One trait of a successful logistics operation is establishing and executing processes or standard operating procedures (SOPs). An SOP is a set of step-by-step instructions that outline the correct way to complete a routine task. SOPs aim to increase performance, improve efficiency, and ensure quality via system homogenization. Conversely, insufficient processes create widespread problems that can impact an entire organization.

This blog summarizes the top six reasons SOPs are critical to logistics operations:

1. Safety

Frequently, the root cause of safety incidents is the failure to follow procedures. Training employees using comprehensive SOPs ensures jobs are executed based upon processes proven to be safe and effective. This creates a safe and healthy work environment for all employees.

2. Efficiency

Properly written SOPs are the cornerstone of efficiency. Removing the guesswork from a task reduces workflow interruptions and enables employees to accomplish tasks correctly the first time. If an issue does occur, SOPs contain roadmaps for resolution. In addition, if an employee is absent, SOPs make it simple to reassign their responsibilities without disrupting operations.

3. Reliability

Consistency is the key to running a smooth operation. Because of this, companies write SOPs to ensure employees adopt the same standardized procedures that produce consistent results. This process fosters trust in your clients that your company can consistently deliver a dependable, quality product or service.

4. Cost Savings

Seemingly small mistakes can lead to significant financial losses. If employees have visibility to cross-functional responsibilities, the overall workflow is smoother, and there is greater accountability to SOPs – making mistakes less frequent. Likewise, a more streamlined workflow creates higher quality services which results in increased profitability.

5. Regulatory Compliance

Effective SOPs spell out an organization’s regulatory requirements and compliance guidelines from regulatory bodies. Scheduled audits of SOPs ensure incorporation of up-to-date instructions that outline standards thus preventing violations in auditory findings. Furthermore, documenting these changes acts as proof of a quality assurance plan in action.

6. Workflow Gap Reduction

Observing and analyzing workflows and recording step-by-step instructions for each task within an organization provides an opportunity to pinpoint holes in the workflows so they are remedied before issues arise. Thus, thorough documentation enhances the effectiveness of a company’s procedures and helps achieve favorable performance metrics.

WOW Logistics’ SOP Solutions

Exceptional SOPs are the backbone of all WOW Logistics supply chain services. Through more than 40 years of experience, we have mastered the art of creating and enforcing SOPs that drive efficiency and increase profitability within an operation. Our extensive library of processes propels consistency throughout our day-to-day operational workflows resulting in reliable services and boosting performance metrics.

WOW’s Quality Control Department plays a huge role in the creation of a safe, compliant work environment by ensuring adherence to all safety practices and regulatory requirements. They developed a food safety manual to train and manage all distribution center operations. This manual prevents breaks in productivity and guides operators through the most efficient workflow. Additionally, our Vice President of Quality Control serves on the International Warehouse & Logistics Association (IWLA) Board as a co-director of the Food Council and created a Preventative Controls Qualified Individual (PCQI) certification program that assists with proper education and certification of food safety personnel within a warehouse. This further streamlines operations, ensures service uniformity, and contributes to the exceptional scores WOW receives during annual ASI audits.

WOW Logistics combines our commitment to superior SOPs with unparalleled food safety knowledge to address supply chain challenges with our integrated supply chain solutions. Our services include Operations, Real Estate Development, Inventory Financing, and Technology Solutions.

Explore our website to learn more.

What is warehouse layout design?

Warehouse racking layouts and equipment locations significantly impact operational efficiency, inventory flow, and productivity. An expertly engineered warehouse layout design minimizes travel time while providing easy access to stored goods and improving order fulfillment. Additionally, a well-designed warehouse allows employees to work at their peak productivity. Executing an effective warehouse design involves experienced logistics engineers analyzing several key factors, including:

• Order or Pick Frequency
• Replenishment Schedules
• Shelf and Storage Space
• Equipment Requirements
• Packing and Shipping Requirements

Why do companies decide to outsource?

