Where is my order? We all have asked this question at some point. But do warehouse pickers and managers also ask the same? Where is the package? Modern warehouses and mega distribution centers can be larger than one or multiple football fields. So, how do you optimize this space wherein you could easily find the desired package quickly?
Palletization | The organizational and capacity utilization booster
Palletization is one of the key standardizing factors across the supply chain. Pallets are wooden (primarily) platforms, on which packages and units can be stacked and transported. With this, you can categorize and organize your inventory. It further improves in-warehouse movement using forklifts of assistive machinery. It boosts storage space optimization, wherein the shelves and sections are precisely populated for optimal usage.
Another major impact of palletization is capacity optimization along the supply chain. Some carriers simply shrink wrap the stacks on the pallet, for better use of the available capacity within the hold of the trucks.
Palletization has become a synonym for categorical organization and optimization. The same logic can be extended to bins and crates which hold smaller units.
Package localization and retrieval | The warehouse location mapping need
We see the benefit of palletization. Now how can tech generate more value from the concept? We haven’t fully answered the question raised in the first paragraph. Where is the package?
Amazon’s upcoming Tennessee distribution center, in Mt. Juliet, spans across 3.6 million square feet (over 62 football fields) with over 3,000 employees methodically picking, sorting, packing, and shipping packages. It’s like a small town.
In modern warehousing, palletization and unitization are a given. Beyond this, considering the volume and speed of order fulfillment, intra-warehouse mapping is critical.
Pickers must know the exact location of each package, including the pallet or bin they occupy. Further, the pickers and sorters require live in-warehouse routing for the most optimal path to the package.
Crave InfoTech’s Intelligent Warehouse Management (IWM) solution
Crave InfoTech has it covered. Our industry-benchmarking product cWarehouse helps automate and streamline all floor activities, movements, and operations. Each incoming order and its details are auto-pulled into the system.
cWarehouse over SAP’s powerful platforms, database, and systems – including the intelligence-inducing Business Technology Platform (BTP). This ensures that the system inherits the planning and organization efficiency of the AI-enabled platform.
Hence, the package retrieval, packing, staging, and shipping schedules are auto-computed on the system. Pickers can utilize their sturdy handheld devices to access the UI-optimized Crave app, where they can simply follow the workflow from picking to shipping.
Warehouse location mapping optimized and delivered – The Crave way
As the orders streamline on their app, the pickers and handlers have the exact location of the package, including the storied section holding the pallet or bin. They now also have the most optimal route to follow, in order to reach the desired package. The app directs them through the warehouse maze, avoiding manual and automated forklifts, to their destination.
Every unit, bin, or pallet can be scanned using the connected RFID scanners. This means the location and movement records of each unit are always live on record. The app’s mapping route always directs the picker to the most recent location of the package to ensure a zero-effort loss.
The mapping further directs them to the succeeding packing or staging areas for end-to-end process streamlining.
When you multiply this individual task many thousand times over, you might get an inkling of the order volume movement in a modern warehouse. Crave, with SAP’s BTP, offers complete concurrency and scalability of operations, with zero downtime and full process control. All the processes and devices are all in real-time sync, working as a single entity as a beautiful symphony.
Crave InfoTech has partnered with Here Maps for their inch-perfect mapping and their rich expertise as industry leaders. The company also partners with Zebra Technologies for their no-break no-lag devices.
End to end process visibility, optimal order fulfillment, and complete order tracking
Crave InfoTech’s intelligent warehouse management solution with their product cWarehouse helps enterprises deliver on their brand’s promise. An on-time and superior delivery experience helps improve consumer satisfaction, be it doorstep delivery or to a retailer/factory. This helps boost consumer stickiness and lifetime value.
If we look at more measurable impact areas, Crave’s IWM helps enable end-to-end process visibility within the system. The managers have access to the live status of each order coming in and shipping out from their warehouse. They also have the analytics and actionable insights on hand to plug any bottleneck or inefficiency.
IWM helps boost order fulfillment, ensuring optimal speed and handling quality for a better resultant delivery experience. The connected system also ensures that the manager always knows where the package or order is, at all times – with real-time order tracking inside and outside the warehouse (logistics movement tracking).
Crave-enabled palletization of processes | Total scalability and manageability
We saw earlier that palletization is key to warehouse optimization. The same is true for processes. Crave ensures that all warehouse operations are properly organized and synced in sets of individual and collective tasks and jobs. Each job (managing inventory, picking, packing, loading, etc.) can be viewed like an itemized event, like a structured pallet – fully optimal, channeled, and tracked.
Like it is with palletization, the managers can structure their operations in terms of processes with clear dimensions in terms of resources (time and workforce). The manager would know how many processes are required to fulfill, say, a thousand or million orders. This means that they can have full control over scaling up or down depending on market demand.
The fact that Crave’s product and the underlying SAP platform are completely agile and responsive, makes this all the simpler and more functional.
The wait for future innovation is over. We are in the new age where the name of the game is excellence. So, embrace this present and get in touch with us.
