How to Reduce Picking and Packing Errors

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How to Reduce Picking and Packing Errors

The picking and packing of e-commerce orders can be repetitive, mistake-prone work.  But a well-designed workflow, using complementary software, can help reduce mistakes, provided that it supports the employees doing the work — not frustrate or hinder them.

This article will explain how to design a picking and packing process to reduce errors.

Designing the Work Flow

One of the most effective methods of eliminating errors is the Japanese idea of “poka-yoke,” which involves designing workflows to eliminate errors — not relying on the operator to do it. An example is the three-pin electrical plug. It could have been designed with three symmetrical pins in a circle, or three pins in a straight line. But both require thought and care to plug-in correctly. The actual design uses three non-identical pins arranged in such a way it is impossible to get wrong. It requires no thought to use.

We use this principle in our fulfillment centers by bar coding all our storage locations. Our software won’t let an operator continue with a pick until he or she has scanned the correct location, forcing the operator to be in the right place before receiving the product details.

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The New Role of Spend Analytics

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The New Role of Spend Analytics

One of the key differentiators between Strategic Sourcing and Tactical Purchasing is the decision to invest up-front in spend analytics and opportunity profiling.  This crucial planning step provides a holistic snapshot of where money was spent and the results associated with that expenditure.  Done properly Spend Analysis (SA) focuses the organization and prioritizes scarce resources towards opportunities that best meet the future needs of the business.

 

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Roger L. Putnam Vocational Technical High School – Print Shop

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The students in Putnam’s Print Center deserve hearing an alternative view to the articles in the Springfield Republican and MassLive.com concerning purchasing a two-color press. Roger L. Putnam Vocational Technical High School has helped many students learn a trade over the years and I am one of those students. When I attended Putnam, the Print Shop faculty, Mr. Al Chapman, Mr. Jay Clune and Mr. Bruce Dodd, instructed me about printing, and had a positive influence in my printing career.  On their advice, I continued my education at Rochester Institute of Technology’s School of Printing. Because of my education, I have worked for several large top-rated printing companies in the Pioneer Valley such as; Magnani and McCormick, Inc., Allied Printing Services, Inc., and Dow Jones & Co., home of the Wall Street Journal.

As the construction for the new Putnam comes to a close, several are recommending changes to the print shop which would require hundreds of thousands of extra dollars to modify the building and purchase a new larger press.  The reasons given for these changes are for the students to make more money, to train on a press that is used locally and smaller printers are closing, which use smaller equipment, leaving only large printers, with large presses.

“It wouldn’t be right to lie to kids,” said J. M. “Buck” Upson of Pioneer Tool Supply in West Springfield and a longtime advocate for vocational education in the region. “It wouldn’t be fair to have them go through this program for three years and not give them the skills they need to get jobs in today’s big printing companies.”

“Smarter and better trained means higher paid workers, and that’s why Putnam needs the kind of press that is big enough to print catalogs and magazine-sized booklets. Workers capable of handling those presses can earn up to $25 an hour.”

Residents of Springfield, MA deserve to know there are other viewpoints and information that they need to know before making a final decision.

• Because the printing industry as a whole is in decline, small and medium-size printers are closing. The recession hasn’t helped the printing industry where over 2,000 companies closed in 2010 alone. The printing industry can be compared to farming during the turn of the 1900’s when people sold their farms and moved to the city leaving fewer but larger farms. The decline of printing can be attributed for the following reasons:

1. Technology: Since graduating from Putnam, technology has improved making presses three times faster, and desk top publishing where an individual can print at home.
2. Internet: Mail reduction has reduced the need for fewer envelopes and letterheads and documents posted on the web has also reduced the need for printing.
3. Digital Printing: This has allowed customers to order smaller quantities economically.
4. International: Competition from off and near shore has reduced local printing.

•  Raising the money to purchase a larger press and to modify the building is only part of the added costs. The larger the press the higher the operating and consumable costs. Examples of operating/consumable costs are electricity, rollers, blankets, packing, fountain solution, blanket wash, ink, paper, repairs, etc.
•  Medium to large sized printers purchase four to eight color presses. A six-color press provides greater versatility, allowing the printer to print four color process, 1 PMS color [corporate color] and a spot varnish in one pass. Normally these presses have an aqueous coater too.
• The Print Shop in previous years had a larger press, a Heidelberg KORD, however, it didn’t run very much in contrast to the duplicators [small presses] which produced work daily. For a student to become proficient they need to run the press all the time. It takes years to become proficient at running a multi-color press which is confirmed in one of the MassLive articles. “It can take two to three years to get a worker off the street up to speed.” Does Putnam have the volume of work needed to make a student proficient in operating a larger multi-color press? If Putnam has the volume of work, how will faculty decide which student[s] will be given the time to become proficient? Most large printers would start a student as feeder operator/2^nd press person not as the lead press person, except on a small press.
• Putnam could install a color copier/printer and network it with the battery of existing MACs. The future of printing is personalization. With this network, students can learn to prepare files for variable data printing, and prepare mail files per the US postal regulations.
• Since digital printing is a growing segment of the industry, Putnam could consider installing a Vutek. With a Vutek students can train to develop complex layouts, cartons, pocket folders and test their files by printing them. The students could learn the art of ruling up a much larger press sheet such as 28×40”. A second machine, Putnam could purchase is an I-cut where students could test their die building skills needed for pocket folders and cartons. Since the I-cut can score and cut, the pocket folder, box project that was printed on the Vutek can be cut to final size even on 16pt board where scores and flaps can be verified.
• A school should be a place where students learn the fundamentals and diversity of their trade, to setup/run different equipment, to solve problems, and to learn the mechanics and chemistry of the trade. These fundamentals can be taught with smaller presses [duplicators].
• If higher paying jobs are the concern, why not teach the fundamentals of print planning or estimating? Here the student can make more than as a press operator.

Students should have the best equipment and training, which will give them the best chance for a good career. It is my hope there will be an open debate within Springfield on how to properly equip the new Putnam Print Shop.