Title: Improving the Processes in a WarehouseBackground: For warehouses to perform as efficiently and effectively as possible, helping companies maintain a high service level and react to market changes, continuous improvement is necessary. This is achievable through amongst other methods, the analysis of operations to identify wasteful activities and eliminate them. Purpose: This paper, through a thorough description and understanding of the current outbound processes at Company N, seeks to identify any wasteful activity and what might be causing such wastes. Furthermore the paper shall seek to make recommendations for reducing or eliminating wastes identified. Research Questions: What wastes can be identified in Company N’s outbound processes and why do they occur? What recommendations should be made for reducing wastes at Company N? Method: This research is qualitative in nature carried out using a deductive approach. Primary data was gathered mainly through observation and semi-structured and unstructured interviews with the goal of gaining as deep an understanding of the processes as possible. Secondary data was also gotten from multiple sources within the company. Contemporary tools and techniques like Value Stream Mapping and Gemba (observation at the place of work) were useful in identifying wastes; meanwhile the 5 Why’s questioning technique was used for finding the causes of wastes identified. Benchmarking was also used as a means of sourcing ideas and proven standards of performance. Conclusion: The research identified five main wastes including waiting, travelling, unnecessary motion, defects and processing. The main causes of the wastes include the use of manual verification during processes, limited use of batch picking, the absence of lifting aid and dissatisfaction amongst workers. The report makes recommendations including change of handling equipment and operating procedures to accommodate automatic verification of locations and items, as well as better usage of batch picking. It is also recommended to swap the location of certain articles and introduce marketing analysis to reduce travelling. Finally, recommendations are made for counteracting worker dissatisfaction such as a proposed improvement report, an appraisal system, more cross training and internal personnel development.

The goal of this diploma is understanding and evaluation of the warehouse processes, the specification of problems and finding the best ways to deal with these drawbacks. The method used for the diploma is comparison. The theoretical part briefly focuses on the fashion logistics. The practical part then describes the distribution centre of the company Bonmarché Ltd. At first the functioning processes in all warehouse departments are specified and the problems are appointed. The second part focuses on the considered changes that would eliminate the problems. The final comparison will tell us whether these changes will solve the problems and enable the company to stay competitive on the British clothing market.

The aim of this diploma thesis is to analyse actual processes in the warehouse of Electrolux and to recommend changes which should contribute to increase in efficiency of these warehouse processes. The concept of logistics and integrated supply chains is defined in the theoretical part. Moreover, this part outlines the task of logistics in the company and the role of warehousing. The analytical part focuses on warehouse area and on warehouse processes in the warehouse of Electrolux. The crucial topic of this part is the evaluation of possible alternatives of warehouse processes rationalisation.

The aim of this diploma thesis is to create a new system to measure and evaluate the productivity of warehouse processes in Euromedia books wholesale warehouse. The Warehouse management system (WMS) is implemented in the warehouse, so the company has information about processes within warehouse. However, the system does not have any tool to measure and report the productivity of individual workers and shifts. So the manager of the warehouse does not have enough data for efficient human resource management. The basics of warehousing and the warehousing interrelationships are described in theoretical part of the thesis. The processes within warehouse are firstly described in general and then with direct connection to processes in the warehouse of the company Euromedia. The analytical part is dedicated to detailed analysis of output data from WMS from the time period from February until May 2015.The outcome of this analysis is a suggestion how to assign individual workers to shifts, how to measure the productivity of individual processes and how the productivities of different processes can be compared. At the end of the thesis, there are recommendations how to measure the productivity now and how to proceed in the future to achieve a more precise outcome of the productivity measurement. The proposed measures contribute to better and more efficient human resources management in Euromedias wholesales warehouse.

