Some "secret sauce" of successful warehouse automation projects

Many of us have been around automation projects several decades at this point.  Along the way, we have seen systems that were a tremendous success ... and then ... there were those other projects.  As I think back through those successes there are really three common threads:

1. a thorough and deep understanding of what has been (the data) and a clear picture of future intent (strategy)
2. planning ... by the supplier(s) and the customer
3. a strong spirit of collaboration ... I guess teamwork would be another word for it.  The teamwork being across all aspects of the project - within the supplier and customer organizations, individually, and as a team.

One example of such a project that comes to mind is Jack Wolfskin http://ow.ly/6ukoZ.

Last summer I had the good fortune to be able to tour this operation, located on the outskirts of Hamburg Germany.  It is burned into my memory as one of my favorite tours of all time.  Not because the system was a marvel of automation ... but instead ... a pragmatic use of technology that hit the revenue, cost, quality trio I discussed in yesterday's blog entry http://ow.ly/6tlCx.  But that was only part of the story.

Our tour guide was Jack Wolfskin’s spirited Logistics Manager Uta Mohr.  Uta had been involved with every aspect of the project, from overseeing the concept development to now running it on a day-to-day basis.  The things that struck me the most were the extensive planning that took place ... and ... that planning, all in the spirit of collaboration.  

As we walked through, I remember asking "So how automated was your previous facility?".  Uta promptly answered, "Not at all, it was a totally manual operation."  Having previous knowledge that this system had gone from installation to successful operation in a VERY short period of time, I was a bit surprised that this was accomplished in an organization with limited experience with automation.  As you can well  imagine, her response prompted my next question "I have seen quite a few installations at firms with no previous automation experience go no where near as well as this project did, to what do you attribute your success?" Uta smiled, then proudly replied "Two things.  We knew we didn't want to automated everything, so we carefully automated those areas that would remain a constant such as receiving.  We then plan on proactively continually improving other parts of our process as we come up our learning curve.  The other very important thing is that the day we decided to build a new system, we hired our lead maintenance technicians.  They became involved in every aspect of the concept development, project installation and system commissioning.  By the time the system was turned on, they felt like experts and truly were."

So now, you may be asking yourself, why did I find such a straightforward solution so intriguing ... simple ... it was a success by any measure.  The "secret sauce" of understanding, planning and collaboration was executed flawlessly. 

For more information on distribution center automation, feel free to visit http://www.tgw-group.com/.