Lean Management for Warehouse Efficiency

TIMWOOD. SQCDM. 5S.

They’re acronyms to some, alphabet soup to others. But to the continuous improvement specialists at Carolina Handling, they all mean lean. Lean management, that is.

Carolina Handling’s Continuous Improvement department was created in 2019 to help customers identify and implement process improvements. Today, as worker shortages and consumer migration to on-demand buying online continue, more companies are embracing automation, making it critical to first eliminate wasteful steps and allocate resources correctly to optimize operations.

“You don’t want to automate a bad process,” says Carolina Handling Continuous Improvement Manager Ashley Watkins. “That’s why looking for lean opportunities is so important. It’s the gateway to helping customers solve their (operational) challenges.”

5S and Visual Management are just a few of the techniques that Watkins and her team use to help customers spot lean opportunities. A staple of Carolina Handling service technicians in shops and in the field, 5S is a five-step methodology for creating a more productive and organized workspace:

• Sort. Remove unnecessary items and arrange the remaining items in a logical and systematic way.
• Set in Order. Place tools, equipment and materials in optimal locations to maximize accessibility and prevent accidents.
• Shine. Keep tools, equipment and machinery clean to create a safe and waste-free work environment.
• Standardize. Develop and implement standards for maintaining the sorting, organizing and cleanliness procedures.
• Sustain. Remove any obstacles that hinder productivity.

“In Lean, we like to say that waste begets waste, so when you see one type of waste, you typically see another one,” Watkins said. “When you see shrink wrap on the floor, product, trash or broken pallets on the floor, that’s not an environment that most people want to work in. It’s tied to safety, but it also points to another area and that’s one of morale.”

Visual Management

This is another way to not only measure the performance of a process, but also boost morale.   

“We like to ask companies if everyone in the building is aware of any defects they passed along to their customer today. Or on the flip side, are they aware of how successful they were,” Watkins said. “Knowing what success looks like is what lean is all about. Workers care about that because they want to know where the opportunities are.”

According to Watkins, there are simple questions that can be asked when it comes to a lean assessment. For example:

• Have you considered how debris on the production floor might be affecting the performance and maintenance costs of your equipment?
• What is the average height of someone who handles stacked pallets in your facility, and can they reach them without strain?
• Do you have a robust 5S plan to change your culture?
• How much more efficient could your team be if they didn’t have to strain to see their work?

Other areas to observe when looking for lean opportunities are:

Inventory

• Overflowing small parts in totes and bins.
• Excessive amounts of stored pallets and boxes with no designated home location.
• Dusty parts and boxes.

Rework

• Inconsistent process standardization. Are all workers following the same process?
• Inconsistencies between shifts and shift handover. Do you have a standard work checklist to pass on between shifts? Is there a debrief with the next shift?
• Multiple product touches.

Product travel time

• Poor product flow.
• Moving products between multiple warehouses.
• Excessive turnaround time. Do products sit and wait to be packaged?

From standardized work to Raymond Lean Shop Site Certification, Carolina Handling’s CI professionals help customers implement and sustain standards and processes for improved safety, efficiency, communication and morale. Offerings include:

Lean Training 

Taught at the customer’s location or a Carolina Handling branch, these courses cover the foundational lean principles and their application within a manufacturing or shop environment:

• 5S Methodology (Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize, Sustain) 
• Waste 
• Standard Work  
• Kaizen & Defect 

Intralogistics Assessment 

This two-day, on-site assessment of your operations includes an evaluation of your material and information flow by Carolina Handling Continuous Improvement professionals. A detailed, written report will be provided that may include:   

• Documentation of current material flow and process waste 
• Spaghetti diagram of workflow 
• Process map with Kaizen opportunities 
• Standardized work instruction examples 
• Recommended solutions including but not limited to: 
• Process flow 
• Inventory flow 
• Equipment/tools/materials to improve operational efficiency 

Kata Engagement  

A kata engagement allows you to work one-on-one with a Carolina Handling Continuous Improvement specialist to identify your company’s current operating condition and to actively work through process improvements to achieve a sustainable target condition. This session teaches you how to apply actionable steps to your Intralogistics Assessment.  

Kata Training 

This one-day training teaches your employees how to identify areas of improvement and to find their own solutions to their unique challenges.