12 August 2023 Discover the importance of good logistics process mapping, how to execute it, and how it can influence warehouse results. Did you know that productivity and performance are directly related to end-to-end processes, planning, and understanding the workflow within the logistics warehouse? Believe me: the clearer the understanding of the activities carried out within the distribution center, the better the results of the entire team, allowing not only the reduction of errors in tasks but also the optimization of time, increasing the results of the entire supply chain. It is no surprise that the logistics sector involves a series of complex and demanding tasks, and the pressure for their efficient execution increases every day. The importance of the sector, combined with an increasingly demanding market and companies seeking new alternatives for their growth, urgently requires managers to understand every phase of the logistics processes. Investing in efficient processes brings significant advantages, outpacing the competition, positioning in the market with a real competitive advantage, meeting all consumer demands, and consequently achieving excellent results. With this in mind, we have prepared this article, gathering some important tips to help you, the manager, correctly map logistics processes in the warehouse. With the guidelines presented below, you can start leveraging your results today. Shall we? What is logistics process mapping, and how important is it? Before moving on to the practical part, it is important to understand a bit about the concept and how mapping processes in logistics can directly help with warehouse results. Mapping processes in logistics is nothing more than a management tool used to obtain a 360° view of all functions and activities carried out within the supply chain. In other words, mapping is the tool capable of providing a greater understanding of each phase, as if it were a magnifying glass that helps to see the different stages of the operational flow separately. In this way, it is possible to monitor all warehouse processes and ensure they are in perfect efficiency, guaranteeing their quality and speed, in line with the desired objectives. Therefore, the main goal of logistics process mapping is to examine and understand each phase in detail, promoting improvements and, eventually, applying new strategies that further optimize the company’s results. By mapping logistics processes, your warehouse will be able to eliminate any unnecessary activities, reduce work times and possible delays in the operational flow, minimize costs, automate routines and repetitive work, promote greater agility in task execution, control productivity times and quality, as well as standardize activities and have greater autonomy in monitoring results and tracking metrics. How to apply process mapping in logistics By now, you know that there are many advantages to mapping processes in logistics. Now that you have a better understanding of the subject, it’s time to discover how to apply it in practice and start the journey to improve your supply chain today. Step 1: Observe every warehouse process All planning work begins with detailed monitoring of activities. Therefore, before taking any initiative, the first thing to do is to carefully observe each activity carried out in the warehouse, that is, to monitor the operational flow from one end to the other. Note everything that happens from the entry of goods into the distribution center until the product leaves the DC. Describe the suppliers, main sectors, and collaborators in each area. Monitor the work methodology used, the step-by-step execution of each function, as well as expenses in financial and manual resources, deadlines, downtimes, and productivity. Analyze internal and external customers, as well as key logistics and outsourcing partners. Always remember to have a well-defined goal for each piece of information collected. Knowing exactly where you want to go is the main point in defining efficient goals and strategies. Step 2: Create a flowchart After executing the previous step, carefully observing all warehouse processes and noting every detail of the workflow stages, it’s time to develop an efficient logistics flowchart. The flowchart is nothing more than a map of activities that facilitates the visualization of processes in logistics. With it, it is possible to dynamically identify the different parts of the operational flow, as well as the directions for its practical development. Drafting a flowchart also helps organize and standardize work through appropriate and predefined symbols, establishing the order of execution and priorities. All this with the same goal: the pursuit of continuous improvements in operation. Therefore, focus on this step. Creating a flowchart is one of the fundamental steps for the success of logistics mapping, as it anticipates and designs the entire strategy intended to achieve the goals set in the first step of this journey. An additional tip to ensure good results when applying this strategy is to gather the team and those responsible for each task so that, together, they can identify all improvement points for the sector and establish, based on these criteria, a complete flowchart. Step 3: Set priorities When it comes to getting your hands dirty, proceed with caution and gradually. It is normal to create expectations and want to achieve all goals simultaneously, but there is nothing better than defining priorities and applying changes with patience, attention, and, above all, trying to start with the steps with the most problems to solve. Organize the order of priority and set deadlines for applying improvements to each process. It is important to understand that both the workflow and the company’s goals must be aligned with the strategy supporting the warehouse, meaning improvements must be applied while the wheels are turning, and this requires responsibility and discernment. Step 4: Understand initial errors Once the logistics process mapping strategy is active, errors and failures may appear along the way, after all, one of the main goals of mapping is the continuous work in searching for weaknesses and vulnerabilities that compromise warehouse productivity. Therefore, finding new problems is common. It is up to you, the manager, to identify the problems and quickly propose a solution using the information collected and the operational history of the phase that reported the failures. Some questions that can be asked in this scenario are: What triggered the current failures? What measures can be taken to solve the problem quickly and effectively? How to apply solutions that permanently eliminate the error? In the next suggestion, we will discuss how to solve the problems. Step 5: Redefine processes It is necessary to be aware that errors and possible failures throughout the process are great opportunities to find new strategies that allow definitive solutions and continuous optimizations for the process. Therefore, when identifying possible problems, as mentioned in step 4 and formulating hypotheses, it is time to redefine strategies. When redesigning the flowchart, it is important to highlight the errors and the main strategies to solve each challenge. This moment is an excellent opportunity to present the results achieved to the team and share new goals based on the observations and objectives raised. Redoing the flowchart, updating it with all necessary changes, is as important as step 02. This task requires concentration, clarity, and security. All this because the new design must contain even more details and precisely show the paths to solve the problems. Once redesigned, it is sufficient to restart the entire process and ensure that activities are carried out as planned. It is worth warning that simply changing the path is not a guarantee of total efficiency, especially when talking about 100% manual operations. In these cases, rigorous and continuous monitoring is essential to ensure the effectiveness of the flowchart. Step 6: Formalize work instructions Finally, after conducting a series of tests and adjustments, the changes defined as permanent need to be formalized, documented, and definitively applied during the validation phase. To complete the work appropriately, create a document, describe the entire process related to the activity to be carried out in a specific sector, and finally, finalize the document by emphasizing the importance of following the standard developed by those responsible. By following these steps, you, the manager, will be able to apply effective logistics mapping, creating internal and external opportunities that can help you increase your business’s productivity and profitability. Want to go further? As highlighted in the previous topics, logistics process mapping is a fundamental requirement for those seeking efficient and cost-effective processes, as well as business success. Although it may seem like a long and detailed job, you can rely on specialized management systems that offer complete data for in-depth analysis and help in the correct execution of each process. Have you ever thought about applying logistics process mapping and letting the software do all the manual work for you? This is possible with the WMS system. With it, you can view the operation from start to finish and monitor everything that happens in the warehouse in real-time. The WMS provides all the information necessary to develop winning strategies in the market, with precision and security. Moreover, the system can distribute tasks and optimize time and financial and manual resources, assisting from reception, inventory management, work division, to the release of goods during shipping. With the support of the software, you can monitor key parameters for the growth of your warehouse and, most importantly: be warned in advance of problems and failures, allowing for quick correction. To find out more about how the system can help in mapping logistics processes and executing each phase, contact us and request assistance from one of our specialized consultants. Mapping Logistics Processes: How to Execute Them and Increase Operational Efficiency Deagor WMS per ecommerce può aiutarti!