9MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY INSIGHTSSEPTEMBER 2024this process will require some type of consolidation or sortation process. That additional process step will need to be weighed against any savings from reducing travel for the initial pick.Note that part of this evaluation is to look at the picking path that the operators are following. That can also drive some time savings as the picker's travel path minimizes the distance traveled to make a pick. Also, if you move into a batch or zone picking, you may get congestion that requires adjustment.Shipping errors are the strongest example of non-value-added activities. The business invests the time to receive the product, inventory it, move it through the material flow process, ship it, and never get paid. Then, the business may get a penalty from the customer, may have to pay to ship it back, or, in some cases, have the customer scrap it and replace the product. On top of all that, you've disappointed the customer. While it can be seen as a non-value-added activity, auditing is a source of information that allows you to go back through your process for gaps that create errors. Waiting on customer feedback for shipping errors is much too late. You need to conduct an audit and take that data back to find the root cause of the issue. If the best answer is picker error or training needed, you need to look harder. As you gather data, you will be able to move to the next level of auditing: Process auditing. By gathering audit data on errors and driving back to the root cause of the error, you will see the gaps in the process. As you learn more, you will shift your audits into the process rather than at the end when service is at risk. Over time, you will have a robust process that drives a quality delivery from the start to the finish. Your end-of-the-line process becomes a small statistical-based activity.Before making major investments in technology to drive improvements, take a hard look at your process and the material flow through the building. Look at travel time and redundant steps. Map out your processes, look for non-value-added activities, and see if there are ways around those steps. There may not be, but they should be challenged.Finally, shipping errors are a loss to the business on multiple levels, but you cannot rely on end-of-the-line inspections other than to gather data. Take that data and go back to shore up the process and build quality into the material flow process.One way to think about this is that great tech and systems are out there. Until you understand the opportunities in your current model, you cannot make a meaningful business case to justify the, at times, significant investment. Remember, adding technology to a bad process will not improve the process and will likely add complications to your business. The first place to start reducing travel time is inventory slotting
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