Warehouse management is a way of planning, distributing, and following up the warehouse work. It also helps to track the resources that are available for carrying out the tasks.
To make the warehouse functionality work, we need to define workers, worker schedules, task types and location groups for
the worker, and warehouse task type specific information.
Note: It is not possible to execute a warehouse task if stocks have been frozen for counting.
Basic Data
For the Warehousing functionality, we need information about the different warehouse tasks and warehouse workers. First, we need to define site-dependent properties and basic data for the task types. We also need to define working schedules for the warehouse workers, as well as to enter basic data on every worker in order to have the most detailed knowledge of every worker's availability.
In order to execute various types of warehouse tasks, we need to connect them to workers. Every worker has one or more types of tasks connected to him. Every worker is also connected to at least one inventory zone (group of locations) where he is supposed to perform tasks. Thus, there is a matrix with task types in one dimension and inventory location groups in the other dimension, both describing the usability of the worker.
There are five predefined warehouse task types in the application. Those are:
The warehouse tasks are created if the task type is activated for the specific site. (See warehouse task setup)
The priority of the warehouse task can be received from the different sources of warehouse tasks at the time of creation, dependent on such the varying importance of different customer order lines. It can also be set from the default priority value entered for every different type of task in the warehouse task type setup. Priority is an important component of all the business logic created around the information of the warehouse task, including needs for sorting rows according to priority order.
A warehouse task can have the following status:
When the task is created from the task source, it will not be assigned to any worker. The warehouse task is ultimately assigned to a warehouse worker when the task is set to Started status. It can be entered at an earlier state by the task planner if there is a need to designate the task to a specific worker. Once the status of a task has been set to Started or Closed, the task cannot be assigned to any other worker.
In order to enable the work with warehouse tasks, it is necessary to set a number of basic values for the warehouse task type.
Priority - The priority is a numerical value valid from 1 to 99999 where value 1 means the highest priority. The attribute is mandatory; a valid priority number must be entered for each task type. It should, however, be possible to enter the same priority value for all task types if so desired. The attribute value is designed to be used as a default for priority on the warehouse tasks if priority is not sent from the task source. (A pallet transport task is one example of an object which has no priority information.)
Default Time Needed - This is a standard value for the time needed to execute a warehouse task of the specific type. The value represents the time needed to execute one line of the task type, such as picking one line on a pick list. The value is intended to serve as a default to the Planned Time Needed on the actual warehouse tasks.
Start In Status - The value entered in this attribute decides whether warehouse tasks of this type should be created as a warehouse task with initial status of Planned or Released. If the warehouse task is created in Planned status, the task cannot be started before it has been released. This is useful if you want to plan the warehouse tasks before they are started by the workers.
The status of the setup is the actual main switch for a certain task type at a specific site. It controls whether tasks of this type will be created as a warehouse task on that site.
Default Requested Leadtime - The value in this attribute is to be used as a default value when creating new warehouse tasks if there is no requested date finished sent from the task source. If a warehouse task is created based on a pick list for a customer order, there will be order line information to use as the basis for a correct value of requested date finished to put on the task created for picking that order. However, if a warehouse task is created for executing a pallet transport task, there will be no predefined requested date finished to use. In that case, the application will take default requested lead time from the task type setup and add it to the time when the task was created; this creates a valid requested date finished for the pallet transport task.
Entering warehouse workers and their different skills and working hours into the system is an important part of the basic data. With the knowledge of resource availability of different types and on different locations inside the warehouse, it is possible to plan and distribute the warehouse tasks. The information is also needed in order to be able to compare the available resource capacity against the expected work load, the warehouse tasks.
The warehouse worker is the person that carries out the warehouse tasks. The workers are connected to the Persons entered in IFS/Enterprise where all the person specific information is stored. The warehouse worker is connected to warehouse task types and location groups. This describes which kind of tasks the worker can perform and which location groups he can work on. For every task type the worker can perform, it is possible to specify his efficiency and how much of his time he spends on different task types.
The warehouse worker is also connected to a calendar that describes which hours the worker is available. The calendar is entered in IFS/Application Services.
