Case Study

The Material Flow Diagram and Outbound Capacity Model below outline the major processes

and sub$-$processes in one of the Walmart eCommerce Fulfillment Centers. Please interpret and

use this model to answer the questions below.

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Notes:

$*$Process: An operational area that all units must flow through. All units must go through Picking, Packing, and Loading.

$**$Sub$-$Process: A particular path through a given process. Typically, units will flow through one sub$-$process per process. For

example, in the Packing process, units will go through one of three sub$-$processes: Manual Multi$-$Line Packing, Manual SingleLine Packing, or Automated Boxing.

$***$Volume Allocation: the ratio of volume expected to flow through a given sub$-$process. For example, Automated Boxing

can physically process $5,040$ units per hour and will process no more than $30\%$ of the building volume.

Questions:

Please use the model above to answer the following questions regarding the outbound process:

picking, packing and loading:

o How would you approach analyzing the system and identifying a bottleneck?

o How would you coach an engineer struggling to understand the system?

Process$*$ Sub$-$Process$**$ Volume

Allocation$***$

Units per hour

per Station

Number of

Stations

Potential

Throughput

Picking

Manual Discrete Picking $30\%451205,400$

Manual Batch Picking $50\%110707,700$

Assisted Pick System $20\%45083,600$

Packing

Manual Multi$-$Line Packing $30\%75654,875$

Manual Single$-$Line Packing $40\%90706,300$

Automated Boxing $30\%420125,040$

Loading

Manual Floor Loading $80\%3504014,000$

Manual Pallet Loading $20\%400104,000$

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o What additional considerations or assumptions would you need to have in order to make a

recommendation on how to improve the system? What recommendations would you consider?

o Your FC operational partners have come to a different on the bottleneck and the way to

improve the system. How would you work with them to move forward?