What do engineered labor, slotting, and task interleaving have in common? Those that implement all three achieve the "productivity trifecta" of warehouse optimization. If you're not using all three, then you're leaving money on the table.

The scene: a big box store early on Black Friday. A large crowd gathers outside the store waiting for the doors to open. Among them, Shopper A and Shopper B. Both are eager to go inside the store to make their purchases. Shopper A has a game plan. She has the store’s circular from the paper, a list of items, and most importantly, she has familiarized herself with the store’s layout. She also knows that the items she’s looking for will be strategically placed within the store. Shopper B, however, has no plan for finding her purchases. While she walks from one end of the store to the other, Shopper A already has her items and is headed for checkout.

Retailers have already learned the strategic placement of merchandise within their stores can help drive sales while improving efficiencies for both their workforce and their customers. Additionally, smart shoppers have identified their optimal path to efficiently walk the store to get to the merchandise they want the most. These lessons learned can be used by warehouse managers to improve their efficiencies as well. While many warehouses utilize engineered labor standards, or task interleaving or slotting practices, those that implement all three achieve the “productivity trifecta” of warehouse optimization. If you are not doing all three of these, you’re leaving money on the table.