Track Worker Productivity in Real-Time, According to Settable Work Zone Standards
With labor costs accounting for up to 70% of the total cost of operating a warehouse, it’s critical to track and monitor worker productivity. The Numina Group’s Real-time Distribution Software (RDS™) includes a Labor Management Software Module (LMS) as part of our RDS family of solutions. The LMS module measures worker productivity and order throughput across the entire pick, pack, and ship order fulfillment operation.
Automation is still key to lower labor costs and increase productivity, but a dedicated, motivated and well trained team of employees are also needed to magnifying the performance of your automation solution. Retaining these valuable employees is important to achieving and maintaining the goals of your operation. Labor Management Software is a very useful tool in assisting your DC to accomplish these objectives.
Numina Group’s LMS module includes four critical components:
- Web-based dashboards display Labor Tacking and Management real-time data
Web-based screens make it easy for management to set expected work standards for workforce tasks performed across each work zone or area such as picking, replenishment, and cycle counting while tracking performance.
Tracking Labor with Performance Metrics
RDS™ tracks labor across the entire order fulfillment process to track each worker’s tasks such as order picking with RDS™ Voice picking, carton building, packing and shipping, and trailer loading. While doing so, RDS™ measures labor and orders per hour performance over hourly time windows. Real-time and historical data is available in the RDS™ WES-WCS SQL operational database.
Measure and control productivity:
- Track 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
III. Forecasting & Proactive Planning
Want to know how many Full Time Employees (FTEs) (full time equivalent employees) you need to meet fulfillment needs? Numina’s LMS utilizes work-based standards to forecast the labor requirements required to meet operational needs. RDS’s Labor Management Software module can also be used to plan the total number of employees required at the DC to meet a known surge in order shipment volume to ensure that your operation is armed with the right data to predict the performance output of both people and the order fulfillment process.
During both low and high-demand periods, the supervisor can use Numina’s LMS to project staffing needs by inputting the period’s projected order volume. Management can use this operational data to perform labor planning for peak seasons.
IV. Employee Management and Coaching
Employee Productivity & Coaching
Real-time and historical reporting tools provide team and individual performance results compared to the work task standards. This is an excellent supervisor coaching tool to:
- Analyze individual worker activity compared to a work zone standard with a report of each task’s performance
- Establish training metrics to guide and coach existing and new employees
- Immediately address and retrain employees who are not meeting work standards
- Gain realistic metrics that account for work zone assignment, any required value-add tasks, and other interleaved worker tasks such as cycle counting, QC inspection, replenishment, or put-away
- Recognize and reward workers who exceed productivity and performance standards
- Prepare for peak season
Reports include:
- Labor Forecasting
- Performance Metrics
- Daily and Historical Operation Reporting
The Numina Group’s clients rely on our RDS Labor Tracking and Management module to optimize their workforce for more profitable operations.
Contact us to learn more about Numina’s RDS Labor Tracking and Management solution.