DC Velocity - November 2019

Te ch n o l o gy

LA BO R MANAG E M EN T

comparison of workers’ performance by factoring in variables like how far they traveled, how much weight they hefted, or how many locations they visited.

“People think of an LMS as an accountability tool only, to find underperformers and to drive margins, but that was before the labor crisis,” Miller says.

“Now, it can be used for rewarding people, giving them incentives, and retaining them.”

SHIFTING LABOR LANDSCAPE

The recent shift marks the latest stage in labor management systems’ ongoing evolution to meet changing business challenges, says Michael Wohlwend, managing principal with Alpine Supply Chain Solutions, a Chicago-based consulting firm.

In the early ’90s, many companies used their LMS plat-
forms to track workers’ performance against “engineered
labor standards” in an effort to gain leverage against unions
that were pushing for less-stringent metrics, he says. Then
in the late ’90s, managers started using LMS software
more strategically, implementing “pay for performance”
Today, warehouses are using their LMS systems—often
in conjunction with their warehouse management systems
If economic trends hold, the U.S.

labor crisis won’t be resolved anytime soon. But even in an age of increasing automation, most warehouses still rely on human workers to handle the growing fulfillment workload. And to help keep these valuable assets on board, more and more DCs are leveraging the data-collection and analysis capabilities of their trusty LMS platforms.

www.tgw-group.com/omnipick

OmniPick is TGW’s smart piece picking system for automated order fulfillment. The system is independent of the order structure and can be applied to all distribution channels (eCom, retail, wholesale). As a leading systems integrator for automated warehouse solutions we design, implement and maintain trusted solutions which enable our customers to run their distribution network at the highest level of productivity.