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When faced with spikes in order fulfillment volumes, many companies pay overtime or hire temporary warehouse labor to get orders out the door. However, while both methods enable the company to meet delivery requirements, they add to operational costs and erode profitability.
For permanent employees, overtime wages, while alluring, do not erase the strain of excess hours worked, which can lead to lower productivity, risk of job-related injuries, and a higher occurrence of order errors. Employee job satisfaction erodes when overtime conditions for an extended period and high turnover rates begin to occur. No wonder many warehouse operations are in an endless, costly loop of recruiting, hiring, and training new workers.
Video: How Rainbow Resources Reduced Labor Costs with Pick, Pack and Ship Automation
When temporary staff is brought in, the company must also take on added training costs, which often results in pulling high-performing employees into a training role. Also, temporary workers’ productivity levels are usually lower than that of permanent staff, and they require additional supervision. Inconsistent performance and frequent training further erode operational efficiency, leaving distribution centers with high costs but subpar results.
These potential circumstances are sure to impact order accuracy and customer satisfaction.
Many of today’s businesses have identified warehouse automation as the most cost-effective way to keep up with growing order volumes without increasing labor costs. Warehouse automation allows for easy scalability of resources to increase throughput as the business grows.
Numina Group’s Tier I RDS™ Warehouse Execution and Control System streamlines order fulfillment operations by eliminating manual tasks and replacing them with a high-speed, low-touch automated pick, pack, and ship workflow that can be adjusted and expanded to handle increased demand without significant additional investments.
Technology as a Force Multiplier
In a manual or semi-manual order fulfillment processing environment, productivity increases are typically limited by human capabilities. Warehouse technology to automate order fulfillment, in contrast, is a force multiplier that far surpasses the order fulfillment output of manual or semi-manual warehouse processes.
For example, workers in traditional warehouses have picking ranges between 50 and 100 per hour. When paper-based picking is replaced with Numina’s RDS WES-WCS voice-picking technology, the same workers’ picking rates can be increased by 70% or more.
In fact, several Numina clients have increased workers’ picking rates to 230-300 lines per hour in high-velocity, properly SKU-slotted pick zones. They have also reduced recurring annual overtime and seasonal labor costs, further accelerating the ROI gained on their warehouse automation solution.
Case Study: Schumacher Triples Throughput in Existing DCs with a 12-Month ROI in Warehouse Automation
During slower order demand periods, RDS Voice Picking can direct operators to pick zones with the highest demand between two or more zones to minimize downtime and boost productivity per employee.
Green Rabbit, a cold chain 3PL, has quadrupled order throughput by replacing manual procedures with warehouse technology. “We’ve at least doubled output in the original Massachusetts facility with the same headcount and have nearly tripled output in other facilities as business has grown,” said Green Rabbit’s Director of Operations.
Learn how Numina Group can help you transform your distribution center into a streamlined, automated operation. Numina is differentiated from other warehouse automation companies by our comprehensive solutions and services:
Numina Group provides clients with a consultative design approach that uncovers and defines better processes, operational improvements, and identifies technologies that reduce labor costs, and improve storage and space utilization.
Contact us today for a complimentary onsite consultation to discuss your needs.
The Numina Group
10331 Werch Drive
Woodridge, IL 60517
630-343-2600
How the Right Warehouse Automation Decisions Can Solve Your Labor Woes As the economy roars
The Numina Group
10331 Werch Drive
Woodridge, IL 60517
630-343-2600
