North Texas WERCouncil Convention slotting roundtable tackles practitioner challenges

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Research Triangle Park, N.C., October 25, 2011 Optricity, supply chain optimization software innovator and provider, recently facilitated the roundtable, “Smarter Slotting: Your Next Move” at the 10th annual North Texas WERCouncil Warehousing Resource Convention in Grapevine, TX. The roundtable allowed participants to voice their own slotting challenges by sharing unique experiences with fellow warehousing practitioners. The resulting discussion revealed various ways in which participants can employ or tweak slotting techniques in order to yield the best ROI for their operations.

With significant cost savings on the line, warehousing professionals across industries are looking to improve picking, replenishment, and space utilization, to name just a few. The following highlights from the slotting roundtable conducted October 12, 2011, at the North Texas WERCouncil Warehousing Resource Convention reflect slotting challenges faced by roundtable participants and the discussion surrounding them.

• Seasonality
  > Most of the time the pre-season location of an item is too small, causing red-lines and adding to the cost of selection. Selectors will identify problems because they cannot do their work in a timely manner.
  > The period AFTER the season is where operators need to actively realign product, as fast moving seasonal items are occupying high value slots, but need to be moved back to less valuable slots based on non-seasonal movement. Selectors will not identify these issues, as they are not frequently selecting the items that have just gone out of season.
• Running out of space
  > 80% of the time, operators who believe they have run out of space have actually run out of slots.
  > Wasted space in the pickline can usually be recaptured by re-profiling and reslotting items to the correct slot type (size) and location in the pickline.
• Retail groupings – inefficient in the warehouse
  > While slotting a facility using retail groupings helps the retail outlet (store) become more efficient through a reduction in backroom sortation, that same grouping strategy will hinder warehouse productivity and greatly reduce pickline flexibility.
  > One must measure the benefits attained at the retail location and compare to the diminished productivity in the warehouse to determine if a retail grouping strategy is optimal at a global level.
• How to handle new items
  > New items should be placed in the best empty location in the pickline until item movement characteristics can be determined.
• How to make minor slotting changes during regular operation hours
  > Misslotted items should be sequenced based on a ‘biggest bang for the buck’ ranking.
  > Using regular time workers (and wages), the sequenced list may be worked until the available labor is used up.

Dan Basmajian, Optricity’s president and CEO, led the roundtable, and he describes why open discussion of this topic is valuable: “No matter the industry, warehousing professionals are going to experience some of the same bumps when it comes to slotting. Bringing a group of people together to talk about slotting challenges reveals not only common problems, but also elicits a variety of solutions, some straight forward, some more creative. The best outcome is to walk away with an idea for how you might best solve your operation’s problem in an optimal, cost-effective way.”

About Optricity

Optricity, a software development company, specializes in solving complex Supply Chain (SC) optimization problems. Optricity solutions minimize operational costs at SC junctures where customer’s competing goals and constraints come together. Using patent-pending RASSQ™ optimization engines, Optricity’s best-of-breed solutions easily integrate with existing warehouse management and planning systems. Visit www.Optricity.com to learn more about the advanced, warehouse slotting optimization tool, OptiSlot DC™, RASSQ optimization and other Juncture Optimization™ capabilities.

For information about this press release contact:

Sheila Benny

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(919) 280-4418