Diet Chef, the UK-based diet home delivery company, enlisted Gideon Hillman Consulting to redesign its warehouse and order picking operations to help it better manage the volume of throughputs and pick to short order lead times.
The key focus was on developing a leaner picking operation through reducing order pick times, picker travel distances and increasing throughput capabilities without increasing man hours unnecessarily.
The consultant team redesigned the replenishment warehouse and picking/packing facilities to include the most efficient product range and pick face locations.
It also provided computer-generated drawings of the new design illustrating rack and equipment layouts and defined work areas, and a full bill of the equipment needed for racking and materials handling equipment suppliers to quote against.
A set of standard operating procedures were provided for all aspects of the operation, including the adjacent bulk storage warehouse, as well as break down and replenishment, picking and packing operations and an operational resource plan to ensure the cost per item picked is minimised once the new layout design has been implemented.
Scale CAD drawings showing rack and equipment layouts and defined work areas were also provided.