Where’d you stash that crystal ball? It would probably come in pretty handy right now around the warehouse. You face a greater need today than ever before to successfully anticipate the needs of a just-in-time, lean warehousing operation.

Three big factors driving that need: Smaller inventories, faster turnaround, and belt-tightening costs.

Your best defense? Start preparing for tomorrow’s orders today.

Sounds pretty tough, especially if you’re not 100% prepared to meet today’s challenges, much less 24 hours into the future.

But you might surprise yourself, experts suggest. Anything you can chip away at today that’ll give you a leg up tomorrow will be a big help.

There are many benefits: It’s easier to run your own operation, you can increase cooperation with other departments, identify processes that could use a bit of improvement, and even help you arrange staffing to reflect immediate needs.

There are four tactics that can help you get a jump on the next day — and ease the pressure you’d otherwise face:

• Convince some customers they can stagger deliveries. There’s a “got-to-have-it-now” mentality that keeps everyone on edge. Work with those customers to help them get a little more ahead. You can save them overnight shipping costs by working on a longer timetable — which also makes planning easier for you.
• Don’t get locked in by automation. One of the biggest promises of automating processes is slashing the time it takes to handle Inventory functions. Don’t fall into the speed trap. A system that retains a degree of manual function also provides greater flexibility for you to schedule tasks.
• Find safety in numbers. OK, maybe not safety. But those single orders going out can kill you. Work with customers, Production, Sales to save picking and processing time. It’s more efficient to stack up a few orders for a batch, then ship that, than it is to work on a one-at-a-time basis.
• Create islands in the stream. Scan your inventory for like items — same shipper, same customer, etc. — and set up a small workstation to handle shipments. You’ll be able to pull this Inventory aside and package it for common shippers, and even make picking and packing a one-step process for those items.

Who knows? Maybe you won’t need that crystal ball after all.

Tags: automation, inventory, packing, picking, procurement, shipments