Most companies do not have the engineering expertise or analytical tools in-house to program efficiency-driven facilities. The required software is expensive and necessitates significant experience in warehouse engineering and analysis to yield beneficial results. Furthermore, hiring internal logistics engineers when your company’s core competency is unrelated to supply chain management may not produce a favorable ROI.

Minor design flaws in a new facility will have lasting adverse effects not only on the operation but your entire supply chain. Likewise, a once-optimized warehouse layout will require adjustments over time as businesses expand or their needs change.

Outsourcing this function early in the design process to a company with expertise in logistics, that has the right tools and personnel, can lead to extensive savings. These warehouse engineers have a thorough understanding of what it will take to meet your business requirements, which is critical to ensuring the proper infrastructure exists. Ultimately, outsourcing your warehouse strategy offers peace of mind and frees up personnel and resources to focus on the core competencies of your business.

Benefits of Outsourcing

It is vital to consider all your business requirements during the planning phase. Unfortunately, mistakes are easy to make and can be expensive to rectify. Warehouse layout design engineers leverage their expertise to produce multiple benefits, including:

• Maximized Capacity – When designing a warehouse layout, engineers utilize and optimize every inch of space, allocating maximum area to storage and inventory processing while also allowing for growth.
• Increased Productivity – An engineer’s analysis will enhance facility performance by avoiding inefficient routes and disruptions, aligning your picking strategy with your replenishment scheme, and allowing easy access and navigation for personnel and equipment.
• Reduced Operating Costs – A streamlined warehouse layout design reduces stock losses, helps ensure on-time orders, and increases overall profitability.

 

WOW Logistics’ Warehouse and Inventory Strategy Solution

WOW Logistics is an industry-leading supply chain solutions provider. Thus, innovatively addressing the logistical needs of our customers is at the core of our business. We offer several consulting services, including warehouse layout design. WOW Logistics consulting team consists of engineers who set themselves apart from typical warehouse layout design consultants. Their extensive knowledge of warehouse operations uniquely qualifies them to design warehouse layouts that yield the most efficient results. Our engineers evaluate product specs, inventory data, and picking characteristics during the design process to create multiple layout designs in CAD. Each plan identifies storage capacity, racking type, handling efficiencies, and other factors preventing streamlined warehouse operations.

Whether you are opening a new warehouse or looking to improve an existing one, our innovative solutions combined with our extensive engineering design expertise deliver results that maximize operational efficiency, meet your business requirements, and offer scalability for anticipated growth.

In addition to consulting services, WOW Logistics offers Operations, Real Estate Development, Inventory Financing, and Technology Solutions.

Explore our website to learn more.

A trusted supply chain partner is critical for any company’s stability and growth. Their services directly reflect the reputation and success of your business, and you want to partner with a company that can help create a faster, more intelligent, and efficient supply chain.

Choosing the right provider for your organization requires evaluating many vital factors. This blog summarizes four things to look for when selecting a supply chain partner:

1. Wealth of Experience

Your supply chain is an integral part of your business and effectively managing it is crucial to success. It is crucial to select an experienced provider with the expertise to drive efficiency throughout all areas of your logistics network. A history of success is a good indicator of dependability and demonstrates the means to tackle a broad range of challenges.

2. Diverse Capabilities

A prospective provider should have the ability to identify and satisfy your short-term needs and your future requirements. Piecing together your solutions using multiple providers will quickly become frustrating, with each additional touchpoint adding further complications. Look for a provider offering various solutions covering every aspect of your current supply chain needs, such as engineering/consulting, technology, transportation, flexible and contracted warehousing, industrial real estate development, and more.

3. High Safety Standards

Safety comes in many forms – personnel, product, and more. Exemplifying a commitment to standard operating procedures that drive safety in various areas and offering premium product-safety focused services is essential. The provider’s expertise will eliminate lost time due to safety or quality incidents.

4. Ease of Integration and Reporting

Transparency is a vital selling point of a potential provider. The current logistics landscape demands immediate access to metrics and reporting regarding your inventory, which provides added business intelligence and peace of mind.

