When installing new racks, be sure to ask theright questions

Racks can seem like one of thesimplest pieces of equipment in the warehouse, butinstalling them proper-ly can be more compli-cated than you mightexpect.

If you’re addingnew racks at your facil-ity, you can avoiddelays, headaches, and safety prob-lems by following a few simplerules, says John Krummell, presi-dent of Advance Storage Products.

Your overall goal is to create arack set-up that lets you operate

efficiently and safely.And, of course, youwant to avoid over-loading or damagethat can cause racks tocollapse.

How do youachieve that goal?

For starters, talk to the manu-facturer of your lift trucks tomake sure the racks you plan to

‘Management by walking around’ is a good start;here’s what to do while walking

Getting out on the floor of theDC is a crucial management tactic.But if you walk around only oncein a while, you run the risk of whatTom Tanel calls the “lip-servicepresentation and eyewash tour.”

To make walking around aneffective and valuable exercise, youneed a clear agenda for what youwant to accomplish, and strategiesfor gathering useful information.

“I always devoted a good dealof my time to management by

walking around long before it wasin fashion,” says Tanel, head ofCATTAN Services Group. “Iworked hard to be a real and con-stant presence throughout myfacility or network of facilities.”

In a career that has spannednearly four decades, Tanel figureshe has visited more than 200 facili-ties as an operator and as a consul-tant. All of those tours taught him afew things about using site visits to

© 2013 Alexander Communications Group, Inc. All rights reserved.

Vol. 48 • No. 4April 2013

In this issue

Looking for unbiased feedback about your DC?Consider a warehousing certification program. . . . . . 2

Distributors score win withchange from RF picking tovoice. Impressive improve-ments are seen in accuracy,productivity, and workerretention. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

E-commerce fulfillmentchanges face of DCs. Theera of the “spoiled consumer”impacts DCs, their layout andlocation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Attention to ergonomicsboosts productivity. For med-ical device DC, one-level pick-ing makes a difference. . . . . 7

Herman Miller DC stayssafe. Housekeeping, commu-nication, and ergonomics arekey. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

DC Toolbox: Minimum wageproposal could affect DCcosts; OSHA fines DC aftertemp worker dies; Roboticsnot a long-term job stealer;Plus Warehouse Watchshows where the opportuni-ties are.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

(Continued on page 5)

(Continued on page 9)

Management Strategies

Facilities

Distribution Center MANAGEMENTDistribution Center MANAGEMENT

Managing people, materials and costs in the warehouse or DC

Rack upgrade tips• Talk to your lift truck

manufacturer.

• Pull a permit if youneed to.

• Check the fire code.

April 2013 Distribution Center Management • www.DistributionGroup.com 9

‘Management by walking around’ is a good start; here’s what to do while walking (Continued from page 1)

glean information — how a process istranslated into practice, how standardoperating procedures work in the realworld, and whether a facility is plagued bywaste and inefficiency.

“The visible presence of distributionexecutives on the facility floor is nowroutinely accepted as a defining charac-teristic found in organizations with ahigh-performance culture,” Tanel says.

How do you make the most of thishands-on management style? For starters,Tanel says, you should have a basic check-list that covers the important facets of youroperation. Among the items on the list:

• Safety conditions.• Worker demeanor.• Condition of your storage and

material handling and equipment.• Regular maintenance schedules.• Facility flow and layout — is it busy,

crowded, or congested?• Functional process chokepoints that

affect the ebb and flow of facility.• Stockpiles of material, product,

finished goods, and parts.• Receiving and/or shipping docks

that are busy.• Ease of material flow.• Travel distances and travel time.• Congested dock, staging areas,

aisles, and processing operations.• Lift truck maneuverability and lift

heights.• Sufficient DC doors to handle

volume.• Aisle widths and number of aisles.• Space (cube) utilization.The checklist is a good starting point,

but it is the actual interaction with associ-ates that often provides the greatestinsights. Keep the following advice inmind as you walk around:

Trust but verify. As you walkaround, conduct your own spot checks toverify the statistics that make it to yourdesk. Check the inventory managementsystem’s ‘physical to book’ accuracy bycounting randomly selected SKUs andcrosschecking the information containedin the inventory system with the actualSKU count in the slot. Next, check thelocator system accuracy by randomlyselecting storage lots and crosscheckingthe information contained in the locatorsystem with the actual location of theSKU in the DC.

