Warehousing is a Productivity Success

Warehousing is one area where productivity has risen steadily over the last couple of decades.This has been partly due to the rise of the ‘super retailer’, the boom in online purchasing - and the boom in online grocery sales.  All of this was energised by the COVID pandemic when customers were, or felt, unable to go to their local stores and ventured bravely into online food and grocery buying,  

The warehouses have therefore got steadily bigger and the level of technology has risen sharply. Warehousing has long been a fruitful area for technology deployments - firstly in the data processing area because effective warehousing depends on sound forecasting and stock control … but more lately in the automation arena with modern warehouses using automated order picking and fulfilment.

The best warehousing and warehousers do not just invest in technology - they also invest in the surrounding systems and business processes, in the training and development of staff , in layout planning and in communication  technology,

This is typical of technology deployment.  It needs to be part of wider management practice, built on a sound technical infrastructure and within an effective management framework.

Broadly warehousing seems to have got this balance right.  We should salute those involved for their systematic and coherent approach to productivity improvement.

Other sectors, take note!