Three Key Points for Improving Logistics Processes: Explaining Points to Consider and Approach for Improvement

Are you struggling with improving your logistics operations? Many may find it challenging to determine what and how to improve, resulting in unsatisfactory outcomes. In the context of enhancing logistics operations, it is crucial to reduce reliance on manual labor and drive efficiency. This article provides insights into the key considerations and approach for logistics improvement.

What is Logistics Process Improvement?

Logistics process improvement refers to the activities conducted to maintain logistics processes in an optimal state, aligning them with changing environmental factors such as the growing shortage of logistics personnel and the need for increased productivity and competitiveness.

In recent years, due to the increasing labor shortage, there is a strong demand for ""eliminating human-dependent tasks in logistics processes and driving efficiency."" Technological advancements such as robots, IoT, and AI have garnered attention for their potential in automating processes, leading to improved productivity and reduced workload.

This article provides an explanation of logistics DX (Digital Transformation), which revolutionizes logistics models through mechanization and digitalization using technologies like robots and AI.

Achieving Human-Independent QCD Improvement in Logistics Processes

To improve QCD (Quality, Cost, Delivery) in logistics processes, it is essential to overcome labor shortages and reduce dependence on human resources. The following outlines specific actions for improving each element in logistics processes

Quality Improvement

Quality issues often stem from human errors or mistakes. When addressing quality improvements, it is necessary to simplify the items that need to be checked. For example, revising warehouses and storage racks used in logistics operations, and optimizing picking lists to standardize quality checks, can effectively reduce errors caused by human dependence.

Cost Improvement

Cost improvement in logistics processes requires reevaluating each process to enhance work efficiency and reduce the number of workers involved. Furthermore, the severity of labor shortages and the perception of challenging working conditions in logistics make it difficult to attract people through recruitment efforts, leading to anticipated increases in labor costs. Moving forward, reducing waste in each process and implementing improvements such as process automation are crucial for cost reduction.

Delivery Improvement

To improve delivery, it is essential to prevent human errors and reduce unnecessary processes. Clearly defining procedures, rules, and the required number of personnel helps minimize mistakes and eliminate waste. With the scarcity of available workers, the challenge of ""insufficient personnel for transporting goods"" may arise. To maintain current lead times, active digitization and automation of tasks become imperative.

While each area requires separate methods for QCD improvement, the common factor is ""management of production processes."" Therefore, QCD improvement is believed to contribute to enhanced productivity in both production and logistics processes.

In the next section, we will introduce the top three crucial points for improving logistics operations.

Top 3 Points for Improving Logistics Operations

When striving to improve logistics operations, it is crucial to understand the challenges present in the field. By identifying these challenges, it becomes clear what results can be achieved through improvement, and what actions need to be taken to attain those results. The following are three common points for improvement in logistics operations

Point 1: Prevention of Mistakes and Human Errors

Logistics operations heavily rely on manual work, which increases the risk of mistakes and human errors, also known as ""poka-yoke"" errors. Examples include overlooking or misreading product numbers, misidentifying similar products, and incorrect deliveries. While implementing double-checks and thorough verification can reduce errors to some extent, they do not provide a fundamental solution as they still depend on human capabilities.

Point 2: Elimination of Overburden, Waste, and Variability

Addressing the elimination of overburden, waste, and variability, commonly referred to as the ""3M,"" is another crucial point. The 3M arises when the balance between workload and workers' capabilities becomes disrupted. When the workload exceeds the capabilities, it leads to overburden (""muri""), while low workload compared to capabilities results in waste (""muda""). The presence of both conditions simultaneously is known as variability (""mura""). These issues are more prominent in environments heavily reliant on human labor.

For enhancing productivity and alleviating labor shortages, the following article provides tips on improving human resources in manufacturing and logistics sites

Point 3: Visualizing Logistics Processes

Although the existence of the aforementioned challenges may be vaguely acknowledged, it is common to lack clear visualization of these issues. To address this, visualizing logistics processes becomes crucial. It is essential to identify which problems occur in each process and determine the necessary improvements. In addition to automating manual tasks, considering the IoT integration of logistics processes becomes significant.

For instance, in shipping inspections, challenges may include human errors such as mistaking visually similar products or misreading numbers, as well as the associated costs of establishing a system to address these issues. To resolve such challenges, it is necessary to visualize operations through IoT integration, collecting factual data on what tasks were performed when and how. Furthermore, establishing a mechanism for proposing improvements based on this data and implementing the PDCA cycle is vital.

Reasons Why Logistics Process Improvement May Not Progress

Although improvement in logistics operations is sought to alleviate labor shortages and enhance productivity, many operations struggle to make progress. One main reason for this is the delay in moving away from human-dependent operations in logistics, which have already been operating effectively using manual labor. As a result, focus is often directed towards other priorities such as customer service and quality issues, causing logistics improvement to have lower priority. Additionally, logistics improvement efforts require significant investment and long-term commitment, making it challenging to assess the cost-effectiveness.

However, considering the decreasing labor force and the deepening labor shortages in the future, it is essential to break away from human-dependent operations. In recent years, attention has been drawn to the introduction of AGVs (Automated Guided Vehicles) as a means to overcome reliance on human labor. For those interested in the automation of transportation processes using AGVs, the following article provides detailed information

Approach for Improving Logistics Operations

A crucial aspect of advancing logistics improvement is to promote the automation, digitalization, and IoT integration of logistics processes to eliminate dependence on human resources. As mentioned earlier, human errors create a need for extensive time and cost for error recovery, making it difficult to focus on core tasks. Additionally, frequent troubles jeopardize the trust of business partners, hindering productivity improvement. Shifting to digitalization, automation, and IoT integration reduces human errors, enabling the secure allocation of resources.

Many risks stem from reliance on human labor, and overcoming these risks requires the automation of logistics processes to address the root causes.

Turn to LOGITO for Logistics Site Improvement

At Daiichi Jitsugyo, a comprehensive machinery trading company, we offer LOGITO, a logistics automation solution. Leveraging our extensive knowledge and experience, we provide cost-effective proposals for automating logistics operations in factories and warehouses.

With LOGITO, automation is possible for various processes such as unloading, inspection, depalletizing, transport, storage, picking, and palletizing, eliminating troubles caused by human dependence and achieving visualization of each process.

For those interested in improving logistics operations through automation at the site, please refer to the following materials