Meet the people. Meet your work-ers and see what you think. Read theirbody language, gauge their facial expres-sions, and engage in small talk, whichcan lead to more candid conversations.You might also find some easy ways tomake improvements by chatting with thepeople who actually do the work.

Use all five senses. Use your eyesto observe and scan your surroundings(docks, picking area, cafeteria) and peo-ple’s behavior. Don’t forget to look upand notice the lighting and ventilation inthe facility. You could use touch to studythe mood of your people. Is that work-er’s handshake firm or flimsy? Use smellto sense anything out of the ordinary,like a nasty aroma in the maintenancearea or a foul odor coming from theemployee restroom. These observationsshould lead you to ask pointed questionsabout your operations.

Listen closely. Asking the rightquestions is pointless if you don’t listen.Slow down and listen to responses without thinking about your next ques-tion. By being patient, you can probedeeply and ask the right follow up questions.

Distribution Center Management • www.DistributionGroup.com April 2013

Don’t talk too much. “God gave youtwo eyes and two ears and one mouth,”Tanel says. “You are there to observe andlisten.” You should do only 25 percent ofthe talking, and let your people do 75 per-cent of the talking. Ask questions, listen tothe answers, and then ask follow-up ques-tions. These queries can yield clues andinsights. This is how you get clues tothings that are not so obvious and amaz-ing insights begin to pop up.

Use open-ended questions. An open-ended question is designed to encourage afull, meaningful answer using the person’sknowledge and feelings. It is the oppositeof a closed-ended question, which encour-ages a short or single-word answer. Open-ended questions typically begin with wordssuch as “Why” and “How,” or phrases suchas “Tell me about....” Here are some waysto ask probing, open-ended questions:

1. Information gathering• How do you see this happening?• Can you help me understand that a

little better?• What does that mean?• How does that process work now?

2. Qualifying• What are your thoughts?• What’s changed since my last visit?• What concerns do you have?

3. Establishing rapport, trust and credibility• How did you get involved in…?• What kind of challenges are you

facing?• What’s the most important priority

to you with this? Why?• What would you like to see improved?• How do you check that?

Contact: Thomas Tanel, CATTAN Services Group,979-212-8200.

10

Accident rates at Herman Miller’sdistribution center in Holland, MI, arewell below industry averages, a trackrecord that earned the furniture manu-facturer special recognition from theMichigan Occupational Safety andHealth Administration (MIOSHA).

“Herman Miller’s long-time commit-ment to workplace safety and health sendsa strong message to other Michigan com-panies,” says MIOSHA Director MarthaYoder. “They have created a corporateculture where workplace safety and healthis consistently held as a top priority.”

How does Herman Miller do it?MIOSHA points to several ways that the180-person DC stays safe:

Housekeeping. Organizing the DCis part of Herman Miller’s lean manufac-

turing process that follows the sort-label-identify rule. Workers conduct monthlyzone audits of the facility.

Communication. A communicationsteam provides information to employeesabout the company’s performance ontopics such as behavior-based safety sta-tistics. The team produces a newsletterand disseminates information about envi-ronmental, safety, and health issues.

Ergonomics. An ergonomics pro-gram is used to spot risks and offer stafftraining. When workers raise ergonomicissues, Herman Miller develops an actionplan that is tracked until the issue isresolved. Employees at all levels of thecompany are actively involved.Contact: Martha Yoder, Michigan Occupational Safe-ty and Health Administration, 517-373-9280.

How the Herman Miller DC stays safeSafety and Security

DCM

DCM