Post Holiday Warehouse Assessment
It may seem like an odd time to review your warehouse operation just after coming out of the Holiday crush, but it is the perfect time to dissect what worked and what didn’t during the peak season. A systematic review of the warehousing and fulfillment functions can yield big savings for the upcoming year, as well as prep your operations, staff and warehouse for Holiday 2010.
Ask yourself the following questions to see if there are areas that you can focus on to improve your bottom line this year:
- How well did you meet your expected productivity rates during the peak? If your rates fell below plan or expectations, was there something that caused it to happen? Conduct a meeting with the warehouse workers involved to pick their brains as to what can help improve productivity and what stood in the way of meeting their goals.
- Did you meet your service level goals for order turnaround, accuracy, and fill rates? If you failed in these areas, the impact on your customers and their lifetime value can be significantly eroded. If you had issues meeting your service expectations, try to determine if the issues centered around productivity, inventory management, or system support factors.
- If you hired temporary or seasonal warehouse help for the peak, how well did they perform? Are there any training issues you might address in order to correct any deficiencies you noticed in their performance?
- What was the general condition of the warehouse during the rush in terms of overall organization, cleanliness, and compliance with established policies and procedures? If you had trouble keeping the warehouse condition up to an acceptable level, investigate the causes and provide correction for next year. You can’t afford to become slack on warehouse conditions during peak. If you do, it is usually a contributing factor to many negative issues arising during peak.
- Did your system (software) give you the support you needed? Were schedules met and performance levels maintained during peak?
Taking the time to ask a few follow-up post season questions can lay the groundwork for a more productive warehouse in the coming year. If you need advice or would like to discuss how we can assist you in conducting a warehouse assessment, give us a call at 804-740-8743 or email Jeff Barry at jbarry@fcbco.com.
Bob Betke is vice president of F. Curtis Barry & Company, a multichannel operations and fulfillment consulting firm with expertise in multichannel systems, warehouse, call center, inventory, and benchmarking; Learn more online at: http://www.fcbco.com
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I was in charge of a small 350,000 warehouse at my last job and it was a constant chore to stay on top of the warehouses flow and logistics. I wish I would have had access to a consulting expert to help me make improvements.