Case Study

Background

An ultra-value retailer with private equity ownership had significant growth ambitions. To achieve this goal, they needed improvements in warehouse operations, including efficiency, throughput, and cost reduction. Because of the reverse-logistics nature of the business, understanding the supply chain was much more complicated than in more traditional operations.

Solution

The Firefly team began with an assessment and warehouse redesign, improving flow, reducing handling, and adding KPI’s for labor productivity. The work included a future state layout for the warehouses, and alternative approaches for sorting/processing lines. The team developed high level process maps in current and future states, modeling of labor efficiencies and staffing requirements, and sizing of inventory buffers required to accommodate variation in supply and labor absorption.

Results

We identified an immediate opportunity for the main line to process 25% more product without additional staff, and an opportunity to presort for 15% additional capacity. The warehouse redesign also allows for a 50% reduction in forklift use, and 30% reduction in forklift labor hours. New processes and buffer size quantities also reduce inventory 40% and eliminate the need for an extra building.

Want to see results like this at your company? Contact our team to learn more.