—driven largely by a growing economy and increased ecommerce sales across the country.
It may be strange to think about the holidays in the high heat of August, but as anyone working in order fulfillment or retail knows, the holiday season is right around the corner.
Capacity planning in order fulfillment requires the careful balancing of short-term, immediate need against long-term goals and growth.
With countless operations (including Amazon) already using robotics and other automation technologies to get product where it needs to go, does the old model of order fulfillment—pick to cart—make sense? What does pick to...