Other Voices: ‘Tis the season before peak season

Editor’s note: The following column by Stevie Hay, general manager at Aptean, is part of Modern’s Other Voices column, a series featuring ideas, opinions and insights from end-users, analysts, systems integrators and OEMs. Click here to learn about submitting a column for consideration.

Summer vacation usually brings to mind memories of swimming pools and cookouts. But in the fulfillment business, summer means it’s time to start thinking about winter.

June and July are increasingly victim to the “Christmas Creep,” with some retailers launching deals in early November. This shift has cost warehouses weeks of valuable prep time. Increasingly complex peak season logistics are compounding the issue; Amazon Prime changed the fulfillment rules, leading consumers to expect one- or two-day delivery and real-time package tracking. That’s more orders, with higher expectations, and less time to get ready.

With the right preparation, however, you don’t need to dread peak season. Here are a few tips for getting your ducks in a row this summer – so that you can have a smooth and highly profitable Q4.

Examine market trends and their impact on your performance
Warehouses have plenty to learn from last year’s peak season, when e-commerce caused a new fulfillment wrinkle. As more people ordered items online, UPS reported its returns reached their height on Dec. 19, with 1.5 million packages returned to retailers that day alone. This was nearly two weeks earlier than the traditional early January “National Returns Day,” and just as warehouses were trying to ship last-minute orders.

As competition drives retailers to reduce shipping time, and more consumers order their gifts from the couch, chances are we’ll see more disruption during peak season 2019. Now’s the time to examine your Q4 2018 data to see how retail trends affected your fulfillment processes. Did you have an influx of returns right before Christmas? When do your sales spike, and can you correlate the increase to a particular event? Your data should serve as the foundation for all decision-making, whether that’s deciding how much seasonal labor to hire, what products to stock, or what shipping goals are achievable.

Locking in a data-driven strategy in June/July will make planning easier come fall, and it will better prepare you to respond to market shifts in November/December.

Observe pick and pack processes to improve inefficiencies
Another way to prime your warehouse for peak season is to examine your pick, pack and ship strategy from end to end. Picking can become the warehouse’s most time-consuming process if done improperly; data can help you better understand what’s causing picking delays and determine how best to streamline, but even dedicating time to floor observation can shed light on the problem. Are pickers zig-zagging through the warehouse to complete an order? Perhaps changing the location sequence for a pick path, or moving your most popular items closer to a packing station, could alleviate the burden.

Also consider ways to improve packing. Could the number of boxes used to complete each order decrease to minimize shipping costs? And what about the type of packing material assigned to each item? Data provides insight into how many items come back damaged because of poor packing, as well as how many orders are shipping out in multiple boxes.

Implement and train employees on new technology now
We’ve seen a greater push toward warehouse automation in the last decade, but no matter how many solutions or robots you employ, today’s warehouse is still reliant on its workers. During peak season, a high percentage of your temporary employees likely have little to no experience using your technology. That’s a recipe for inefficiency if not properly addressed.

If a new warehouse management system, automated picking tools or collaborative robots are in your future, summer is the best time to implement. You’ll have the opportunity to gear the technology to your specifications, as well as work out any kinks, without a time crunch. And the better you understand your new solutions, the easier it will be to train seasonal labor come October and November.

Early planning promises to pay off during peak season
There’s no way around it: e-commerce is fundamentally changing peak season’s structure. Consumers expect orders to be delivered correctly and quickly, and they’re returning items before gifts are even unwrapped.

As peak season changes, so must our warehouse processes – that includes our timeline for Q4 prep. However, by closely examining historical sales and process data, observing pick and pack operations, and thoroughly preparing seasonal and full-time staff for the job ahead, you can drive a more efficient and profitable holiday season.