In 2024 the Brown and Watson International Warehouse Picking Team challenged management to explore strategies to reduce harm and ensure a positive impact on how people work picking items from locations above the shoulder and below the knee. The project entailed measuring every product aisle by aisle against its sales demands and movements per month to establish criteria for slow vs fast moving stock which could be relocated.
The project resulted in the reduction of undesirable picking height’s locations by 24% and increased desirable locations by 32%. A traffic light system was developed to further improve picking accuracy and through more efficient and safe practices there is a reduced need for overtime, and workloads are managed through good work design. Our people reported increased job satisfaction (not having to bend down as frequently), felt an increased sense of accomplishment from increased picking speeds (improved efficiency) and increased buy-in (the business listened to them and did something about it).
