Technology or Process: Find the Road to Productivity
Technology is not a silver bullet to bring down every business problem. Instead, process drives cost savings and technology enables better processes. The two cannot be separated. Process and procedure produce the benefit; whereas, technology provides the capability to not only deploy such a process, but also to establish processes in the form of a system that is easy for operators to follow.
It is very important to ensure that the process that is being deployed produces expected results, irrespective of the technology. Otherwise, excellent technology only ensures that poor processes are being done with great efficiency. So don’t look for game changing technology. Instead, establish a clear process that works for your scenario first. Then, look for technology that will help execute that process consistently.
Of course, every supply chain, distribution center (DC), and organization is different. For example, voice picking significantly increases picking productivity because pickers don’t have to look at their screens reducing motion used. They can hear the next location through their headset and keep going to the next location. Efficient process produces the gain. However, if a DC manager put the same technology in put away, pulling or receiving, without considering the process followed, the gain would not be the same.
Consider another technology: KIVA robots from Amazon Robotics. The invention of these robots created some interesting possibility. By changing the process, the technology created huge efficiency. However, it started with the process. The idea was simple: What if, instead of going to a pick location, the pick location came to the operator. No more energy spent walking between bins, and huge space savings since bins can be stored in dense layout. Then, as I fulfill orders, a robot would bring the necessary bins. By considering SKU velocity, the system can also ensure that high activity bins remain close, with less active bins behind, to increase efficiency.
Source: Amazon Robotics. Although a technology deployment, this type of system is not just technology for technology sake. Instead, the technology enabled better processes. Further it solved the problem of expensive real estate since bins can be stacked on top of one another and still retrieved quickly. And of course, automated processes are simply faster.
My organization provides mobile tools for DC operators and supervisors. As with these other examples, the tablets we produce enhance the existing process. Supervisors can be on the floor with associates more often because they are no longer tied to their desks. The wearable devices provide configurable keys that can address specific functions. Rather than searching for the multiple buttons needed, the operator can enter one character—and on-demand videos offers lessons to learn how to deal with exception scenarios. These are better processes enabled by technological advances.
For example, we did a pilot for a leading retailer that tested our devices in their Sorter area. They quickly realized that with supervisors on then line more, and with the use of communication technologies such as texting and Facetime, they could move one of the area supervisors somewhere else. That translated into a $50,0000 annual savings.
Leaders have to focus on process improvements that provide measurable benefit and the technologies that make those processes possible. Of course, corporate culture matters too. When a company focuses on improving processes daily, personnel are inspired to come up with better processes.
Further, we’ve learned that technology tools are important to tech-savvy millennial workers. These workers are finding opportunities to use simple technology very effectively. In one of our deployments, for example, we found a solid gold example of the differences between the generations. This customer had a Generation X first shift manager and a millennial second shift manager. The company deployed our wearable devices in their DC for pulling orders.
The first shift manager used an electric golf cart to get around to his employees and coach them. He would watch their work and coach them improve efficiency. The second shift manager, on the other hand, asked his pullers to recover themselves using the video recording capability of the system, which he reviewed later. He offered feedback based on the video but had time for his other work as well. Everyone was more efficient. In this case, the older work force might have had more wisdom experience, but the younger leveraged new ideas and technology.
I would love to hear your thoughts on the sweet spot where technology and process come together. How have you managed the process versus technology challenges in your supply chain? Let us know in the comments section below.
Originally published at Smartgladiator.com on Aug 8, 2016.
Puga Sankara
Puga Sankara is the co-founder of Smart Gladiator LLC. Smart Gladiator designs, builds, and delivers market-leading mobile technology for retailers, distributors, and 3PL service providers. SG LoadProof is a patent pending Centralized Enterprise Photo/Video Document System on Cloud for Supply Chain. SG LP is built on the fact that photos & videos are vital docs as important as POs/SOs/Legal Contracts/Fulfillment Orders that reside in ERP/WMS/TMS systems, that serve as compelling, conclusive, unequivocal proof of crucial, critical, vital operations executed in Supply Chain within/across orgs when fulfilling customer orders as well as meeting contractual obligations between orgs as merchandise is transferred between different parties that partake in Supply Chain functions & operations. And these photos/videos data should not be stored in someone’s Smartphone or Email Inbox or in their personal/work Computer, but should be stored in a Centralized Enterprise system, where such data can be pushed into super-fast, stored securely, accessible to all stake holders (CFO/Sales Reps/Customer Support/AR/AP) in an org, as well as facilitates super-fast retrieval/sharing. LP is an Enterprise System of record for Photo/Video docs & is as important as an ERP which is an enterprise system of record for POs, SOs, Legal Contracts between parties etc. that have huge legal ramifications, also as important as a WMS (Warehouse Management System) that hold indispensable shipment & fulfillment data on orders. Like how Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat etc. have evolved into social media platforms/systems that enable individuals to showcase their beauty/pretty clothes/lovely cosmetics/hep coolness etc., LoadProof is an Enterprise system that holds similar photos/videos, but for a different reason, not for show off, but to serve as compelling, conclusive, unequivocal & indisputable system of record and proof that can be presented even in the court of law, when there is a dispute between parties while they execute many facets of the Supply Chain functions & operations. Puga is a supply chain technology professional with more than 25 years of experience in deploying capabilities in the logistics and supply chain domain. His prior roles involved managing complicated mission-critical programs driving revenue numbers, rolling out a multitude of capabilities involving more than a dozen systems, and managing a team of 30 to 50 personnel across multiple disciplines and departments in large corporations such as Hewlett Packard. He has deployed WMS for more than 30 distribution centers in his role as a senior manager with Manhattan Associates. He has also performed process analysis walk-throughs for more than 50 distribution centers for WMS process design and performance analysis review, optimizing processes for better productivity and visibility through the supply chain. Size of these DCs varied from 150,000 to 1.2 million SQFT. Puga Sankara has an MBA from Georgia Tech. He can be reached at [email protected] or visit the company at www.smartgladiator.com. Also follow him at www.pugasankara.com.
