Production and Distribution, the same but different

Warehouse and Operations as a Career

Hello all, WAOC is mobile this week. It’s been a while since we’ve done a show out in the field. I’m Marty back with Warehouse and Operations as a Career.

I started this week out in Dallas, wrapping up some training and then came out to Arizona to visit a large production facility. Then on to Nevada, I’m here today visiting the 1^st and 2^nd shifts of another facility.

We talk a lot about distribution here at WAOC so today, as I have production on my mind, let’s talk about differences and the constants between the different industries or types of warehouses.

As you know, I was raised in the distribution world. The fast pace of product coming in the door, trailers lined up down the street waiting to get unloaded, their merchandise separated, then palletized, wrapped, received and hauled off to its aisle for storage, being placed by narrow aisle reach lifts. Every square inch of these large facilities is racked, slots specifically designed and built, based on the products weight, density, cube movement vs available cube. Then once the inbound job is done each day the whole building is retooled, and the plate is set for the outbound operations to come in and perform! I say perform because, well, if you have ever seen it kick off it’s like a well running Bugatti hum or a symphonia of sounds! It’s almost a living breathing thing. To see 60 or 70 electric rider triple jacks rolling out at the same time. As the first 10k cases are pulled, that’s first gear, then they hit 50k cases, and at 100k cases selected you know the finale is coming. When an outbound shift is done and punched out, all aspects of the job has been completed. There is nothing left to be done, nothing to carry over until tomorrow. Nothing to think about once we’ve gone home! That’s one of the things I love about that shift. Punch in, do our job, punch out and go home with a clear mind, a sense of a job well done!

A large production facility will have many of the same duties and functions as a distribution center. They’re receiving department has to bring in their supplies, all the components, parts, and engineered items necessary to build, construct, or finish out the products they are producing and assembling. A large production facility may have a lot of open room, or floor space, and typically much less racking than you’d find at the DC. This allows room for, how can I explain it, we’ll call them roaming mini departments. Here is where we can lay out many pieces that need to be assembled to make a product or a piece of a product.

Once the product has been assembled, painted, been through quality control, boxed and packaged or made ready for shipment it’s off to the shipping department. Now, a production plant can have a storage area where they may store a high moving item, something that ships regularly but more often than not you’ll find that they produce it and ship it.

In my experience their equipment of choice could be the sit-down counterbalance forklift, and I’ve seen a lot of order pickers utilized, many of us may refer to them as cherry pickers! They’ll have more hand jacks and walkie jacks in operation. They may have a few standup narrow aisle lifts, there great for racking some of that stored freight but as I mentioned, the sit-down lift is typically the workhorse of the production facility. There utilized for hauling product much longer distances, crossing many different assembly areas or departments throughout the life of the produced product.

Both industries will have a lot of the same duties to be performed, but many of them are just done differently.

Take inventory Control. In a distribution center inventory control will be all about the counts being accurate in the pick locations, the reserve slots, and the driver check in area. What has come back and the invoices that need adjustments and any damages that happened while in transit. More than likely the facility will run a cycle count program, meaning that the entire inventory has been counted every year, quarter, or maybe even monthly.

At a production plant inventory control can be mixed with quality control. Item counts are still necessary however the quality of the finished product and the quality of each piece has to be documented as well.

And the returns area in distribution is going to be much different. In the DC setting we can have returns from end users, the customers if you will. Those items have to be issued credits, and checked for wholesomeness, a determination of can it be resoled. Because routes are sent out every day, returns have to be handled on a daily basis.

At a production facility returns can be rare. You’ll see more whole order returns, not just a piece of it. Take a car as an example. If the radio quits working, we have to take the entire vehicle back into the dealer. We don’t just take the radio back.

We haven’t mentioned the transportation side of things. Our distribution center, a large facility could have 100 + inbound loads a day. They can be dealing with 6k+ items coming in each shift. And on the shipping side, well, we’ll have to be shipping a like amount each day or our buildings will fill up! Loading out 100+ loads a shift destined to the end user is moving some freight!

In the production, even a large facility will rarely have half the inbound load count. They don’t need 6k items. They need the components needed to produce the products being assembled or produced. And on their outbound or shipping side you’ll see more consolidated freight loads, LTL or less than load shipments, even parcel carriers may be utilized.

As with different work environments I find that the associates are usually geared a little differently to! In the DC environments, with the pace being driven by productivity, a successful employee is a hyper individual, one that keeps moving, thinking less and working more.

In the production plants I see more thinkers, their strategic with moves and have far fewer errors. With that high productivity portion removed, production workers have time to be a bit more innovative, I think!

I am asked all the time which industry is the best. Manufacturing, Production and Distribution all bring different opportunities to us. As we’ve just learned, they all have those core warehouse positions. Each can spider off into many different types of financial positions, engineering programs, and logistics careers. I honestly don’t have a favorite.

I try and place people in the fields that match their personality, their drive and ambition. By knowing their goals, I can share with them the pros and cons in each industry as it relates to their long-term goal.

As we’ve discussed before, if we have targeted our employer, know what the advancement opportunities are, know what we want to be doing for them in 10 years, we’ll make the right decision and join the organization that we can retire from. My advice is to always follow one’s passion, our gut will put us in the right place!

Well, I’ve got to get back over to the production plant, one final check off sheet, and then head back to Texas.

Until next week, be that employee this week and be safe being that employee.