A week in logistics

Goods receipt is mainly concerned with recording and storing goods. The goods from the various suppliers arrive at the incoming goods warehouse and are scanned. The parcels are then initially stored in the high-bay warehouse. If an article requirement is reported by the picking warehouse, the respective articles are removed from the high-bay warehouse and forwarded. In order to be able to allocate the individual items precisely later, the items are first weighed and automatically measured by camera. The items are then allocated to the free spaces on the shelves in the picking warehouse. The exact storage location is recorded with the hand scanner so that the items can be found quickly later. The incoming goods department prepares everything for picking, so to speak.

During order picking, the individual items are put together for dispatch depending on the customer order. Equipped with a list and a kind of shopping cart, you walk through the aisles and look for the right items from the shelves, which were previously deposited there by the incoming goods department. It is very important to match the different numbers and item sizes exactly so that the wrong items are not sent by mistake. Once the boxes on the trolleys are full, they are transported on a conveyor belt to the dispatch and sorting department.

The items in the boxes, which were put together by the picking warehouse, are first placed individually on a conveyor belt in the sorting department. The items are then scanned with a scanner and automatically transported to the correct packing niche. There, the items are then lovingly packed by hand by our packers into the designated shipping bags and boxes. Individual items that are still missing are reordered from the picking warehouse and added later. Once everything is packed, the parcels are sent to the end-of-line inspection before dispatch. During the end-of-line inspection, the contents of the parcels are checked one last time before dispatch. For example, shoe boxes are opened to make sure that they really do contain the correct size.

Finally, the actual dispatch of the parcels is carried out in the freight handling center. The shipping bags and parcels packed in the shipping and sorting department arrive here and are inspected by hand for damage and then placed on a conveyor belt. The shipping labels on the shipping bags are then scanned and automatically pre-sorted according to shipping region and zip code. The sorted shipping bags are then placed in shipping boxes, which in turn are transported to the correct trucks. The parcels are also scanned automatically and then taken to the correct shipping point. Finally, the parcels and shipping bags are loaded onto the correct trucks. However, many parcels are also delivered, which are then prepared here by our logistics employees for onward shipment.

On the last day of our logistics taster week, we welcomed a special guest to our logistics department: our training manager Elli 💛. During the first week, our trainees and dual students named their favorite sweets during a scavenger hunt. Of course, this was not without reason - because as a surprise, Elli brought everyone their favorite candy during their visit to Logistics.

I really enjoyed my week in Logistics. To be honest, I couldn't say with 100% certainty which department I liked the most. But it was probably the picking warehouse. Order picking reminded me a bit of a treasure hunt. Packed with a big list, you go from shelf to shelf looking for the right item position. The search then continues within the boxes by meticulously comparing the different article numbers and descriptions. So you're on the move a lot, which is also reflected in my step counter at the end of the day😀.