DCwise.eu shares in this post ideas on how you can improve your processes ➟
Within a warehouse operation - due to its nature often a very complex environment - communication is typically very chaotic and a lot of information is either not send, not received or not properly acted upon. In this post we give some guidelines & pointers on how this "chaos" can be "structured".
A tool that is recommended here is the use of a "collaborative communication platform" e.g. “MS SharePoint”.
Pro’s are
1️⃣ 1 single platform where all your journeys can start; whether it is a link towards other programs, to documents or even apps outside or within the platform itself.
➟ This allows you to guide your (communication) processes.
2️⃣ Updates, Tools or even "apps" themselves can be done/created within minutes.
➟ Full empowerment of the business while you can generate your own "communication" solutions.
3️⃣ Easy Integration ; meaning other information (folders, files etc) can be made available easily. Not to name the likes of OneNote etc; which get really empowered by these tools.
➟ The tools work kind of as a sticky glue between your different solutions; making the total work better.
4️⃣ The information entering can be easily organized with forms (to structure), drop-downs & data validation.
➟ Increase quality & velocity drastically.
5️⃣ Flows can be easily setup. Meaning you can set up flows such as notifications, approval, etc; while you can master the structure you immediately also structure the processes & communication.
➟ So you are able to get Governance in play.
6️⃣ Reports can be easily generated. Meaning you can set up flows such as notifications, approval, etc.
➟ So you are able to get an Overview without much effort.
Additionally there are the cooperation possibilities; its an ideal platform to link with outside of project members & only allowing access to what is needed.
⭐ The biggest benefit is actually maybe that no mention of "IT" was made. Meaning that leveraging the huge "standard" functionalities can just be done with some basic training... this empowers the teams to find solutions... without large budgets, timelines, ... let alone small modifications are just done in a whim.
⭐⭐ When you have someone needing to a job (new or just occasionally filling in) it will be 10x easier while they are empowered by the platform. Example: there is a link that is regularly needed. Instead of each time sharing this with every person that needs it (including sending it over & over while they forgot about it); the tools enable you to place them centrally - always available when needed-.
⭐⭐⭐ Also there is a huge increase in quality! This is in the loss of less information, have more action upon an event, etc.
E.g. these tools can easily be used to set up "reporting" or "ticketing" tools
And many more...
Now what is very noticeable is that many operations that have taken the step towards setting up such a platform are not harvesting from their investment. Important there as many operations struggle to roll this out properly is to focus on the user & let the users be empowered. Best practice here is to have first of all a true "vision" on the roll-out & secondly have in each team a “power-user” ie "a go to" that keeps the system clean, leverage improvement ideas, trains his pears, advocates the use, etc
☞ Overall you will see that - when rolled out successfully - the platform not only increases efficiency, drives more transparency & above all boosts the quality within the processes.
To enable your transformation journey & understand better the potential of the platforms feel free to get in touch 👉 DCwise.eu or jan.baert@dcwise.eu
