Prekitting

[Chard]

I have been very interested in moving our business to pre kitting.

I've watched many good demonstrations (parlevel, vagabond,etc.) But I've got to say the only reason I would implement is if I could reduce total time of operations.  I know route times will reduce, but from what I can gather that work is simply shifted to the warehouse. 

Is this so?

Also, what sort of learning curve are we talking about to implement?  Does it take a month, a year, or more to get comfortable?

[AZVendor]

The idea is that you move the picking work from the more highly paid route driver to the lower paid warehouse worker.  The other savings is that you can use much smaller and lighter vehicles for route delivery.  The upfront costs are the kitting software, the telemetry equipment in each machine, purchasing smaller vehicles, buying racking for the warehouse.  The ongoing costs are the new warehouse workers and software subscriptions.  You will be able to consolidate routes or expand without hiring more route drivers (to a point).  The length of time to roll it out depends on the size of the business and the money you can invest up front.

[Southeast Treats]

Yes, you are shifting work but you are also making the picking more efficient.  It's much easier to pick and pack in a room than in the back of a truck.  You are also saving more than the picking time on the route, because you no longer have to go in and inventory first.  You go straight to the machine with the proper products. 

[Chard]

I appreciate the help.  The costs to do this really add up.

[Southeast Treats]

Depending on the size of the operation, you can plan this in phases.  Reusing cardboard boxes instead of buying plastic totes, setting up your picking room, etc.  You can prekit for offline machines as well, although it's not quite as efficient, there are several ways to do it. 

[Lake Cities Vending]

Saves time going to locations that are not yet ready for servicing.