Distribution centers pick, pack, and ship orders in one of two methods: wave $($also called batch$)$ and discrete. The newly appointed head of $CH$ Distributors has been studying the flow of the pick, pack, and visit a particent of orders. To optimize this flow, Mr$.$ H$.$ considers the questions: How many times does a picker understand the flow, Mr$.$ H$.$ has created the process picked? How much space is taken up$?$ To better observing the workers doing their jobs, Mr$.$ H$.$ studied it$.$ He was able to iden process map based on occurring, where workers were idle, and where backlogs were created. Based on where delays were his observations, he made the following changes:

Workers now pick orders in order of receipt, regardless of customer, eliminating specialized pickers for each customer. This change eliminated picker idle time, which occurred when o order for a particular customer existed. The change also balanced the workload among all of the pickers, eliminating bottlenecks.

Reorganized pack and ship areas. Previously spread throughout the entire distribution center, the pack and ship areas were combined into one layout. A $10-$foot roller conveyor is used to move packages from the four packing stations to the two shipping stations. This change balanced the workload among packers and shippers. This change also allowed workers to interface more easily, enabling them to share process improvement ideas.

Reorganized the distribution center. The Pareto chart provided information concerning the number of customer orders generated by a particular customer. The distribution center was reorganized to place high$-$volume customers in close proximity with the pack and ship area. This change elliminated considerable walking and searching on the part of the pickers.

Cross$-$trained pickers, packers, and shippers. During peak times, all workers pick until queues have been generated at either the packing stations or the shipping stations. This change balanced the workdoad among all workers.

Moved the packaging of the order to the packing responsiblity. This eliminated the bottleneck that occurred at the shipping station, while balancing the workload between the packers and shippers more effectively.

Allow packers to select optimum box size. Since shipping cost is based on the size of the box, this often results in shipping savings for the customer