The perfect day in the warehouse
The perfect day in a modern warehouse: with the right technology, work steps can be improved. That saves time and therefore money. We show you examples of a perfect day in goods receipt, putaway, picking and shipping.
Goods receipt
6:00 a.m.: the early shift starts.
The first trucks arrive at the warehouse and are unloaded. Carsten picks up the mobile computer and scans the parcels, which are booked into the merchandise management system in real time.
Fortunately, the suppliers have already labelled their goods in line with the logistics specifications. They used a PM43 printer from Brady (formerly Honeywell), managed via OPAL’s intuitive supplier integration, the WPC (Web Print Client).
Carsten is glad to have the CK65 from Brady as his work device. He is one of the first allowed to use the CK65 with Flexrangedual-lens architecture that captures near, mid and far range simultaneously without moving parts. Carsten tested this device himself during the selection process. He knows that the Flexrange scan engine is not only faster and smaller, but also cheaper. He also has to take goods to the deep-freeze store and can use the CK65 there without any problems.
Carsten can complete goods receipt faster not only because of the new CK65. The suppliers have a simple connection to his company’s label system, so he has to do practically no relabelling any more. With OPAL LABELMANAGEMENT™, an add-on to SAP, suppliers can print labels directly from the purchaser’s label system via web access or a “Smart Print Client”, a program that runs on the printer’s touchscreen.
Putaway
Carsten’s colleague Markus is in a good mood, as he now has the new VM3A vehicle-mounted terminal from Brady installed on his forklift. His company has switched completely to Android, so it was only logical to choose the Mobility Edge platform from Brady.
Free upgrades up to Android 11 are not only a currently unique promise for the future, but also a clear cost advantage when purchasing devices. If that isn’t investment security, what is?
And it fits, since the CK65 and many other devices also use the Mobility Edge platform. Markus is also glad that he can replace the front panel himself. That is faster than having to call operations support.
Of course, the new vehicle-mounted terminal is only useful to him if he has a high-performance scanner. With the new Granit XP, he is perfectly equipped. It not only looks cool, it scans like lightning. And there is no barcode it cannot read.
Markus is of course also glad that he does not have to get off his forklift for raw materials: he gets his labels directly and automatically in the right size. Thanks to OPAL LABELMANAGEMENT™ in SAP, Markus and his colleagues in logistics can maintain changes and rules for label printing themselves.
Through printer determination, labels can be printed either on the large, high-performance PX940 from Brady in goods receipt or, as in Markus’s case, directly on the forklift with the MPCompact4 mobile printer from Brady, which stands out for its robustness and small footprint.
Process optimisation
Markus’s direct supervisor Frank is also in a good mood today. No wonder: he is holding the new rugged RT10A tablet. When he does his warehouse check round now, he has everything in view. The RT10A also belongs to the Mobility Edge family. Good thing it is so robust: he has already dropped it twice today, but that is no problem.
Frank also has to scan now and then and is delighted with the built-in Flexrange scan engine, as it lets him read barcodes from 10 cm to 10 metres. He has never seen a near-far imager in such a slim device before. Finally he no longer has to climb a ladder to capture the barcode on the second shelf level.
He also really likes the new SmartTalk, an all-in-one communication platform. When SmartTalk was presented, Frank compared it with his iPhone. You can send instant messagesmessages delivered immediately, similar to WhatsApp to individuals or groups, make video calls and much more. On his rounds he can immediately alert his boss to problems. Before, he had to walk back and explain everything. Now he simply calls him by video and shows him how processes can be improved. He can also use the push-to-talk function. That saves him long walks and a lot of time.
Picking
Picker Chris recently started using the 8680i hands-free scanner from Brady. He has to pick small parts, and that is much more effective with your hands free. Thanks to the new label process implemented with OPAL LABELMANAGEMENT™, Chris can finally do without accompanying documents: when a pick is confirmed, a new label is printed immediately if the product is going to a customer with specific label requirements (e.g. private label).
Once the picking for a production order is complete, the order number and other production order data are printed on the label. After picking, a label is printed that provides information about the pick and its destination, for example a delivery number for the customer and the bay in the shipping department. Chris is also happy with the new scanner and the new label process: lost order documents and searching for goods that have already been picked are no longer disruptive factors in his area.
Shipping
This is where the pallets are made ready for shipping and labelled. In the past there was sometimes trouble: the customer sent a pallet back because the label was printed incorrectly or was unreadable. Such mistakes unfortunately happen. Because of one faulty label, the whole pallet is returned, but those are the customer’s rules.
With the PX940 barcode printer from Brady with integrated verifier, connected directly to OPAL LABELMANAGEMENT™, this can no longer happen. Everyone is very happy about that, because it means no more trouble.
