Bob Trebilcock

It’s the people, stupid.
August 13, 2008

When Bill Clinton ran for his first term as president, his campaign had a four-word mantra: “It’s the economy, stupid!”

In retrospect, it seems obvious that your average voter cares about his wallet first, especially during tough economic times. But at the time, it was a revolutionary concept.

Steve Mulaik, a partner with The Progress Group, has a mantra for consultants, systems integrators, warehouse managers and anyone else involved in the design and implementation of a new automated materials handling system: It’s the people, stupid.

“We see a number of new distribution centers where the user is getting one third of the productivity out of the new building that they got out of the last,” Mulaik said. “They've just spent millions and they tell us they have to move back. What we often find after we do an assessment is that there are things that can be fixed. And often, the problem isn’t the equipment: It’s the people equation.”

In fact, Mulaik was calling from the Midwest, where he and his colleagues were performing CPR on a state of the art retail distribution center that wasn’t living up to its billing.  

“We didn’t install this one,” Mulaik was quick to add. “This is a rescue mission, and it’s becoming a fairly common thing for us. Seven out of ten new systems work pretty well right from the start. But there’s a handful that don’t, and those are the one’s we’re called in to fix.”

The first step in a DC 911 call is to assess the variables: The equipment, software, management team and the people. It’s not uncommon, he says, to get the equipment and software up to snuff, only to discover that the people operating the system just aren’t the right people for the job.

“I have a client across town with a very complicated tilt-tray sortation system,” he explained. “The system is designed to have operators pick items into one of four totes, based on a label that tells them where to place the item. Using four totes is supposed to give them a 20% improvement, but after two years of operating and millions spent on conveyor buffer they’ve given up hope because their people don’t throw the items in the right tote.”

Mulaik’s conclusion: “You’re never going to get world-class performance out of an automated materials handling system with average people.”

What’s the answer? “If distribution professionals are going to get the value out of these systems, they have to be more selective about the people they hire,” Mulaik said. “HR people tell me they can’t do it because they’ll have to pay more or that there aren’t enough qualified people out there. I don’t believe that.”

Mulaik and his colleagues are working on a test to identify individuals who can work within a highly-automated materials handling system. The results so far: The test they’re using will identify the individuals who won’t cut it, but right now, he can’t predict who is going to be a superstar. However, he believes that will come. “This idea is in its infancy now, but I think but over years, this is going to be more important,” he said.

At that, he had to go. There was more CPR to perform on the facility that wasn’t running as it should. 

Let me know if you're having trouble getting qualified workers in your distribution center by posting below or writing me at Robert.trebilcock@verizon.net 

Posted by Bob Trebilcock on August 13, 2008 | Comments (0)