Traditionally, warehouses were built to manage average daily volume. The space, workforce, and equipment were planned based on historical data.

While this worked well for some time, the situation has changed drastically.

Warehouse layouts and operational models can no longer be built around average daily volume.

The rising customer demands and the need for faster shipments have led to situations such as:

• Increased SKU churn: It is the frequency with which products are added, removed, or replaced over a specific period. The higher the SKU churn, the stronger the indication of volatility. Prolonged SKU churn could impact labor productivity and lead to frequent rack and zone reconfiguration, inventory inaccuracies, and complex forecasting.  
• Multi-tenant slotting: Multi-tenant slotting allows warehouses to accommodate multiple clients and product lines within the same space. So, instead of having a fixed area for a single client, the warehouse allows multiple clients to share the same physical storage, resources, and even labor. While this reduces warehouse costs and improves space efficiency, it could lead to operational delays or resource shortages during peak seasons. It could also lead to inconsistent throughput, a space crunch, no scope for optimizing vertical or physical spaces, and tremendous pressure on manual systems to fulfil orders quickly.
• Unpredictable seasonal demands: Although warehouses plan in advance for seasonal demands, no one can anticipate sudden volume spikes. A sudden increase in volume could lead to ripple effects, including congestion during staging and loading at the dock, supplier delays, tight shipment cut-off times, and other disruptions.

Clearly, warehouses are not prepared for volatile situations, which are now the new normal. The automation and workflows are outdated and inefficient.

To keep pace with frequent disruptions and changes, warehouses need to move away from average-volume planning toward variability planning.

Let’s find out how warehouses can make this shift. 

How Warehouses Can Plan For Variability?

The first step in designing warehouses is reimagining their layouts to ensure smooth operations during peak periods. For example, warehouses where people walk to pick goods can be redesigned with alternatives, such as dynamic pickwalls that bring goods directly to the picker. They can convert vertical racks into fulfilment engines, maximizing the utility of every cubic inch of the warehouse. This will eliminate the need for people to walk and pick goods. They can stay in one workstation and pick the goods from the dynamic picking wall for packing. This would accelerate the fulfilment cycle, improve worker productivity, and reduce errors.  

Let’s look at a few more ways warehouses can plan for variability:

• Maximize storage space: To ensure easy accessibility of goods and reduce unnecessary movements, companies need to optimize their storage space. This involves:
  • Utilizing every square foot efficiently to allocate proper spaces for storage and reducing wastage areas.
  • Choosing the right storage system based on needs. For example, high-density racking systems with vertical storage to store more inventory, drive-in/drive-through racking to store high volumes of identical or fragile SKUs, or Selective pallet racking for SKUs with high variations and fast turnover.
  • Optimizing warehouse layouts to allow people to retrieve and restock goods.
  • Allocating spaces for pallet racks, conveyor systems, and aisle widths to increase capacity and accessibility.
  • Leveraging Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems (AS/RS) to increase storage and retrieval process efficiency and reduce labor costs.
• Use options like linear-motor-driven systems: The traditional conveyers and wheeled AGVs struggle with wear and tear and frequent maintenance. One way to solve this problem is to use alternatives, such as linear-motor-driven systems. These game-changing systems use magnetic force for non-contact, high-precision movement and are silent and fast. The high-speed motors enable companies to increase throughput, especially during peak seasons, and fulfill orders without the worry of wear and tear from fewer moving parts. They are ideal for multi-tenant warehouses as they provide warehouses the flexibility to prioritize certain order fulfilments mid-shift.
• Build modular zones: Modular warehouse zones are flexible in design. For example, they have modular racking systems that adapt to changing inventory needs. These mobile workstations allow people to remain at one point instead of walking around the warehouse to receive, pick, and pack products. This allows companies to reconfigure zones to accommodate different SKU varieties, promotional inventory, and even a temporary workforce during peak seasons.
• Streamline product flow: To avoid hassle during peak seasons, warehouses can make a few changes, such as designing a one-direction product flow layout to avoid backtracking or congestion, building separate pick paths for autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) and human workers, and reducing travel time by placing fast-moving SKUs near picking stations. This will help warehouses streamline operations and increase efficiency during volatile seasons. 

How Carte+ Helps With Variability Planning

Most companies hesitate to redesign their warehouses due to limited resources, rising costs, and a fear of business disruption. This prevents them from planning for variability and continuing with average volume planning.

However, the good news is that warehouses don’t have to take the rip-and-replace approach. They can automate their existing warehouses within weeks without a major overhaul.

Carte+ can help companies with this transformation.

Carte+ is a high-performance picking and replenishment system designed by Cartesian Kinetics to automate the fulfilment process without renovating the warehouse.

It is the first solution to offer a first-of-its-kind warehouse automation system, Omni Rack Robotics (ORR), that works seamlessly with standard racks, mezzanines, and high bays. It requires no custom infrastructure, floor preparation, or proprietary totes. The entire solution can be deployed within six weeks.

It can transform any static racking into a dynamic fulfillment engine and has a proven record of increasing throughput up to 5X.

Whether it’s a labor shortage, peak season volume, SKU churn, or a multi-tenant slotting warehouse operation, Carte+ can help companies fulfill orders faster and more effortlessly, regardless of volatility.

To know more about Carte+ and how it can prepare your warehouse for variability, contact us. 

FAQs

1.Why should warehouses stop planning for averages?

As customer demand increases and external conditions become volatile, companies need to stop planning inventory storage and resource allocation based on historical averages and medians. 

2. How can warehouses plan for variability?

To plan for variability, warehouses must optimize storage space, use options like linear-motor-driven systems, build modular zones, and streamline product flow.

3. How does Carte+ help warehouses with variability planning?

Carte+ is a high-performance picking and replenishment system designed by Cartesian Kinetics. It helps companies renovate their existing warehouses within six weeks without ripping and replacing existing systems and infrastructure.