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Archive →At acceptance, one sentence from a frontline key user outweighs ten from the project manager
Pick key users by role, plus the logistics planner; senior and willing to learn; in from requirements. Three traps: assigned, transferred, or the only one who knows.
An interface failure isn't the scary part. The scary part is three systems each saying it's not theirs
A WMS talks to ERP, MES, QMS, SRM, LES and equipment systems. The most frequent pain is sync failure: one order crosses several systems, so a stuck one means several teams digging through logs.
Put one pallet in the wrong zone at inbound, and automation can't get it out at outbound
Five inbound steps, each one paving the way for outbound. Stock split across zones looks fine on paper but blocks automation; we check the zone at goods receipt and reject the wrong one.
AS/RS throughput stuck? Often it isn't the equipment. The same pallet keeps making the trip
Order grouping and wave building are different things. Wave size is rooted in the PFEP. The 20% came from one rule: a pallet serves the whole wave before it goes back.
A parts table with 30-plus columns, cut to 8. That is when in-plant logistics started to run
In-plant logistics runs on one table, one row per part. Ours had 30-plus columns nobody could maintain. Cut to 8, each with an owner, the system finally ran.
Forced kitting saves the day once. Make cross-docking a habit, and the AS/RS becomes decoration
Before release, check critical parts. Force the order through anyway, and the late part cross-docks to the line. When shortages pile up, cross-docking becomes routine and automation gets bypassed.
Line-side inventory is calculated, not counted
Line-side parts are backflushed by the BOM standard, while the floor consumes by reality. Four common errors grow from that gap; we cleared them in two rounds, system first, people second.
Changing a BOM line after release is easy. Knowing where the parts are is the hard part
Change a BOM after the production order is released and the first question is where the parts are: on the rack, with the picker, or at the line. Three states, three ways to handle it.
The buyers behind humanoid robots' biggest orders are not factories
Humanoid robots are mostly bought by data collection centers, research labs and show operators. On a factory floor, their real output today is data; capacity is a by-product.