After assigning tasks to a specific worker, a manager can prioritize them as he wish. The manually set operative priority overrules the default priority. But if the same operative priority is set on several warehouse tasks the default priority is still considered.
There are a number of common prerequisites regarding prioritization:
When a warehouse task is selected to be started, there are several factors that are considered:
Warehouse tasks must be reported when they have been performed. When they are reported, the status is set to Closed and the finished date is set. In order to get accuracy in the follow-up, it is important that these values are correct.
Depending on the warehouse task type, the reporting is performed in different ways. For pallet transport tasks, it is possible to automatically read the barcodes on the pallets and close the task that way. Otherwise, the transport task can be reported manually in Warehouse Task/Transport Task.
The customer order pick lists and pallet pick lists can be reported completely or partially in Warehouse Task/ Report Picking of Customer Order
When the warehouse tasks have been performed, there is much data created that can be used to analyze and improve the setup of the warehouse management. When the task is closed, the finish date is registered; it is then possible to calculate how long it took to perform the work. This can be compared between the workers to see determine each person's efficiency and how much time that is spent in each location group.
Follow up
There are a few calculations that can be performed in order to get a more accurate picture of what has actually happened and to get information that can be used to improve the setup of the system. Common to all these calculations is that they do not change any values used in the system since the calculated value also can contain errors that are difficult to predict. This way, the planner has more control over the process. If the estimated value and the calculated value differ, it is possible to copy the calculated value.
This calculation is based on the warehouse tasks performed on a specific site during a period that you must specify. It is also possible to select only the tasks of a specific task type. The calculation considers how much time has been spent on each task during this period, and then the average time needed is calculated. The result can be seen in Warehouse Task Basic Data/Warehouse Task Type Setup. This value is not automatically used in the warehouse management for the new tasks but must be copied to the field Default Time Needed Per Warehouse Task Line in the same window.
An estimated time share is entered at setup on the warehouse worker task type connection. This value shows how big a share of time a warehouse worker will spend on different warehouse task types. This is important to know when planning the work load. It is also important to know how much time was actually spent executing different task types.
The calculation of the actual task type time share is based on the warehouse tasks performed during a specified period and for one worker at a time or for all workers at once. The actual time for each task is considered and then the share in percentage spent on the different tasks is calculated. The result is presented in Warehouse Task Basic Data/Warehouse Worker/Task Type.
The estimated task type efficiency rate is entered on the warehouse worker task type connection. This value is important since it shows how efficient the worker is expected to be. If the standard time to perform a warehouse task type is 2 minutes and the efficiency for the worker is 80%, the system will calculate the expected time to perform a task to 2.5 minutes.
When calculating the actual task type efficiency rate, it is possible to see whether the estimated efficiency is accurate. The calculation is based on the warehouse tasks performed during a specified period and for one worker at a time or for all workers at once. The result is presented in Warehouse Task Basic Data/Warehouse Worker/Task Type.
The location group time share is entered on the warehouse worker location group connection and shows how big a share of the time a warehouse worker will spend on different location groups. This value is used when planning the resources available for different location groups.
The actual location group time share is based on the warehouse tasks performed during a specified period and for one worker at a time or for all workers at once. The actual time spent on the different location groups is considered and then the share in percentage spent on the different location groups. The result is presented in Warehouse Task Basic Data/Warehouse Worker/Location Group.
Once the initial setup of the Warehousing application is done, there is no absolute need for any manager to be involved in the prioritization and assignment of every single warehouse task. If the setup is done correctly, meaning that the manager has done a wise distribution of task types and location groups among the workers, the system will make the correct prioritization of which is the best possible task to start next for every worker as long as the work load remains constant in volume and characteristics. Problems occur if the characteristic of the work load changes, if the resource availability situation changes (sick leave or vacations), or if a change of strategy concerning prioritization of task type has been decided. If something does change the conditions, then there is a need for tools to use to make the correct adaptations.
It is possible to view the work load and resource situation in the planning windows Workload per Location Group and Workload per Location Group Graph. For the site, warehouse task type, and location group, you can examine the actual situation. With this information, it is easier to predict any problems that might occur in the future and to make the changes to avoid them.