e2B – Customer Case Study

Gideon Hillman Consulting, complete Warehouse Operations Review for e2B

e2B provide logistics and brand support, offer unique event services, distribution strategies and storage solutions to a host of household name brands such as Redbull Drinks, Vegeware and Sacla, to name but a few.

e2B operate out of two adjoining units in Watford totalling 60,000 sq. ft. with 3649 racked pallet locations and have a turnover in the region of £3.2M per annum. e2B wished to ensure that their current and future operations were optimised, to enable them to confidently enter into contracts with new clients. Experiencing inefficiencies in the warehouse, predominantly through holding too much pallet stock, e2B identified the need for external support to carry out an operational review of all their storage and fulfilment operations, and enlisted the help of Logistics Specialists Gideon Hillman Consulting.

Under the scope of this project the Logistics Consultants team were required to identify potential areas for operational improvements, and advise how these could be achieved; providing confirmation of processes running at acceptable or maximum efficiency, identifying bottle necks and advising how to mitigate accordingly.

Commencing the work, the logistics specialists carried out a review of goods receipt, storage, pick/pack, despatch, returns and value added flows, to benchmark the existing operation, highlighting key findings and recommendations for improvement.

Reviewing the current layouts and workflows, Gideon Hillman Consulting provided an updated set of SOPs (standard Operating Procedures) to support their proposed optimised layouts and workflows, whilst also supporting e2B with identifying and optimising operational efficiencies. The Logistics Specialists also provided e2B with a cost and service comparison, showing consideration of charge rates against the activities in the e2B standard rate card, whilst also taking into account, any additional activities that e2B might be required to deliver in future.

Based on a benchmark of the current deployment of warehouse staff and equipment against the workload activities and volumes, the Gideon Hillman Consulting team provided recommended optimised picking and replenishment strategies, shift patterns, staff resource plan and warehouse management team structure. Gideon Hillman Consulting also presented e2B with a proposal, to enable them to easily identify and optimise operational efficiencies.

Using the data garnered, the Logistics Specialists presented their results, highlighting best practice, and recommendations for productivity improvements for optimised warehouse workflows and processes (more specifically WMS functionality) and product handling and picking within their current facility size constraints. The Logistics Specialists team also presented e2B with their considerations for future growth volumes based on agreed material flows.

With assistance from The Logistics Specialists at Gideon Hillman Consulting, e2B, were able to prioritise improvements judged by ease of implementation and business benefit, including the ability to confidently determine the need for off-site pallet storage. The Gideon Hillman Consulting team worked to ensure that ongoing, all pallets would be stored correctly.

The Logistics Specialists ensured that current and future operations were optimised to prevent impairment of picking speeds, and successfully optimised the operational capability/efficiency of the whole facility, ensuring that processes consistently run at maximum efficiency. Gideon Hillman Consulting ultimately provided e2B with solutions to mitigate constraints in their warehouse, enabling them to get the most out of their facility.