Process development for BAUHAUS WEB´s warehouse managed by PostNord TPL at increased customer order management

Abstract: PostNord TPL manages the warehouse for BAUHAUS WEB, which has expanded since the start in 2011. PostNord TPL face the challenge of handling articles with different characteristics from BAUHAUS WEB's wide product range. In consultation with BAUHAUS WEB, PostNord TPL believes that the number of customer orders will continue to increase. PostNord TPL now wants to prepare for the spring of 2021 by identifying process improvements and efficiency proposals for inventory management.  To understand the processes and identify the challenges within, a process mapping was done for the departments Delivery and Dispatch. Based on a workshop held during the thesis work, a need to relocate the items in the warehouse based on picking frequency was identified for Dispatch and a need for a correction for division of labor within Delivery. Division of labor concerns the activity logging of deliveries performed by a group leader.  The items picked at the warehouse are picked according to different picking lists based on customer orders that vary from day to day. By examining the design of a picking list, it was possible to investigate if an ABC-classification would make the picking process more efficient. For storage areas with one customer order per picking list, the analysis showed that an ABC-classification favored the inventory management.  The number of warehouse employees required to handle the increase in customer order during spring of 2021 was calculated with resource plans for Delivery and Dispatch. For the departments Delivery and Dispatch two resource plans each were made. The resource plan for Delivery considering logging of deliveries showed a marginal difference in number of employees. For Dispatch the resource plan considering the picking time reduction from the ABC-classification gave the least number of employees. PostNord TPL should carry out an ABC-classification to make the inventory management more efficient which contributes to fewer employees and affects the storage and refill of goods. A future study that this work can be followed up with, is to investigate whether and how the ABC-classification changes during the entire low season and the transition between high and low season.