Background:

A $400MM manufacturer and distributor of plastic and foam disposable cups, bowls, containers, and lids was experiencing inefficient order entry and product fulfillment lead times and metrics. The prior “peak season” was a disaster due to many missed shipments, dissatisfied customers and lost sales. In an effort to understand the root cause of these inefficiencies, the client engaged PPT Consulting to perform an Operational Analysis. The Warehouse was a large focus of the study due to organizational issues, poor pick/pack/ship processes, and data integrity issues.

Goals:

• Reduce warehouse processing times; improve efficiencies and accuracy.
• Increase customer satisfaction via improving the key metric of Perfect Order Shipments.
• Prepare the warehouse “people, processes, and technology” to handle the summer “peak season”.

Accomplishments / Benefits:

• Increased pick/pack/ship process efficiency by removing nearly half of the process steps.
• Reduced Shipping Cost ~ 40%.
• Warehouse Lease Cost ~ 20%.
• Pick/Pack/Ship Distance Traveled within the Warehouse ~ 60%.
• Increased inventory accuracy to ~ 95%.