cost-saving initiatives and reducing
the potential for costly mistakes.
CONSIDER THE OPERATIONAL
IMPACT
Prior to embarking on any evaluation of new equipment or technology for warehouses and distribution
centers, it is critical to have a true
understanding of current operational performance, from receiving
through shipping. With that information in hand, a company will be
able to make the accurate “before
and after” comparisons an engineered approach provides.
The first step of an engineered
approach is to identify the specific
aspects of an operation the compa-
ny is targeting for improvement,
and how each will change—for bet-
ter or for worse—as a result of
introducing new technology or
equipment. Sometimes, a vendor
may include those specifics in its
sales pitch, but most of the time
someone who has the necessary
expertise and is intimately familiar
with the operation will have to pin-
point exactly what will change.
BASELINE VERSUS FUTURE STATE
Once the buyer understands the potential
impact of a new technology or piece of
equipment, it is important to gather a baseline value (often measured in time when it
comes to labor savings) for each step of the
task that is being examined. Each step
should be broken into smaller steps called
elements. Elements that will be unaffected
by the new technology can be ignored,
which allows the buyer to isolate the true
