Products have a long journey through the warehouse, from arrival in the form of cases or pallet loads, to storage, picking, and finally, packaging before heading out the door. It’s easy to overlook the role of packaging in your overall efficient operations, but that’s a mistake. Set up correctly, packaging stations can be one more important step to increased productivity.
An efficient packaging station will integrate the packing operations into your warehouse information systems, material handling systems, and transportation modules. Your goal should be to eliminate unnecessary steps and minimize the number of touches. Designing an efficient station will include an overview of what tasks your staff will take on at the station, followed by a carefully designed work-flow pattern. You should also consider how to interface your packaging station with your material handling system, and make a list of all the equipment, supplies and materials you’ll need at the station. Be as detailed as possible with this list, including packaging sizes and dimensional data. Keep a careful list of your packaging procedures and have it on hand for reference. Finally, pick the right workstation configuration and geometry to match your needs, keeping ergonomics front and center in that choice. Put together, your DC’s final stop will keep bottlenecks at bay and give your operations a healthy productivity boost.
