Shipping and Receiving Efficiency at a Lighting Producer: Faster, Safer, Leaner

How we improved shipping and receiving efficiency with Lean, Kaizen, and 5S.

Introduction

At this lighting producer, the need to improve shipping and receiving efficiency led our push to change.
Our methods to support this client’s goals included:

• Lean, Kaizen, and 5S.
• Setting standard work and clear SOPs.
• Improving the warehouse layout and shipping lanes.
• Adding Advanced Receiving to the ERP.

As a result, shipping efficiency and receiving efficiency rose. Safety rose too.

Goals

First, leaders set a 20% gain for Shipping and Receiving, with goals of receiving stock within 24 hours and clearing Receiving within 48 hours.
These targets drove the Kaizen team’s work to improve shipping and receiving efficiency.

Findings

After a Lean, Kaizen, and 5S refresher from DPA Senior Consultant Mike Beauregard, the team walked the floor.
They found too little storage and long walks due to the poor layout.
Stock waited in Receiving for too long.
Orders reached Shipping are incomplete and out of sync across departments.

Communication with Shipping fell short:

• The shipping staff lacked inventory data to select the right loads.

• Finished goods reached Shipping, messy and mixed.

• Teams faced constant walk‑ups for shipping updates.

• Shipping finished goods in waves, not level loaded.

• Order entry errors forced Shippers to research and fix.

• Receiving had no clear process for outside‑processed goods.

• Staff lacked supplier papers, information, and inspection rules.

Tasks

The team mapped the current flow for Shipping and Receiving. They walked the floor and measured distances between steps. As a result, they identified 61 improvement ideas.
After review, they planned actions for 56 ideas.

Actions

• The team wrote new SOPs for Receiving, Receiving Inspection, and Shipping. They met with the ERP admin and made tweaks to speed up the flow. They also met Scheduling and Production to improve Ship Complete.
• To improve safety, they added a Receiving worktable and started 5S. They changed the shipping lanes for two products to improve flow. They planned upgrades for another line’s lanes.
  Upgrades included worktables, a computer, a printer, and support gear.
• The Kaizen team revised the priority process and wrote an SOP. High‑priority jobs now move straight to Shipping. This saves Shipping staff 1.2 hours each day.
• They added mistake‑proofing to the sizing of lighting bundles in Production. Bundles now reach shipping-sized right, not oversized.
• The team set a Kanban pull with a supplier to end stockouts. A junior buyer is being trained on ERP Advance Receiving.

These steps save two hours of paperwork daily. Changing the process for non‑inventory goods is saving more than an hour per day. Receiving Inspection now follows standard work. Together, these actions lift shipping and receiving efficiency.

Results

New layouts, extra tools, and standard work have improved shipping rates from 33 to 40 units per labor hour.
Shipping now saves 8.4 hours a day, or 21%, on 40 labor hours. Receiving saves 4.7 hours on 16 labor hours per day, or 29%.

A better warehouse layout reduces walk time. Kanban pull is now preventing stockouts. ERP Advance Receiving is also supporting these gains.
These changes are ensuring that the company’s shipping and receiving efficiency will continue improving.