Labor Management
Warehouse labor management is the process of managing and optimizing the labor resources of a warehouse or distribution center to improve efficiency and productivity. It includes multiple activities such as forecasting labor demand, scheduling and assigning tasks to workers, tracking and measuring employee performance, and implementing training and development programs.
Effective warehouse labor management can help to improve the accuracy and speed of order fulfillment, reduce costs and errors, and improve the overall efficiency and productivity of the warehouse or distribution center.
Labor Tracking as the Foundation of Labor Management
The foundation of labor management is built on labor tracking in order fulfillment operations – the process of monitoring and measuring the time it takes for workers to complete specific tasks to complete and ship orders. Labor tracking metrics are critical to measuring a warehouse operation’s overall efficiency.
Labor costs account for 50% to 70% of a distribution center’s operational operating costs, making labor tracking and improvement a top concern for all companies that sell and distribute products. Labor tracking is a critical requirement for benchmarking existing operations and comparing the current performance results to the efficiency gains that can be achieved with warehouse automation technologies.
Establishing Order Fulfillment Labor Performance Standards
The most effective labor-related performance standards are established when pick, pack, and shipping tasks are measured as an end-to-end process. This information can be used to monitor people and process performance during high and low periods and accurately forecast labor requirements during peak seasons. Labor tracking results provide the data to benchmark performance, identify process improvements, and increase overall efficiency and throughput.
Blog: Improve Picking Productivity and Reduce Labor Costs with RDS Victory Voice Picking Technology
Labor tracking metrics are essential in helping companies assess efficiency gains, and labor cost reductions achieved when manual operations are replaced with warehouse automation technologies.
Warehouse Automation Systems with Built-In Labor Tracking
Labor tracking processes can vary greatly and are often gained through a combination of manual and software-generated information, which can result in inaccurate measurements.
The best labor tracking results are achieved by using advanced technology such as Numina’s RDS™ Warehouse Execution System (WES), which automates order fulfillment processes and captures labor metrics in real time. The RDS labor tracking module provides comprehensive data by automatically tracking and measuring worker productivity across pick, pack, and ship order operations. This data can be imported into various labor-management analysis applications.
Learn More About Numina’s RDS Warehouse Execution Solution
RDS Labor Tracking Features
The RDS WES Labor Tracking component is comprised of four components for labor tracking:
RDS Web-based Dashboards
Managers can use the dashboard to set and monitor expected workforce standards for tasks performed across each work zone or area, such as picking, replenishment, and cycle counting while tracking performance.
Advanced Capture of Labor Performance Metrics
RDS™ tracks labor across warehouse fulfillment operations to track each worker’s tasks, such as order picking, carton building, packing and shipping, and trailer loading. Throughout the process, RDS™ measures labor and orders/hour performance over hourly time windows. Real-time and historical data is available in the RDS™ WES-WCS database, providing accurate data that can be accessed to analyze productivity in multiple ways such as:
- Labor cost per order fulfilled
- Daily order output by hour
- Create a workforce pay-for-performance plan
- Create alerts for exceptions or below-target performance
Forecasting & Proactive Planning
RDS labor tracking provides comprehensive data for forecasting distribution center staffing requirements during low, high, and seasonal order volume fluctuations. RDS applies system-configured work-based standards to forecast labor resources needed for typical throughput levels and additional staffing needs to meet peak season shipping volumes.
Employee Productivity Management and Coaching
With RDS labor tracking data provided in real-time, management teams can:
- Analyze individual worker performance compared to a work zone standard.
- Establish training metrics to guide and coach new, long-term, and seasonal employees.
- Immediately address and retrain employees in specific instances where work standards are not met.
- Establish realistic metrics for work zone assignment based on actual data, including value-add tasks such as cycle counting, QC inspection, replenishment, or put-away.
- Establish employee awards programs to recognize and reward workers who exceed productivity and performance standards.
- Accurately forecast staffing requirements to meet peak season throughput requirements.
The goal of warehouse labor tracking and management is to ensure that the right amount of labor is available at the right time to meet the demands of the warehouse or distribution center while also maximizing the efficiency and productivity of the workforce.
Learn More
Blog: The Basics of Warehouse Automation
Blog: Order Picking Automation Options to Resolve Warehouse Labor Challenges
Video: Cold Chain 3PL Increases Output by 4X with End-to-End Warehouse Automation
Company: About the Numina Group