<p>Färggrossen is a warehousing company that was established in 1976. The company has over 400 customers ranging across mid and south Sweden; it stores 5,000 different types of products such as paints, wallpapers, chemicals and tools which are used for painting.</p><p>Since its establishment, the company has not changed how it manages its warehouse. Decisions are based on the warehouse manager’s personal memory and decisions, and this method worked sufficiently well until the company was bought by Mikael Lindgren in September 2008. Lindgren, the CEO, believed that the company had more potential, which is why the company has eagerly started to make changes in order to improve the warehouse operations as well as to reach its full potential. This thesis is to guide the company to reach this goal.</p><p>At our first meeting with Färggrossen, improvements regarding different processes as well as the warehouse layout were identified. As a first step, a literature study was conducted in order to gain deeper insight and understanding about warehouse layouts; also we benefited from studying literature regarding different warehouse aspects from a system perspective: inputs, processes and outputs.</p><p>Subsequent to the literature study, we identified those thesis research questions which needed to be answered in order to improve the warehouse management at Färggrossen. The next step was to decide which methods should be used in order to answer these questions. After researching different methodology options, a meeting with Färggrossen and our supervisor Bengt Ekdahl took place where we, together, decided to use the multiple case study method.</p><p>Färggrossen suggested that we study two other companies, BSAB and ECO; according to them, these companies had similar warehouses. To be able to benchmark three companies, we needed to understand the warehousing management systems of all three companies, which is why we conducted our interviews.</p><p>Once we finished gathering the required data, we defined the three companies’ activities in a manner to correspond with the terminology which is used in the literature.  In the analysis chapter we compared the three companies, and also used the information from the literature in order to provide Färggrossen with recommendations on how to improve the warehouse processes and layout. These are categorised as main, secondary and future recommendations; the main recommendations are the most important and inexpensive to implement, which is why we strongly suggest that they are prioritized.</p><p>The two most important recommendations to improve the outputs of the warehouse system are implementing a serialized locater addressing system and defining a bulk area to support the replenishment process. These particular modifications will improve the overall efficiency of the warehouse system as well as the product availability and the customer satisfaction.</p><p>The overall efficiency of the warehouse system will be further improved by eliminating manual labour as much as possible and combining the inspections whih are done in the receiving process with the putaway process.</p><p>The product condition will be improved if the following recommendations are implemented; a small shelf solution which is used in ECO, a fixed slot system in the wallpaper area and the implementation of safety precautions in the company.</p><p>The purpose of this thesis was to map and analyze Färggrossen in order to improve the inventory, warehouse layout and the methods being used in the warehouse management. With our recommendations, the company will have an improved and new warehouse layout, the processes will be improved and the efficiency will be increased.</p>

This thesis is focused on some ways of optimizing logistic processes. In the theoretical part are described important terms which are going to introduce the reader to the processes, their analysis followed by optimization. Then there is the space devoted to the metrics by which processes are possible to be evaluated and managed. The practical part offers case study. It contains introduction to the organization, mapping of their processes, analysis of warehouse processes, and their subsequent evaluation and proposed improvements. Suggested improvements were made in the spirit of Lean Management. As another proposal to improve warehouse processes an analysis of inventories have been made and evaluated, which resulted in proposal for new layout of the warehouse, which will encourage further optimization.

