… [packing station operators] build the box, fill it, tape it,
label it, verify it, mark it, put promotional materials in it,
then ship it out—everything short of picking the order.” Yet
sometimes there’s barely enough room for the packers to
move around, she observes.
If space is at a premium, avoid using bulky, static equipment, Foote suggests. “Some pack stations still use manual
kraft [paper] on a roll or bubble on a roll—essentially
material on a big stick. That takes up a lot of space.”
Instead, consider choosing equipment that can follow the
operator or be pushed out of the way, like dunnage dispensers on swing arms or on movable carts.
It’s also important to keep your long-term needs in mind
when setting up packing stations. Because companies often
end up adding new products or carton sizes as their business grows and changes, Ampuja recommends leaving
enough space to add new packing stations or expand existing ones.
Pitfall #4: Staying with manual processes when
automation makes sense. These days, you can buy a
machine for almost every packing station task: box makers
that build a carton around an item, dunnage and void fill
dispensers, automatic label printers and applicators, box
closers and sealers, and more. How do you decide which
packing activities to handle manually, and which to auto-
mate? Volume and speed requirements are the main considerations, says Ampuja. “If there isn’t enough volume,
then the [cost of] the equipment can’t be justified,” he says.
Complexity also comes into play here. For operations
that handle large numbers of products with varied shipping
characteristics, machines that swiftly weigh and measure
the items and then select the appropriate box may prove
well worth the cost.
Another consideration is the likelihood of human error
and the potential cost of those mistakes. If your shipments
require quality checks at the packing station or you hire
temporary workers to handle seasonal volume spikes, then
error rates may be a big concern. In these situations,
automation can reduce variability and boost accuracy and
consistency, says Martyn.
If you do use automated equipment, make sure you’re
getting the most from it by training operators in proper
techniques, says Foote. It can be hard to switch from manual to automated processes, and workers often try to continue doing some tasks by hand—a practice that can slow
the whole operation down. You may need to convince them
to let the machine do the work for them, she says.
Pitfall #5: Failing to design the station with the worker
in mind. You can’t afford to give short shrift to ergonomics, because you’ll put your employees at risk of short-term
