FOREWORD7HOW TO READ THIS BOOK9CHAPTER 1HIGHLY COMPETITIVE WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT111.1Competitive Advantage131.2Best-in-Class Supply Chain Performance191.3The Clean Socks Experiment211.4Four Elements of Warehouse Optimization251.5Growth Path for Warehouse Optimization301.6Warehouse Maturity Scan331.7Summary43CHAPTER 2THE CHALLENGE OF CHANGE452.1Change Management to Facilitate a Change-Oriented Culture462.2Warehouse Strategy to Give Direction492.3Warehouse Action Plan to Organize Evolution622.4Optimization Actions to Create Fun and Successes692.5Project Management to Give Guidance742.6Summary78CHAPTER 3WAREHOUSING793.1Warehouse Justification823.2Material Handling843.3Warehouse Services893.4Warehouse Processes953.5Inbound Processes973.6Storage1013.7Order Management1023.8Outbound Processes1153.9VAL1233.10Cross-dock1243.11Summary124CHAPTER 4WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS1274.1Standard WMS1294.2WMS Modules1304.3Real-time Communication1344.4Material Handling Control1374.5Interfaces1394.6Summary153CHAPTER 5EFFECTIVE WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT1555.1Service Level Agreements1565.2Standard Operating Procedures1675.3Activity-Based Costing1695.4Performance Indicators1795.5Summary195CHAPTER 6PROCESS EFFICIENCY1976.1Service Level Improvement1986.2Efficiency Improvement2016.3Flexibility Improvement2106.4Compact Storage2126.5Summary213CHAPTER 7RESPONSIVE WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT2157.1Justification2177.2Capacity Planning2197.3Progress Monitoring2307.4Task Management2327.5Summary240CHAPTER 8RESOURCE UTILIZATION2418.1Utilization Improvement2428.2Cut2438.3Activate2458.4Postpone2478.5Space Utilization2498.6Summary250CHAPTER 9COLLABORATIVE WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT2539.1Discontinuities2559.2Activity-Based Pricing2639.3Synchronized Planning2669.4Virtual Warehousing2739.5Summary278CHAPTER 10SERVICE ALIGNMENT28110.1Rationalize28210.2Accelerate/Decelerate28510.3Balance28810.4Summary29410.5What’s Next?294REFERENCES317INDEX321ABOUT THE AUTHOR329Highly Competitive Warehouse Management unravels the secrets of modern best-in-class warehouses and shows how they create a competitive advantage for their companies.Why do some distribution centers have excellent performance while others struggle? Highly Competitive Warehouse Management unravels the secrets of those best-in-class operations and shows how they create a competitive advantage for their companies. With the accompanying Warehouse Maturity Scan, distribution center and supply chain management will have a tool to analyze the current state of their operations. Based on these results, the author provides a systematic yet flexible action plan for improvement, which involves human behavior, process redesign, warehouse management systems and supply chain alignment. These materials, along with case studies, detailed examples and thought provoking questions will move your facility to best-in-class performance.