Sammanfattning Syfte: Syftet med detta examensarbete är att skapa ett ramverk för att underlätta valet av automatisk identifieringsteknik för tillverkningsföretag med tillhörande lagerhanteringsprocesser. Syftet är också att identifiera brister i Emballator Lagan Plasts nutida spårbarhetslösning, tillämpa ramverket för att välja en lämplig automatisk identifieringsteknik och utforma en bättre framtida spårbarhetslösning.  Metod: Denna studie är baserad i kvalitativ forskningsmetod och inkluderar en systematisk litteraturstudie, en intervjustudie och en fallstudie. Data till första forskningsfrågan insamlades genom en systematisk litteraturstudie och en intervjustudie med expert inom automatiska identifieringstekniker. Data till forskningsfråga två insamlades genom intervjuer med anställda hos Emballator Lagan Plast tillsammans med vetenskapliga artiklar.  Resultat: Genom att analysera data från den systematiska litteraturstudien gentemot data från intervjustudien sammanställdes ramverket för val av automatisk identifieringsteknik. Baserat på intervjuer med anställda identifierades brister i den nuvarande spårbarhetslösningen hos Emballator Lagan Plast. Ramverket tillämpades sedan för att välja automatisk identiferingsteknik som en del av den framtida spårbarhetslösningen. Den framtida spårbarhetslösningen baseras på 2D-streckkoder, förändringar i lagerhanteringsprocesserna samt mer utnyttjande av det tillgängliga lagerhanteringsystemet. / Abstract Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to create a framework for manufacturing companies to facilitate the choice of auto-id technology. The purpose is also to identify faults in the current traceability solution at Emballator Lagan Plast, apply the framework to choose an auto-id technology and to suggest the future traceability solution.  Method: This thesis is based on qualitative method and includes a systematic literature review, an interview study and a case study. For research question one data was gathered through a systematic literature review and through an interview with an expert in the field of auto-id technologies. For research question two data was gathered through interviews with employees at Emballator Lagan Plast together with scientific articles.  Results: By analysing data from the systematic literature review and the interview the framework for choosing an auto-id technology was established. Based on interviews with employees’ faults in the current traceability solution at Emballator Lagan Plast was identified. The framework was applied to choose an auto-id technology as a part of the future traceability solution. The future traceability solution consists of 2D-barcodes, changes in warehouse processes and increased utilization of the warehouse management system.

Färggrossen is a warehousing company that was established in 1976. The company has over 400 customers ranging across mid and south Sweden; it stores 5,000 different types of products such as paints, wallpapers, chemicals and tools which are used for painting. Since its establishment, the company has not changed how it manages its warehouse. Decisions are based on the warehouse manager’s personal memory and decisions, and this method worked sufficiently well until the company was bought by Mikael Lindgren in September 2008. Lindgren, the CEO, believed that the company had more potential, which is why the company has eagerly started to make changes in order to improve the warehouse operations as well as to reach its full potential. This thesis is to guide the company to reach this goal. At our first meeting with Färggrossen, improvements regarding different processes as well as the warehouse layout were identified. As a first step, a literature study was conducted in order to gain deeper insight and understanding about warehouse layouts; also we benefited from studying literature regarding different warehouse aspects from a system perspective: inputs, processes and outputs. Subsequent to the literature study, we identified those thesis research questions which needed to be answered in order to improve the warehouse management at Färggrossen. The next step was to decide which methods should be used in order to answer these questions. After researching different methodology options, a meeting with Färggrossen and our supervisor Bengt Ekdahl took place where we, together, decided to use the multiple case study method. Färggrossen suggested that we study two other companies, BSAB and ECO; according to them, these companies had similar warehouses. To be able to benchmark three companies, we needed to understand the warehousing management systems of all three companies, which is why we conducted our interviews. Once we finished gathering the required data, we defined the three companies’ activities in a manner to correspond with the terminology which is used in the literature.  In the analysis chapter we compared the three companies, and also used the information from the literature in order to provide Färggrossen with recommendations on how to improve the warehouse processes and layout. These are categorised as main, secondary and future recommendations; the main recommendations are the most important and inexpensive to implement, which is why we strongly suggest that they are prioritized. The two most important recommendations to improve the outputs of the warehouse system are implementing a serialized locater addressing system and defining a bulk area to support the replenishment process. These particular modifications will improve the overall efficiency of the warehouse system as well as the product availability and the customer satisfaction. The overall efficiency of the warehouse system will be further improved by eliminating manual labour as much as possible and combining the inspections whih are done in the receiving process with the putaway process. The product condition will be improved if the following recommendations are implemented; a small shelf solution which is used in ECO, a fixed slot system in the wallpaper area and the implementation of safety precautions in the company. The purpose of this thesis was to map and analyze Färggrossen in order to improve the inventory, warehouse layout and the methods being used in the warehouse management. With our recommendations, the company will have an improved and new warehouse layout, the processes will be improved and the efficiency will be increased.