13 Ways Packing Stations Have Advanced

AUSTIN, Texas - May 31, 2016 - PRLog -- As consumers have increasingly come to rely on overnight delivery, there is an enhanced pressure on supply chain management teams to get their distribution centers in line with semblance of urgency. Packing Stations are a potential bottleneck in the process, so more and more attention is being paid to improving their material handling efficiency.

This week, we countdown the top 13 ways that Packaging Stations have changed for the better.

Let's begin our countdown, starting with number 13: Customized Packing Stations Designed for Different Tasks.

#13    Customized Packing Stations Designed for Different Tasks
Where packing stations used to be fairly uniform from distribution center to distribution center, specialization is the new byword in packing station design. Heavy or bulky items are now often segregated from smaller, light items. In contrast, bulky items are sent to packing stations with large tables built for heavier SKUs. Meanwhile, shippers working with smaller, lighter items can work more rapidly - by taking fewer steps - at compact packing stations designed to fit smaller, high-volume shipping boxes.

#12    Automatic Height Adjustment for Different Stature Operators
Lower back pain, shoulder pain, repetitive stress injuries - these are all examples of the types of on-the-job injuries we strive to avoid in distribution centers. Fortunately, just as packing stations are become customized for individual tasks, it's become more and more common for packing stations to be customized on the fly for individual operators.

Height adjustable work surfaces are becoming one of the most requested features here at Formaspace. How do they work? Easy to access controls are installed that can adjust the height of work surfaces at the touch of a button. Our motorized furniture solutions, using hydraulic power, allow your employees to choose the right height to match their physical stature, reducing the potential for injuries. You owe it to your employees to try it out.

#11    Power-Assisted Loading for Heavy Items
Power assisted-loading is another key way that modern picking and packing stations have advanced. Whether it's powered shelves, vertical lift modules (VLM) or horizontal carousels, just about any storage solution can be equipped with a power-assist to help your pickers and packers handle those heavy or extra-bulky items safely and securely. These power-assist lifts can help reduce common injuries (such as lower back pain) or prevent accidents (like dropping heavy items on an operator's foot.)

#10    Systematic Elimination of Extra Steps at the Packing Station
As consumers continue to show their preference for expedited overnight delivery, supply chain management experts have looked high and low for ways to wring out every last bit of efficiency in distribution center packing and shipping operations. Packing stations, in particular, have come under intense scrutiny. The workflow is constantly being analyzed and fine-tuned to reduce any extraneous steps - whether it's operational steps (e.g. handling and re-handling inventory) or footsteps (e.g. steps taken by the operator walking back and forth to reach for items.) As a result, the latest packing station layouts utilize very clever storage solutions, such as arranging packing materials in a 360 path that 'surrounds' the operator - in order to provide everything at hand while reducing the number of unnecessary employee steps during the work shift.

#9       Influence of Omni-Channel Retail Packing and Overnight Delivery
There used to be clear boundaries between catalog operations and retail stores. Even during the days when Sears Roebuck's catalog business reigned supreme, they pretty much kept their catalog business separate from their retail operations. This separation continued through the early days of electronic commerce on the Internet -but things are changing quickly.

Today's innovative retailers understand that combining their distribution center operations and retail locations gives them a strong competitive advantage. This "Omni-Channel" approach allows consumers the ability to do things like order online and pick up (or return items) at their local store - often in the same day.

Of course this close integration greatly increases the operational challenges for supply chain management. For example, local outlets (which happen to have an online customer's inventory item in stock) are increasingly required to ship out inventory directly to consumers - a task once handled by the major distribution centers. As a result, retail locations and local warehouses are having to 'up their game' to meet the speed and complexity of new challenges posed by consumers. The end result is many retail locations are upgrading their shipping operations by installing dedicated packing stations once only found in large warehousing operations.

#8       The Rise of Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) and Warehouse Control Systems (WCS)
Different system vendors have come up with a variety of integrated systems to make sense of the product intake, storage, transportation, identification, tracking, picking, routing, order consolidation, packing and shipping activities. These systems, known variously as Warehouse Management Systems (WMS) or Warehouse Control Systems (WCS), are often proprietary solutions that help automate and track inventory as it passes throughout the distribution center.  Some of these proprietary solutions involve innovations such as custom designed carousels, totes and conveyors to speed order picking and transportation to the packing station, as well as automated tools to help the operator pick inventory, which we will review in the following section.

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