Warehouse Labour Management
A labor management system is a software solution designed to manage human labor within a warehouse or distribution center. By compiling employee data throughout the day, a labor management system is able to report productivity levels on a group of employees or individuals, allowing managers and executives to see where their labor dollars are spent and optimize their human assets.
The demand for labor management systems has skyrocketed from the increasing costs of hiring, training and retaining top-level employees. In addition, labor is amongst the highest expenses incurred by most warehouse or DC operations.
Labor management systems provide warehouses and DC managers with labor planning and forecasting tools, real-time performance visibility, analytics and labor standards which aid improvements in management decisions, coaching, productivity and keep costs to a minimum.
Source: Canary7
Next Generation Labor Management Systems Use Machine Learning for Predictive Performance Standards
In order to provide better labor insights, labor management systems are equipped with labor standards. Traditionally, a few industrial engineers armed with stopwatches and clipboards conduct time studies to determine labor standards. These pre-defined models are static, use only a limited number of variables and require heavy maintenance.
More advanced labor management solutions utilize machine learning to provide more dynamic and predictive performance standards. Machine learning solutions analyze warehouse data to develop predictive models for workforce planning. This data can come from multiple sources, including warehouse optimization systems, mobile devices and warehouse control systems.
