Month: February 2021

Defining the Material Staging Process Flow

Before we explain how Span Tech incorporates a material staging process flow, it’s important to understand what the concept is and how it works. What is staging in manufacturing? Simply put, material staging is transferring the items needed from different work centers to the assembly location. Materials are staged for production at a certain time, in a particular quantity, and at a designated staging area.

In warehouse manufacturing (WM), the flow of this process must be strategically planned and assessed for the best possible business structure. This form of production planning (PP) is a crucial part of your brand’s success and, when executed correctly, the process can help employees work more efficiently in the long run.

How Do You Do Material Staging in SAP?

Systems, applications and products (SAP) create a centralized system for manufacturers that enables the team to access and share data to create a better work environment for each employee on staff. Material staging in SAP requires gathering production items to be ready at a certain time and in a particular quantity. Using an SAP PP WM material staging system helps ensure all the required materials are in the designated production spot.

Once a production order is created, the SAP determines the necessary actions for material staging. In doing this, it examines the control cycle and determines the production storage bins in which the materials should be staged. Once this is complete, automatic material staging is activated in the SAP, and goods are transported to the correct production locations.

Integrating material staging in SAP WM helps production plants operate in an organized, effective manner that keeps business right on track.

Adopting a Material Staging Process Flow at Span Tech

Now that we’ve gone over all the essentials, we can get back to Span Tech’s experience with material staging in SAP. Before implementing this process, we realized our team often spent a great deal of time away from production to do the following:

The solution was to come up with a way that allowed production to continue without losing valuable time looking for parts. As Shakespeare once said, “All the world’s a stage.” Span Tech has taken that and put it into action with our material staging in SAP WM.

How Span Tech’s Material Staging Process Flow Works

Our material staging process flow is carried out with attention to detail and the utmost organization. It takes place in the following steps:

This process is proving to be quite successful and extremely beneficial. Our awesome assembly team has been able to complete many jobs ahead of schedule and keep overtime to a minimum. Our goal is to eventually move this staging process to all of Span Tech’s work centers.

What is Goods-to-Person Order Fulfillment?

Goods-to-person order fulfillment in a warehouse involves the automatic transportation of products directly to operators as needed. This method combines computerized storage with strategic, ergonomic item picking processes. When a new order must be fulfilled, automated storage and retrieval systems (ASRS) and mobile robots collect goods from their places of storage and deliver them to the appropriate workstation. Depending on the item’s size, that workstation can be a pallet or tote-based system and include horizontal or vertical carousels.

The goods-to-person system is fairly new in the manufacturing and distribution industry compared to the person-to-goods system. As a more traditional approach, person-to-goods order fulfillment consists of employees taking the most efficient paths to manually retrieve necessary items.

Before the days of eCommerce, it was more acceptable for pickers to utilize the goods-to-person system. They would spend a majority of their time traveling throughout a warehouse to locate products and the rest of their time selecting them. In modern times, however, warehouses are storing much more inventory and must meet rising demands for fast deliveries. Goods-to-person systems are proving effective in helping distribution centers address their needs.

Benefits of Goods-to-Person Systems

The goods-to-person process offers a great deal of perks to warehouses and helps give companies a competitive advantage in their industry. Adopting automated picking systems like this can provide the following advantages:

Greater Levels of Productivity

Since goods-to-person order fulfillment runs on automation, it allows your warehouse to run at a greater level of efficiency. Through the use of state-of-the-art technology, your staff will have the ability to meet peak demands and fulfill orders seamlessly.

Improved Accuracy

Automated picking systems help eliminate the risk of errors like selecting the wrong item or sending a product to the wrong location. You’ll avoid spending extra time and money that are required when errors are made, like having to resend products or search for inventory a second time. The fewer mistakes your distribution center makes, the more satisfied your customers will be.

Reduced Labor Needs

In the traditional person-to-goods system, warehouse workers must undergo a great deal of physical labor. From pushing heavy carts to running back and forth with retrieved items, these actions can lead to injuries and worker’s compensation claims. Automated picking systems like goods-to-person help alleviate these demands and can reduce the risk of work injuries as a result.

Increased Sanitation

In the age of social distancing and contactless delivery, a sanitized item picking process is more important than ever. Since the goods-to-person method involves minimal human contact with products, order fulfillment is as germ-free as possible.