Gearing up for the holiday shopping rush?

Not yet?

With only a few weeks left to the start of the “golden quarter”, the period from the end of September, encompassing Halloween, Guy Fawkes Night, leading up to Christmas, the expected shopping volume is expected to huge. Leaving the preparations till too late is setting your business up for failure. The BBC reports that the adoption of a click and collect by most major retailers has led to a 19.2% growth in online shopping, the fastest increase in four years.

Employing more staff, tweaking cycle times of goods in the warehouse, simplifying warehouse processes and the flow of goods, are all common ways to make your operations more efficient. But there is an method, warehouse slotting, that can be used that many managers shy away from.

The process of warehouse slotting involves examining and fine-tuning existing warehouse processes in a bid to save labour, space and cycle times. It works on the premise that everything should have its own place, and not take up the space for another SKU. Slotting needs to be carried out regularly, as this allows out of date practices to be re-evaluated and optimised.

So you wanna Slot?

What does a slotting plan entail?

You need to map a strategy, as it involves a level of organisational change. It begins with assessing the existing, inefficient warehouse layout and having a vision of what you want the ideal shop floor to be. You need to be able to answer these questions:

• Will you need to expand your buildings?

• Will a rack reconfiguration be required?

• What is the estimated timeline of the project?

• What slot type will be used?

Of these, choosing the ideal slot type is one of the most important considerations. It entails the type and size of racking storage used. A frequently overlooked step, using the wrong slotting configuration leads to wasted labour, time and space. It affects the picking rate, the time spent moving goods between sections of the warehouse and the optimum use of space. It is important to determine the ideal slot type by studying your existing warehouse configuration, quantity, size and condition of goods one will handle over the coming months.

When implementing slotting, warehouse managers use the following criteria:

• Vendor slotting or Source slotting – Where items from the same vendor are slotted together.

• Order commonality – Where goods likely to ship together are slotted together.

• Customer slotting – Where items that are common to a customer are grouped together.

• Slotting by product type – Places similar products together.

• Special storage requirements – Used for goods that have special handling requirements

These criteria help determine which sections of the warehouse operation need to be adjusted e.g. choice of racking, direction and flow of picking etc. Successfully implementing the chosen slotting configuration will lead to space maximisation, picking efficiency, reduced labour costs, better ROI all round.

Managers regard the whole slotting process as tedious, especially when they have to do it more than once per year. But this is the best way to achieve a competitive advantage. Companies that handle seasonal products need to slot as the seasons change. Companies that handle mixed freight need to slot for an optimal facility. Regardless of how they feel, slotting works; it saved a company 500, 000 in increased labour costs. What could you do with an extra half ma million pounds?

Monarch Shelving is a leading supplier of new and used pallet racking and shelving in the North West.

We offer consulting, competitive prices and speedy delivery service. Call us today.