Any lift truck can be equipped with a scale. Click for larger image.

Eliminate picking errors by using a RAVAS built-in scale on your order picking trucks.

A built-in scale on your order picking truck allows you to spot picking errors and correct them where it costs the least: at the picking slot. Mobile scales are cost saving and problem solving tools. Return on investment is usually within months.

Lift trucks are platforms for gathering information

Connectivity boosts the advantages of mobile weighing.

In modern internal logistics, lift trucks are fast developing a second function: next to their basic function of lifting and moving materials, they are turning into platforms for gathering information about the materials they move. Palletized goods are identified on the truck, weighed, dimensioned, photographed. The resulting data set about the pallet is communicated on-line to a warehouse management system or an ERP package, before the goods are moved to their destination. More and more, material flows and information flows are integrated on the lift truck.

Mobile scales are cost saving and problem solving tools.

Pallet weight is information, is a cost saving tool

The weight of a pallet or container is an important piece of information. It tells whether an incoming delivery is correct and complete, it tells you shipping weights and when you are overloading a freight truck, it's a safety tool, a quality control tool, and a source of useful management information. A built-in scale on a forklift or a warehouse truck is a cost saving tool that often pays itself back in a matter of months. Order picking trucks are a particularly interesting example: a built-in scale will prevent picking errors, save cost and raise service levels.

Use a built-in scale to eliminate picking errors

Order picking as a logistic process is all about performance. More and more order distribution is outsourced to 3PL's, third party providers of logistic services. These 3PL's are often paid by their performance. And performance in order picking is about two things: speed and accuracy. Can I deliver the orders on time and without errors? Picking errors mean time lost on communications, mean return shipments, credit notes and eventually: customers lost. Tools for eliminating picking errors are therefore important cost savers and attractive investments. A built-in scale on order picking trucks is such a tool.

A built-in scale signals picking errors at the picking slot.

How does weighing prevent picking errors?

If you know the weight of every Stock Keeping Unit, then you know the theoretical weight of every order line to be picked. The operator on the truck receives his order lines on a terminal or via a head set. He picks the required number of articles and confirms. The WMS then interrogates the scale on the truck for the net weight of the picked articles, via WiFi or through the operator's terminal. If the actual weight on the pallet does not correspond with the theoretical weight of the order line, then a picking error is signaled and corrected by the operator. Errors are corrected where the costs are the least: at the picking slot.

Double scale: check two orders on the same truck.

Double scale, double speed, no errors

Scales on order picking trucks prevent picking errors where other tools cannot: take double fork length trucks, for picking two orders in one run. There are many strategies for optimizing efficiency in order picking. One is picking two separate orders on two pallets on a single truck, in a single run through the warehouse. It saves time and distance covered per order, but it also heightens the risk of errors: not only can the operator pick the wrong articles or number of articles, he can also add them to the wrong order by placing them on the wrong pallet. A double scale on the order picking truck prevents this type of error as well. Articles put on the wrong pallet means weight increase on the wrong scale. The error is signaled by the WMS and corrected by the operator, on the spot.

"Return is immediate upon implementation"

Jim Chamberlaine is a Senior Director at DSC, a 3PL in Des Plaines, USA. DSC Logistics works with leading Fortune 500 companies operating in food, consumer packaged goods, electronics, paper products, and tobacco. DSC equipped 50 order picking trucks at five different distribution centers with mobile scales. This has drastically reduced picking errors and all but eliminated the labor consuming task of checking each finished pallet on the shipping dock. "But we realized more benefits than originally expected," says Jim. "In addition to reducing picking errors, operators could now be evaluated using the error score generated by the Accu-Pick paperless system. Operators making too many errors were made aware and began working with a higher level of discipline, resulting in more accuracy and a higher pick rate per hour. Additionally, suppliers whose product showed weight deviations were contacted, resulting in improved supply chain quality control. At this stage, I am convinced that using mobile scales will result in a higher service level to our clients and more efficient operations. I would say that for us the return relative to the monthly lease payment is immediate upon implementation."

Mobile weighing systems are available for pallet trucks, stackers, forklift trucks and reach trucks, as well as order picking trucks. RAVAS is a leading global brand for mobile scales. For more information on mobile scales and RAVAS products, go to www.ravas.com .


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