Articles

Material handling and warehousing needs are at the core of any manufacturing business. When defining the material handling and warehouse strategy, there are several fundamental aspects to be considered that become key basic drivers for healthy and sustainable business development. Some of the most common are production volumes increase, compliance with specific safety standards, continuous increase of products requiring cold chain management, stock level increase against shortages due to worldwide political and economic crisis, as well as changes in the regulations, new focus on sustainability and optimization requirements.

Business Challenge: What are your current needs and future concerns?

Each of the mentioned aspects may drive challenges and operational complexity, impacting the material handling and warehousing in terms of  business continuity (such as flow congestion and production slowdowns), lack of storage space (with the need to increase storage capacity), difficulty in dealing with activity peaks due to high saturation, strengthening  cold chain areas (including ultra-freezer facilities or equipment, particularly in biological plants) and requirements to manage segregated areas.

Your specific needs may take the form of:

  • Warehousing and material handling impact analysis due to volumes increase, product mix changes and introduction of new innovative products, compliance with additional rules and quality & safety requirements and sustainability roadmap implementation.
  • Identification of possible to-be scenarios, such as current facility revamping, new facility adoption (with rent/buy/build alternatives), outsourcing to third party service provider(s), agreement with suppliers for a collaborative stock management, etc.
  • New stock allocation and distribution flows strategy design aligned with supply chain strategy and the business continuity model design among facilities.

Our Value Proposition: What do we do & what do you get?

An engineered approach is needed to determine the optimal or most suitable solutions mix (both considering the short and the medium-long term). We analyze every aspect of your material handling and warehousing, to propose different scenarios with relevant KPIs and risk analysis.

1.  We estimate impacts on the warehouse due to volume increase or product mix changes and evaluate additional needs in terms of warehousing areas, storage capabilities, material flows, skills, etc.

2. Then, we aim to create a tailored and effective logistic model design aligned with the key decision drivers and priorities. The new model may concern, for instance, warehouse storage space optimization, new capabilities or equipment to be integrated, redesign of material/product flows to obtain decreased holding time and quicker product turnaround, logistic parameters review for quicker responsiveness to changes in demand, definition of pick&pack requirements to allow flexibility, etc.

3. When needed, we create advanced New Warehouse Operational Model Designs, taking into account organization sizing, IT system needs, digitalization and automation.

In conclusion, no matter how simplified or complex your product is, the different industries or the stages of production, it is undeniable that a tailored approach to material handling and storage is required. It is not a burden to be managed and acted upon only when there are problems and difficulties, but an asset to be leveraged to drive tangible results boosting effectiveness and efficiency.

For further information, please contact:

Antonio FOIS:

a.fois@eurogroupconsulting.it

Francesca TONI:

f.toni@eurogroupconsulting.it