Boost Your Distribution Center’s Capacity Despite Supply Chain Challenges

BOOST YOUR DISTRIBUTION CENTER'S CAPACITY DESPITE SUPPLY CHAIN CHALLENGES

Businesses are always trying to figure out how to do more with less. This is especially true with distribution centers (DCs) — which are responding to growing e-commerce demands and tightening service level agreements (SLAs).

Even though DCs are prioritizing improvements in technology, material handling systems and automation equipment, many hardware vendors are quoting lead times of 52 weeks because of scarce components, shipping delays and trade sanctions. As new bottlenecks increase uncertainty about when the supply chain will return to normal, some have even shut down operations altogether.

In addition to these challenges, DCs are under enormous pressure to find labor as they scramble for workers in an incredibly tough employment market.

While DCs experience unprecedented challenges, they need software solutions that allow them to increase capacity with the resources they already have. Accessing opportunities to improve efficiency is a significant problem because sifting through huge amounts of data is an unachievable task.

DC managers could benefit from access to consolidated insights that offer:

• Near-real time visibility into operations across multiple sites
• Accurate assessments of the impact of repetitive asset issues
• Easy-to-read asset health and availability trends for better maintenance prioritization and decision-making
• KPI-focused data that would allow an optimized balance between operational flow and labor, reducing the volatility of cost per case shipped

Ideally, DCs need tools that provide complete visibility across the entire operation and enable a balance between operations and maintenance teams. Being able to minimize labor challenges and preserve institutional knowledge would be another priority. Having the abilities to predict equipment failures before they happen and eliminate silos of operational technological data would provide interaction, enhance production, and allow DCs to make the most of the resources they already have — and be ready for those they may add in the future.

To learn how DCs can drive portfolio-wide savings across multiple operations, create constant collaboration across their operations and maintenance teams, prevent unplanned downtime, and improve the use of their existing systems in real time throughout the day, download the white paper, “Boost Your Distribution Center’s Capacity Despite Supply Chain Challenges.”