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Interview ability to execute. Even small inefficiencies can become major bottlenecks as you grow. One of the best first steps is to walk the floor, observe where processes deviate from expectations, and make adjustments early. The tighter your operations are before scaling, the smoother your growth will be.
Can you share a success story where addressing these issues led to a measurable improvement in warehouse efficiency or accuracy? We worked with a warehouse that was struggling with a growing number of incomplete orders. Leadership responded by throwing more labor at picking, thinking it was a productivity issue, but nothing improved. When we pulled scan data, we saw large gaps between scans, indicating that pickers were spending a lot of time searching for product or rerouting themselves mid-task.
It was clear walking the floor that the warehouse was over capacity. Aisles were jammed, dock space was limited, and product was everywhere but the team was focused on shipping, assuming that pushing more product out would free up space. What they didn’ t fully realize was that the real bottleneck was in receiving. There was product sitting in the building that hadn’ t been received into the system, so it wasn’ t available to pick even though it was physically there.
The overcapacity created a domino effect: blocked aisles, unassigned locations, missed pallets at shipping, and a frustrated team unable to do their jobs efficiently.
Once we uncovered the root cause, we redirected labor to receiving and focused on short picks to immediately improve fill rates. We also worked with the customer to implement pre-loads, which helped free up valuable dock space. With space under control, the team could begin consolidating locations and evaluating layout changes. The result: fewer incomplete orders, improved inventory visibility, and a much smoother flow throughout the building.
What advice would you offer logistics leaders who suspect their operations are suffering from invisible inefficiencies but don’ t know where to dig in? If you suspect invisible inefficiencies in your operation, start by stepping back from the day-to-day grind and take a fresh look at your data. Verify what the data is really telling you. Walk the floor, talk to your team, and confirm whether what’ s happening in the system reflects what’ s actually happening in the building.
One of the biggest traps I see is leaders jumping to quick fixes or layering on workarounds. It might feel like progress, but it often just masks the real issues and creates more complexity in the long run. Instead, focus on small, visible wins that build trust with your team. When they start to see positive changes, they’ re more likely to buy in as you tackle bigger improvements.
Also ask: is the data you are capturing a true measure of performance, or just what’ s easiest to report? Every operation has a different starting point based on where and how value is created.
The key is to treat inefficiencies as symptoms and then use a mix of data, team insight, and floor observation to find the root cause. ■
Amy Dean www. sccodeworks. com
Amy Dean is an operations and IT expert with over a decade of experience in logistics. SC Codeworks is an all-inclusive software development company focused on the warehouse and transportation industries. Founded over 20 years ago, its seasoned professionals provide a stateof-the-art, scalable, and customizable Warehouse Management System( WMS).
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