Should Purchasing Manage The Warehouse?

PurchTips - Edition #117 February 6, 2007

By Charles Dominick, SPSM

Could You Be Put In Charge Of The Warehouse?

Whether they are happy about it or not, it is becoming more and more common for purchasing professionals to be made responsible for management of the warehouse. Therefore, do not be surprised if warehouse management is added to your list of responsibilities in the near future.

To prepare for this trend, let’s explore the similarities between purchasing and warehouse management.

Purchasing professionals love to use metrics. And metrics are helpful in improving warehouse performance, too. Art Avery, the Principal Consultant for warehouse layout consulting firm Avery and Associates, suggests starting with these metrics: Pick lines per hour Orders processed per hour Age of oldest unshipped order

Like Purchasing, warehouse management has many best practices. A couple best practices Avery recommends are using effective slotting tools and bar coding.

Effective slotting tools include the placement of high-volume items close to the point of shipping, use of clear slotting information under each item on the shelf, using the same slotting information on pick documents, and sorting the slot numbers into a sequence that supports a “no-backtrack” path for the picker.

Bar codes can help ensure that the right incoming product is put in the right place and that the right outgoing product is picked in the right quantities. Avery notes that “by using bar code picking, not only can you pick faster, but you can also pick with virtually 100% accuracy.” In his experience, Avery has seen bar code implementations pay for themselves within six months, which leads me to the most attractive aspect of warehouse management for purchasing professionals: the opportunity for cost savings.

Avery shares that fixing an inefficient warehouse operation can produce labor cost savings of 30 to 50%. So even if you’ve never dreamed of being the purchasing and warehouse manager, such an expanded role may help you deliver more measurable bottom line results.

(Keep reading for a FREE Offer)

Spotlight On Professional Development Opportunities

What does it take to become a Director of Purchasing? Carol Gissell, SPSM knows. She was recently promoted to Director of Purchasing at Quinault Beach Resort.

You don’t have to wonder any more! We’ve updated the section of our site called “SPSM Certification Success Stories.” In this section, you can watch video slide shows and listen to real-life purchasing professionals like Carol tell you how their ambition and achievements helped them have more rewarding careers.

To learn how your peers have earned what purchasers want more of in their careers – more opportunities, more respect, and more money – visit:

www.NextLevelPurchasing.com/spsm

The Latest Purchasing News!

• Does putting together a plan for improving purchasing performance seem like a big, frustrating job? It doesn’t have to be. Next Level Purchasing is offering a limited number of select companies a FREE purchasing skills assessment and performance improvement development plan service. Are you interested in this FREE service? To find out if you qualify, complete and submit the form at www.NextLevelPurchasing.com/form
• Are you considering a career move? Over 100 purchasing jobs preferring candidates with the SPSM^SM Certification are posted at www.NextLevelPurchasing.com/jobs

FREE Offer!

Want to learn more about today’s topic? Then check out my podcast interview with Art Avery! Podcasts are digital audio files that you can listen to on your PC, download to your iPod/MP3 player, or burn to CD.

It’s absolutely FREE to download the audio. But if you prefer to read the interview, for a limited time, you can purchase a transcript for 75% off its list price!