HEALTH & SAFETY
By Axel Schmidt, senior communications manager, ProGlove HOW WORKPLACE SAFETY PROMOTES EFFICIENCY
information about these articles improves both picking accuracy and efficiency.
T
he question of how logistics and supply chain managers may need to prepare for the next crisis on the horizon, or another pandemic, is critical. Today, flexibility is definitely a crucial prerequisite. As we’ve all seen through the Covid- 19 pandemic, organisations want to be in a position that enables them to set up, relocate or redesign workplaces quickly and respond to market needs with agility. The same goes for the underlying processes. But, as organisations get ready to deal with the future, what should they as they develop their operations?
PREVENT OLD HABITS FROM ENDANGERING EMPLOYEES A first key objective is to prevent employees from reverting back to old habits that could endanger them. In a Covid-19 world, smart wearables can play an important role and enable social distancing onsite. Technologies, such as wearable scanners, can for instance provide organisations with an app that can connect the workers to their devices. The basic idea is fairly simple: the app detects when workers fall below the minimum social distance for too long. In response, it generates a message that the wearable device can output as a combination of acoustic, haptic and visual warning signals. Particularly in busy or noisy work environments, combined signals are extremely helpful for attracting employees’ attention and warning them. This type of technology is especially well suited to help workers at the assembly line or in logistics by providing this uncomplicated reminder to keep the right distance.
SLIPS, TRIPS, FALLS AND OTHER INJURIES CAN BE PREVENTED WITH WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY In addition to Covid-secure considerations, employers have a duty of care to keep the workforce safe during the working day. But every
industry comes with associated risks. Especially within sectors such as manufacturing, materials handling and logistics - for example, with machinery, items at various heights and a noisy environment - there are a number of safety risks that must be considered. For instance, slips, trips and falls, injuries from lifting or being struck by a moving object are some of the hazards that could cause harm.
To illustrate the scale of the problem that organisations face, in 2018/19 in the UK, 28.2 million working days were lost due to work-related illness and injury and in 2017/18, the estimated economic cost to Great Britain totalled £15 billion.
MAKING PICKING PROCESSES BETTER AND SAFER
Considerable potential for wearable technologies, like wearable scanners, may lie where businesses would least expect them. Order picking is a perfect example that shows promise.
There is great potential for savings to be made by looking at the picking process, especially with regard to travel and picking times by workers. Typically, travel time accounts for 30 to 50 per cent of picking time, and includes the time that a warehouse worker needs to reach the goods and return to the picking area. Shortening the distance can, therefore, make a significant contribution to improving the entire order processing time. The same applies to the picking time, i.e. the interval from the first contact with the item, including transport to the storage location, and depositing at the storage location. Further, it is particularly important to ensure that the item is picked accurately, so that the entire picking process does not need to be repeated. This is where smart glasses or wearable devices are recommended. Scanning articles with these technologies, as they are picked, and having the access to real-time
REMOVING PROCESS BOTTLENECKS IMPROVES SAFETY AND PRODUCTIVITY Bottlenecks arise within companies’ processes due to external as well as internal conditions. For example, fluctuations in demand and dynamic markets represent major challenges for production. In addition, complex structures within technical processes, process organisation and logistics are also susceptible to errors and inefficiency. The more complex the internal structures, the more difficult it is to understand where and why bottlenecks occur. Long throughput times, underestimated forecast qualities regarding demand, or overfilled warehouses with semi-finished goods, are typical examples of the negative consequences that arise from a bottleneck – but they are often not the hurdle itself. Therefore, it is crucial to analyse what the original problem is that is impacting on other areas within production and logistics. A typical example is the number of parts and process steps used together. Too many production parts increase complexity and cause costs to skyrocket – resulting in efficiency losses. Furthermore, partners in the value chain often play a role. If, for example, the delivery of goods and production parts is delayed due to problems on the part of the supplier, this can have an impact on the entire production and, in the worst case, lead to the production line stalling.
TREATING TOOLS AS COMMUNICABLE OBJECTS MAKES THEM EASIER TO FIND AND MANAGE
A frequently recurring problem is also that semi- finished goods, or even tools, are stored; but the storage location is not recorded properly and therefore cannot be found. This can make the time required to search for objects unreasonably long; and in the worst case, results in existing parts potentially being written off because they are considered to be lost, when in fact they are misplaced. The solution to this is to turn all tools, materials, machines, etc. into communicable objects by providing them with trackable stickers or similar. The objects can then be located and the search time minimised. This is particularly important when it comes to tasks within an organisation where a specific tool is required to prove that health and safety is adhered to – can these tools be found, if not why not?
ProGlove
www.proglove.com FACTORY&HANDLINGSOLUTIONS | FEBRUARY 2021 23
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