3. Education
• Northern Illinois University – December 2016 Graduation Date
• B.S. in Industrial and Systems Engineering
• Emphasis in Engineering Management
• Coursework in –
• Operations Research
• Stochastic Analysis
• Quality Control
• Lean Six Sigma
• Inventory Control
• Process Control
4. Initial State:
• Original project was intended to be a product comingling/slotting
process that would add approximately 80 new SKU’s to the 1010
facility’s pick line
• Project was tabled for completion in January timeframe
5. Collaboration with IE and the CMO process
• Alex MacKinnon (former East Region IE)
• Received Supervisor training on conducting CMO’s and effective
coaching strategies
• Identified Strengths/Weaknesses of the CMO process
• Great coaching tool
• Useful for observing process control issues
• Need large number to be indicative of current state
• Time consuming process
6. Conducting CMO’s
• While observing LTO’s several process issues were identified
• Comingled product in bays
• Multiple locations for one product/lot (unintentionally)
• Air Picks
• Most significant factor in driving down productivity in case pick
• Two operators delayed to complete task that only one operator gets “credit” for
• Replenishment
• Product overflow/Inadequate inventory slotting
• Skipping replenishments due to no open space generates more air picks
7. Analytic Void (Enter Bob Courtney)
• Placed in contact with Bob (Sr. Manager of Engineering Analytics)
• Described issues that were observed
• Received data collation tools for operational assessment
• Pick line Audit
• Associate Activity Audit
• Pick line Analysis
8. Pickline Audit
• Cross-references lot writer report against pick line report to
display discrepancies in product occupancy versus assignment
• Identifies locations with open pallet positions and available
inventory in storage
• Identifies locations with empty pallet positions but no available
inventory in stock to fill the space
9. Associate Activity Audit
• Identifies non-value added material handling
• Quantifies time spent in indirect (non-billable) job tasks
• Allows for transaction audits of pallet id/lot/location/product
• Flags suspicious moves (i.e. scans on opposite ends of warehouse
in unrealistic time frames)
• Identifies what actions are degrading pickline integrity
• Captures lost time (i.e. long breaks)
11. Current State:
• Pickline Integrity Restored
• Process Control Measures Implemented
• Managerial Visibility Increased
• Productivity Trending Up
• Cost Savings Realized
12. Pickline Integrity
• By using a simple line by line set of directed moves the pickline
had inappropriately warehoused items rewarehoused to their
home slots
• A directed list of vacancies cross referenced against most aged
inventory facilitated filling of available pallet locations within
pickline
13. Pickline Integrity
• Project Target Completion Date – 15/July/2016
• Results:
• Note: The remaining incorrect’s are select racks which by function
have multiple products within them in quantities of three cases or
less (Essentially making the count 621 of 655 correct or 94.8%)
14. Managerial Visibility
• These tools were placed in the hands of the operations
management team
• Utilization recommendations were given and evaluated
• Training on their use was provided
• Implementation is on-going
• Effect to be determined
15. Case Pick Productivity Metrics
• Initial State: 05/June/16 – 15/July/16
• Current State: 16/July/16 – 02/August/16
16. Case Pick Productivity Metrics
• Productivity Summary
• First 6 Week Average Goal Time: 343.55 Hours
• First 6 Week Average Direct Time: 458.61 Hours
• First 6 Week Average Productivity: -25.1
• Last 2 Week Average Goal Time: 408.48
• Last 2 Week Average Direct Time: 471.87
• Last 2 Week Average Productivity: -13.4
17. Air Picks
• Demonstrable Improvement
• Air Pick Delta: -5.8%
• Take Away?: Pickline Auditing Has Limited Control Of Process
19. Future State / Recommendations
• Stochastic Modeling/Analysis of Pick lines
• Current Analysis is Deterministic
• Variance in throughput result in same problems on a diminished scale
• Multiplicative cost savings through analytic investment of resources
• Labor Savings/Revenue Generation Benefits
• Hire Me.
