Improve Inbound Handling Efficiency with Automated Solutions

Effective cross docking practices increase warehouse and distribution efficiency, and enable the fulfillment speeds that many ecommerce consumers expect. Cross docking moves inbound goods directly to delivery trucks with minimal touches and maximal speed. Traditionally done with pallets moving from rail or cargo containers and onto a smaller truck, with today’s technology integrated cross-docking networks enable the efficient cross docking of less-than-truckload (LTL) shipments.

Cross docking speeds order fulfillment times, minimizes damages, and lowers costs. It’s best used for perishables that need fast delivery, fast-moving products that have predictable demand, and goods that don’t need to be (or have already been) quality checked, picked, and packed.

Inventory accuracy is paramount to nearly all of material handling. At the extremes, inaccurate counts can mean that a product is out of stock when it shouldn’t be, or that a warehouse is bloated with obsolete goods. And inventory accuracy begins with inbound freight.

Product traceability is a key component of modern material handling, and should begin with inbound handling. Something as simple as handheld barcode scanners and labelers can ensure that goods coming into your facility can be properly traced throughout your processes, and can be an entry point into automating later processes.

In essence, a receiving department is a microcosm of the warehouse. Goods come in, are unloaded, inspected, sorted, and sent out of the department for putaway. As with any other area of a facility, efficiencies have to be baked into these processes. The department needs adequate space, and tasks should be simplified as much as possible.

Inbound handling departments often suffer from a lack of information. They often don’t know when a delivery will arrive, what it will contain, and how much it was supposed to cost. This often leads to a second or even third delivery coming while the first is still being sorted.

Once a shipment is received, employees have to know what to do with damages, where goods go in the facility, and whether or not there’s room for the goods to be replenished right away or if they need to be staged.

Simplifying and automating as many of these processes as possible increases both efficiency and accuracy.

Facilities are built to maximize their ROI. For successful companies, this can mean they outgrow their available storage space in a matter of years or even months. In a busy warehouse, an idle receiving department is often seen as empty space that can be filled with pallets and shelves.

However, to operate effectively, receiving departments often need multiple forklifts running at the same time. They need the room to operate, maneuver, and stage goods momentarily while they are sorted, counted, and checked for damages. And they need flex space for staging and cross docking items.

Updating or upgrading storage solutions to maximize the use of a warehouse’s cubic space — including the space in the receiving department — is sometimes a necessary step to increase a warehouse’s efficiency.

Even before COVID-19, labor scarcity was an issue in every industry. Low unemployment, high rates of retirement, demands for higher wages, and a perception that jobs in warehousing and distribution aren’t viable long-term careers are all issues for material handling companies.

To combat labor shortages and increased costs, many companies are looking to lean practices and automation to streamline their processes and retain high quality employees. Something as simple as reducing the number of steps an employee takes on hard concrete floors can lower their chance for overuse injuries and can improve their quality of life. And this can be done easily and at little cost with wearable technology or handheld devices placed in a cart that the employee can move where it’s needed.

The problem of inconsistent delivery schedules creates many wrinkles for inbound handling that are both frustrating for employees and damaging to a company’s efficiency and accuracy. Too often, departments go from having a full team with nothing to do, to having a skeleton crew that’s overwhelmed with deliveries.

In the first case, money is being wasted on payroll and employees get bored and may look for other, more interesting opportunities. In the second case, employees at best get frustrated and at worst are forced to cut corners. This can lead to goods being miscounted, lost, or damaged.

Having flex space in the department, effective cross docking strategies, advanced shipping notifications, and a robust WMS to help with logistics are all effective ways to combat delivery lulls and surges.