Top 5 most asked questions from frozen food distributor about WMS
Frozen food storage and handling is an extremely challenging subject. It requires strict temperature control, accurate life cycle monitoring, and product labeling and tracing, among other issues. In this article I will answer all of your questions about the warehouse management system if you’re a frozen food distributor.
What device a frozen food distributor
should use with a WMS?
When talking to a frozen food distributor who wants to implement a WMS, the first question that they ask is what devices they need. There are two types of devices that you can use in a frozen food environment: A scanner, or a voice activated device. The scanner is the most widely used device and can be applied to all processes in the warehouse management chain.
Voice devices are mainly used for picking and are mainly used by large distributors because they are very expensive and do not preclude the use of scanners. However, they increase productivity between 30% and 40%. In any case you will need devices that operate at -20 degrees.
How to label the pallets and place them in bins?
The second question I get is how do I label my palettes and how do I know which bin to put the palette in in a frozen food environment. The products you receive are typically palletized and each pallet might contain different flavors of frozen products. Therefore, your WMS must be able to print QR codes with all the features of the products on each level of the pallets.
Once you have labeled your pallets, you need to decide where to put them in your warehouse. Placing the palette somewhere is quite simple: you are going to look for palette positions in or around the product picking slot.
How to keep picking simple?
A frozen food distributor needs pickers to wear heavy gloves that can withstand the temperatures of freezers. With these gloves it is not easy to click the keys of the device that you use. As explained in our article on WMS Implementation at Arctica, if you use voice pick devices, you do not have this problem. But if you are a small to medium-sized frozen food distributor using scanners, the only way to simplify the picking is through customization and adaptations of the WMS.
How to load the truck?
The next question I receive from a frozen food distributor is about loading product onto trucks. The answer is very simple: your WMS must be able to print a QR code on the dispatched pallets and the trucks must also have a QR code that identifies the truck and the route. The combination of these two codes in a WMS designed for this will give you full control of the loading and minimize delivery errors.
How to manage returns?
It is not uncommon for products not to be accepted by the customer, so some products will be left on the truck. This is a hassle for any distributor; but for a frozen food distributor it is a nightmare, as the product risks melting if it´s not promptly returned to a frozen slot. Fortunately, a WMS like ours allows these returns to be automatically unloaded from trucks and routed to an appropriate frozen space.
I hope this article has been helpful to you. I will continue to post information related to warehouse management, distribution practices and trends, and the economy in general. If you are interested in this article or want to learn more about Laceup Solutions, please subscribe to stay updated on future articles.
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