First-time projects

“First-time” project teams are a little bit like the youngest athletes at the Olympics. It’s refreshing to see them show-up the old pros from time to time.

When a major project has a shaky start-up, it’s industry news. We expect people with experience to get it right. But, many smaller projects are done by teams with little or no experience with the technology. Contrast these two projects to discover some important things to do, and some to be sure to avoid.

1 – A parts manufacturer was able to manage their warehouse with storage locations dedicated to products, and in part number sequence. Increasing business volume and decreasing order sizes led them to the implementation of a batch picking and sortation system with primary pick faces and reserve storage supported by a “home grown” WMS.

2 – A small distributor had been operating their D.C. with a simplified enterprise locator/pick list system. In order to deal with additional product, order and tracking complexity, they needed a more sophisticated Warehouse Management System.

Both will ultimately succeed. The first was up and running 10 weeks after the new building was available for equipment installation. But, the second is still working out some significant bugs after almost 5 months of shaky operation.

Here are a few of the things done well, and a few pitfalls to avoid.

• DO set your sights high. Expecting success is the first step to getting there.


• DON’T lose focus on the big picture and let little things dominate time and effort.


• DO develop a hybrid solution. It will be more productive, overall. And, including a manual option for key processes will be very useful if there are start-up problems with the automation or software.


• DON’T spend too much time planning one key function, at the expense of rushing through others. I have seen teams get mired down in defining receiving functionality, and have little time left to plan picking processes.


• DO challenge the physical and operational plan with plenty of real- life examples in the design phase. Only the operations members of the team can perform this vital role.


• DON’T choose an operating process without evaluating other viable methods. One new idea may look really good when compared with your current operation, but it may not be the best of the available ideas for your operation.


• DO plan the move and transition carefully, well in advance and in conjunction with the solution design. It will provide time to catch the little things that you forgot.


• DON’T cut short the testing effort before go-live. It takes a lot of effort to define and replicate problems so that software changes can be made quickly.


• DO force the schedule to take advantage of special resource availability. In project 1, the move to the new facility was scheduled to coincide with summer vacation to make use of student labor.


• DON’T expect the operations staff to have time to do debugging after the system is in use. They will be busy enough just getting products and orders out the door.


• DO plan for a Phase 2 to complete the more difficult improvements that can be separated from basic start-up functionality.

So, even if you don’t have the experience of several tough projects behind you, learning from other’s successes and failures, and careful preparation can bring you a surprising victory.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

James M. Apple, Jr. is a Director in The Progress Group. Prior to co-founding The Progress Group in 1991, he was a Partner with Coopers & Lybrand's SysteCon division. During 1992-1995 he served as a Senior Systems Advisor with Vanderlande Industries, a major conveyor and systems provider in Europe.

Jim is an internationally recognized thought leader in the area of facility design and integrated distribution systems. His contributions to the improvement of distribution practices have been recognized by his receipt of the prestigious Reed-Apple Award, which is given for lifetime contributions to the advancement of the material handling profession. Jim has also received the Institute of Industrial Engineers' Facilities Planning and Design Award. He has written numerous articles and handbook chapters on warehousing and logistics operations and is a popular speaker on logistics seminar and conference programs.

Prior to SysteCon, Jim worked as an Industrial Engineer with IBM, was Supervisor of Facilities Planning for the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors and was Executive Vice President for an automotive aftermarket parts supplier. He holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.