Introducing WOW Logistics

WOW Logistics is the fastest-growing supply chain solutions provider in the country, with more than 40 years of experience mastering the art of combining our services to deliver integrated solutions to our customers. We offer various services within five core areas: Supply Chain Consulting, Operations, Real Estate Development, Inventory Financing, and Technology Solutions. We pride ourselves on providing quality services that drive efficiency within your operation. Our in-house logistics experts and unparalleled food safety knowledge put product safety first. At the same time, our top-tier technology systems and commitment to consistent processes allow us to streamline your supply chain further.

Learn more about WOW Logistics by exploring our website.

Creating a culture focused on safety requires commitment from all levels of an organization. The foundation of safety culture development is consistently measuring and managing your facility’s safety performance using leading and lagging indicators. Additionally, implementing behavior-based safety training is crucial in achieving a safe work environment at your facility.

What are leading indicators?

A leading indicator is a proactive, preventive measure used to drive and assess activities carried out to avoid and control injuries. Examples include:

• Safety training and key performance indicators (KPIs)
• Ergonomic opportunities
• Safety audits
• Safety site plans

These indicators are proactive and focus on future safety performance and continuous improvement. They report what employees are regularly doing to prevent injuries.

What are lagging indicators?

Lagging indicators measure the occurrence and frequency of a company’s incidents in the form of past accident statistics. Examples include:

• Injury frequency and severity
• OSHA recordable injuries
• Workers’ compensation costs
• Lost time incident rates

These traditional safety metrics gauge progress toward compliance with safety rules. The metrics detail the number of injuries, severity, and overall effectiveness of the safety measures within your warehouse.

Why use leading and lagging indicators?

Combining leading and lagging indicators provides a well-rounded approach for warehouse safety management and can highlight ways to improve warehouse safety. While lagging indicators can reveal the existence of hazards or areas of failure, leading indicators can attest to how effectively your safety programs prevent incidents. Here is a simple visual of how leading and lagging indicators work
together:

 

The Importance of Accountability

Taking responsibility for your safety as well as the safety of your colleagues and employees proactively reduces hazards and incidents. However, creating a safety-focused culture starts with accountability from leadership. A company’s safety culture is a direct reflection of management’s commitment. Leaders must ensure employees have the resources they need to succeed and clearly communicate expectations while setting an example.

WOW Logistics’ Effective Safety-focused Culture 

WOW Logistics is dedicated to a systematic safety approach that requires commitment from top leadership to frontline employees. We believe safety is everyone’s responsibility. Our safety promise states:

1. Nothing is worth getting hurt over
2. Every accident/injury is preventable
3. Everyone is responsible for looking out for his/her fellow employee
4. Every individual is responsible for his/her safe behavior
5. WOW Logistics is committed to safety as the number one priority
6. All incidents will be reported to a supervisor immediately

This safety promise and our safety vision are posted at each location for everyone to see, reiterating their importance. Each distribution center must have its safety site plan, supervisor scorecards, and safety KPI reports reviewed monthly by the Environment, Health, and Safety Manager.

WOW’s onboarding programs teach appropriate safety practices from the onset with training plans for each piece of material handling equipment (MHE). Our behavior-based training addresses unsafe actions at their core and helps create a culture focused on safety. When an incident does occur, it must be reported within an hour and investigated within 24 hours.

This safety-focused culture and expertise is at the core of our business and is evident in our superior supply chain solutions, including Contract Operations, Transportation Services, and Real Estate Solutions.

Learn more about WOW Logistics by exploring our website.

A food-grade warehouse is a specialized facility that provides different types of storage for food products, including ambient, refrigerated, and frozen space. These facilities adhere to precise Federal, State, and local guidelines to operate and must also undergo rigorous evaluation by food safety management systems like the Safe Quality Food Institute or ASI Food Safety.

What are the requirements for a food-grade warehouse?

All food grade facilities must register with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and undergo annual inspections. Additionally, the operation requires a state food license, adherence to Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) guidelines, and a Preventative Controls Qualified Individual (PCQI) on staff to oversee the Food Safety Plan.

