1
Determine relevant process steps
For a detailed examination of the goods receiving process, it is useful to specify the necessary process steps. In this way, it is possible to examine how the time per step can be determined and reduced. For example, goods receipt includes scanning the goods at the receiving dock, checking and counting the goods at the receiving dock, entering the delivery data into the system on a PC, and so on.
2
Determine Time per Process Step
The second step is to determine the current time required for the process steps to be optimized. Depending on the process step, different methods may be appropriate.
A
Motion-Mining®
Motion-Mining® can be used to clearly define specific regions where process steps occur and analyse the time spent there. For example, the time spent at a PC or at a test station in a region can be determined. To further specify the time, for example, only the time spent standing, walking and handling in the regions can be considered. This would not take into account, for example, the time spent travelling to transport the goods.
B
Process Observation and Time Recording
As part of time tracking, the time taken to complete a process step can be measured using a stopwatch or app.
C
MTM Process Modelling
In particular, MTM can be used to model small-step processes. For example, MTM can help estimate how long it takes to fill in a form on a PC or how long it takes to scan a single page.
3
Determine Frequency of the Process Step
In the third step, it must be considered how often the previously defined process steps occur per day.
A
Motion-Mining®
Motion-Mining® can be used to record both the total time spent in an area per day and the frequency with which an area is visited or a tool is used.
B
Process Observation and Time Recording
As part of time recording, the frequency of process steps can be determined with the help of a tally sheet or a corresponding app.
C
WMS Data Analysis
Some process steps occur at regular intervals recorded in the WMS. If, for example, every package has to be scanned, the frequency of the scanning process corresponds to the number of packages recorded in the WMS per day. Analogously, this applies, for example, to the collection of the delivery bill, etc.
4
Determine time that can be saved
Depending on the measurement, either the time per occurrence or the frequency of occurrence of a process step can be optimized. Based on this, it is necessary to determine how often a step should occur in the future and how long the step should optimally take. The difference between the actual time and the target time is the savings potential.
5
RoI Calculation
The potential savings per day and per person are extrapolated to the number of employees and working days per year. This is compared with the costs of the considered investment.
