Samenvatting

This is a summary of this problem-solving research to gain a quick insight into all key findings and discussions. This research aims to answer the main question which is "How to reduce the order picking process time in the fulfillment center of Asyad Express in Muscat with 30% compared to the current situation by the end of 2023?" The reason is because there is a noticeable order volume increase and it is affecting the order fulfillment performance where customers' orders are delayed, leading to dissatisfaction by them. Adding to this, it is affecting the company departments themselves and delays their operations.
Therefore, in terms of the research sequence, first there is an investigation into this problem to reach the aim of this research starting by conducting a literature review about order picking and investigating similar cases to the one at hand. Followed by a well defining of the problem and its impact and how does the current situation look like leading to deeper insights. Then the process performance measurements are calculated by using the collected data from warehouse management system, Gemba walk, interviews, and work sampling to be able to notice bottlenecks which then are analyzed by Pareto chart to determine the high priorities which have the biggest impact on the problem which then are visualized into fishbone leading to a smoother analysis by 5Whys root cause analysis for the issues.
Then, potential improvements are proposed, and an implementation plan is defined into Gantt chart using (Plan-Do-Check-Act) method. The last part of the result chapter is the future situation description where the improvements are examined and compared to the current situation. Lastly, the discussion, conclusion, and recommendations are presented.
Regarding the performance measurements it is noticed that both percentages of orders requiring material handling and wrong picked orders are leading to high wasted time. Furthermore, by using a warehouse layout and routes analysis using a spaghetti diagram, it is noticed that fast-moving goods are not located in the right locations, some are far, and some are on high shelves which cannot be reached easily leading to longer travel time and insufficient picking paths. These issues have been analyzed to reach the root causes which are poor storage assignment, routing, and picking methods due to zone policy and time availability to optimize them.
Regarding to the improvements, the After finding the right root causes, two potential improvements are proposed taking both literature review and company objectives into consideration. These improvements are applying the "mid-point-Pick-by-scan" method which is a combination between a routing and a picking policy as it's connected to each other. Which makes the picking process faster using Honeywell devices and orders are assigned according to mid-points locations as pickers only pick halfway the aisle only leading to short checking and travel time. The second improvement is applying ABC storage assignment per zone and per shelf which lead to a shorter travel time and reducing fast-moving goods that need additional material handlings.
The proposed improvements are examined to check whether they are effective and highly contribute to solving the issue or not. A scenario has been determined and each step time is measured and then doing the same thing for the same scenario but for future situation to make a comparison between them where the outcomes are a reduction on the travel time from 17 seconds to 4 seconds and less checking time with eliminated steps leads to an overall reduction on the process time by 39% which is from 74 minutes to 29 minutes on average. Therefore, the research question has been answered and the aim is achieved that the process time is reduced by more than 30% compared to the current situation.