This Food Safety Plan must contain certain Good Manufacturing Processes (GMPs). These GMPs include:

• Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) Plan
• Sanitation and cleaning procedures
• Preventative maintenance
• Non-conformance product procedures
• Food security and defense plan
• Glass and clear plastic policies
• Safety of water supply
• Visitor Policy
• Customer complaint process
• Pest control
• Personnel Practices Program

What disqualifies a warehouse as food grade?

Food-grade warehouses must maintain proper health and sanitation to protect the products they store. These facilities must focus on key areas to ensure safe storage and there must be an absence of:

• Leaks in the walls, roof, or edges of the foundation
• Trash, weeds, or rodent tracks/burrows within the building perimeter
• Holes in windows or frames
• Exterior damage
• Cleaning products, pesticides, or chemicals near the general storage area
• Cross-contamination from odor

Operating food-grade warehouse space

Running a warehouse that meets these requirements can feel daunting when it is outside your core competency. Often, companies choose to outsource food-grade warehousing to a third-party logistics (3PL) provider with expertise in the matter. If this is the route your company chooses, there are some things you will want to keep in mind when you are looking for a 3PL, including:

• Experience
• Temperature integrity
• Lot traceability
• No allergen cross-contamination
• GMP audit scheme
• Food Safety Plan with written GMPs 

WOW Logistics’ Food Grade Storage Solutions

WOW Logistics® is an industry-leading food-grade storage provider. We are the only 3PL company in the United States that is ASI audited at the rigid food processor level, and consistently score above 97 percent. WOW also differentiates itself from other food-grade warehousing providers in the following ways:

• Exceptional Staff – WOW not only staffs PCQI certified personnel, but also employs HACCP trained staff at every location. Additionally, designated individuals sit on the International Warehouse Logistics Association (IWLA) Food Safety Council who work hand in hand with the FDA to understand FSMA 3PL regulations.
• Top-tier Technology – Our Warehouse Management System (WMS) can track lots within minutes, and our online portal offers real-time temperature tracking with automated alerts if anything falls out of spec.
• Superior Processes – WOW has a detailed food safety manual located online that is updated frequently and is easily accessible to employees.

WOW Logistics’ food storage expertise is not limited to 3PL storage. This proficiency carries over into our Contract Operations, Transportation, and Managed Warehouse Services.

Learn more about WOW Logistics by exploring our website.

Defining Fourth-party Logistics

Fourth-party logistics (4PL) companies interface between their client and multiple logistics service providers – directing every moving part within a supply chain, including third-party logistics (3PL) and transportation suppliers. 4PL service providers are a strategic partner to their clients that strive to drive supply chain efficiency.

Benefits of 4PL Providers

Effectively managing a supply chain is no easy task, especially in today’s ever-changing climate. When it comes to logistics, many businesses find outsourcing is the most successful approach. Contracting a 4PL provider offers multiple benefits, including:

• Competitive Storage Solutions – Logistics providers are experts in their field with resources and connections to negotiate competive prices with adequate insurance coverage.
• Geographic Reach – A 4PLs existing 3PL network reduces the time it takes to check storage availability and offers a trusted solution to efficiently extend an organization’s reach.
• One Point of Contact – A 4PL provider takes over a business’s entire logistics segment – eliminating the need to juggle multiple invoices and points of contact.

Here is a simplified visual of what 4PL has to offer:

WOW Logistics’ 4PL Solution

WOW Logistics is an integrated supply chain solutions provider offering Managed Warehouse Services, our 4PL service. We are experts in warehouse operations with industry-leading capabilities, including a state-of-the-art warehouse management system, exceptional operational processes, and engineering resources that drive efficiency and reduce expenses. WOW has built a database with hundreds of warehouse partners across the country.  This network, combined with our knowledge of operations and market conditions, allows us to provide competitive rates and find space quickly. Outsourcing your warehousing to us leaves you with one point of contact and one invoice for your entire 3PL network.

Managed Warehouse Services is just one warehousing solution WOW Logistics offers. We also provide 3PL services, inventory financing, and technology solutions.

Get started today by calling 800-236-3565.

Explore our website to learn more.