Automation is transforming distribution centers. But don’t overlook the little things that can have a big impact on your performance.

Automation, technology and software promise new levels of efficiency and productivity along with the capability to execute complex order fulfillment strategies.That’s the good news. The bad news: just as a supply chain is only as efficient as its weakest link, a sophisticated materials handling system is only as efficient as the bottlenecks in a distribution center. A high-speed order fulfillment engine won’t hit its numbers if inventory doesn’t get off the receiving dock or orders can’t get through manual packing stations to meet shipping cut-off times.

As a result, these new systems are highlighting the big difference that little things can have on operations. Here are seven examples to consider for your facility.

1. Receiving, inspection and quality control with powered mobile workstations.
Receiving, storing and shipping full pallets is a relatively simple process. On the other hand, breaking down those pallets into smaller units of measure that must be inspected and labeled for shipment is labor intensive and prone to error.

That’s where powered mobile workstations can play a role. Mobility allows the associate to take the technology to wherever the work needs to be performed. Unlike traditional carts, however, a powered mobile workstation includes a mobile power source to run a laptop, thin client or industrial tablet; a bar code scanner; a thermal printer; an electronic scale or cubing device; or some other piece of equipment that might be used for quality control or inspection. “The No. 1 reason people invest in a powered mobile workstation is to cut down on or eliminate walking from the dock or picking area to get labels, purchase orders or other information they need to put on product coming in or going out the door,” says John O’Kelly, president of Newcastle Systems.

One e-tailer, for example, uses a powered mobile workstation to pick oversized products that ship in their storage packaging, such as 42-inch flat screen televisions. Order selectors use the bar code scanner on the cart to scan a location label on the rack to confirm that they are picking a Sony television rather than a Sanyo television. Associates then print and apply the shipping label from the cart before delivering the TVs to the shipping area. “Labeling at the point of picking streamlines the process and cuts down on errors,” says O’Kelly.

2. Capture cube and weight information now for packaging later.
Cubing and weighing equipment has long been used to capture the weight and dimensional information of incoming pallets and cartons to make the best use of storage locations.

With the increase in e-commerce, cubing and weighing systems are now being used to provide precise dimensions and weights of individual items that are unpackaged and may also be an unusual shape. That information allows a distributor to pick, cartonize and ship an order in the most economical way possible. “The information collected upfront is exported to a WMS or some other system that can be used to tell the order fulfillment person which carton to use to minimize shipping costs,” says Clark Skeen, president of CubiScan.” The information can also be used by the warehouse management system (WMS) to group picks together in a way that optimizes packing. Finally, it provides information for the new generation of on-demand packaging systems highlighted later in this article. Weight information, meanwhile, is used to check weigh orders for quality control purposes.

Skeen says that most new customers begin by installing cubing and weighing equipment on a powered mobile workstation so they can weigh and cube items already in storage. Once that process is complete, the equipment is moved to the receiving area to dimension new items or confirm that existing items haven’t changed in weight, shape or packaging.

3. Integrate workstations with the materials handling system.
Despite the amount of time, money and planning invested in software, data collection technologies and automation, manual workstations in the packaging and value-added services areas are often an afterthought, says Jeff Dehnert, president of Dehnco. “Typically, system designers spend their time on software and equipment to pick with 100% accuracy and move an order at very fast speeds,” says Dehnert. “All of a sudden, all that automation has to integrate with a manual process involving an hourly wage employee who isn’t equipped with the right supplies or tools to keep up with the throughput of the system. The manual process becomes the bottleneck.”

It’s a little like a downhill skier hitting an unexpected patch of dirt: Everything comes to a sudden halt.

Dehnert argues that considering the requirements of the workstation in the early stages of a project can deliver a design that integrates with the flow of product through the building and reduces the number of touches and movements at the packing station.

“If we understand the step-by-step process at the outset, we can design in small, incremental savings in the packing process,” Dehnert says, adding that a well-designed workstation can deliver productivity improvements of 20% to 25% for that process. “Those improvements may not seem like much at one station, but when you multiply them by the 15 or 20 workstations that a typical big box retailer operates most of the year, it adds up.”