Automating Warehouse Management

Recent Innovations and Trends in the Distribution Segment of the Manufacturing Industry

One of the bigger challenges in the distribution segment is labor availability. A robust warehouse management system will optimize labor efficiency, allowing the operations to achieve higher order fulfillment rates with the same labor force or even integrate with automation solutions. Robotics continue to develop at an exponential pace and are now able to perform complicated tasks that were believed to be impossible in the past.

Recent Projects or Initiatives That You Were Part Of

PGW Auto Glass is very fortunate to have developed its own WMS that was ahead of its time in 1998. Technology has continued to develop, and there are several WMS software providers offering solutions to problems that our internally-developed WMS is unable to overcome. Utilizing a cross-functional team consisting of IT, supply chain, and operational experts, PGW Auto Glass evaluated several potential WMS solutions that would enhance operational efficiency, improve real-time response to customer demand, and complement our Supply Chain planning software.

Specific Challenges in Distribution/ Warehousing Current Solutions Struggle to Address

The biggest challenge PGW faced when evaluating WMS solutions was finding a containerization solution that was superior to our existing proprietary solution. We need a solution that considers the physical characteristics of our glass products (size, curvature, and attachments) and optimizes the order of their placement in individual crates to maximize the packing density and reduce breakage of the product when shipped on dry van freight. All of the vendors that we evaluated confirmed that our solution was state-of-the-art, and duplicating it would be a challenge. We utilized a scorecard to bring subjectivity to our evaluation, and our assessment of each provider’s ability to advance our solution played a large part in the grade.

The Most Captivating Innovation in the Distribution Sector of Manufacturing

Our improved WMS solution will allow us to deploy automation solutions that can perform the least desirable tasks in the distribution center, tasks that are frequently the cause of turnover. Over the last few years, labor availability has been a challenge, and turnover has been unfavorable due to the manual labor required to pick and pack windshields, a product that continues to increase in size and complexity. Automation will allow us to redeploy our associates to more desirable roles in the facility and reduce the cost of training new associates related to turnover. Most automation companies have avoided our segment due to the complexity of working with glass of all shapes and sizes, and I am excited to partner with our automation integrator to develop solutions that accommodate our needs.

Advice to Professionals Working In Other Companies in the Manufacturing Industry

When evaluating WMS solutions, it is imperative to develop a robust and definitive scorecard. To ensure that we evaluated an exhaustive list of WMS features, PGW employed the services of a consultant to understand our business model and make us aware of possible solutions that were unknown to us. Knowing that a WMS touches so many groups, we utilized a cross-functional team to weigh the features as well as categorize each as must-have solutions and nice-tohave solutions. Having the scorecard in hand allowed the team to grade WMS providers during their demonstrations as well as engage in more in-depth conversations regarding the features that we felt were critical to the business. At the end of the process, we were able to reflect on the scorecards and streamline the decision-making process.