From time to time we all look at our plans and schedules and wonder why our warehouse productivity is so low. Keeping on top of your staff and physical assets can be an arduous task but sometimes we just seem to run out of time.
It’s hard to keep track of where everyone in your warehouse is at all times and what roles they are fulfilling, the best way to ensure you are getting the best out of your staff is to ensure you have a system where staff don’t feel micro-managed but you have visibility of productivity. Driver hours are one of the hardest to calculate – a good way to work this out is as follows:
- Calculate the number of driver hours you are paying for on a weekly basis
- Calculate the number of pallets moved per week
- Roughly calculate how long it takes to move a pallet
Then; multiply the number of pallet moves by the average time to move a pallet, this figure should equal the number of driver hours that you are paying for on a weekly basis.
It is often found, when the above exercise has been undertaken that 20% of your driver hours are not being accounted for – this is when questions needs to be asked. The problem is, it is finding the best way to ask these questions without your staff feeling undervalued or micro-managed. A good solution is to install a warehouse and logistics tracking system which will effectively track not only picking requests and other physical assets but your drivers and forklift driver’s timings throughout the day – initially there may be some financial cost to the business but long term this solution will save you time and money and give you a greater understanding of your business operation.
