Title: Human errors in warehouse operations: an improvement model

Authors: Parama Kartika Dewa; I. Nyoman Pujawan; Iwan Vanany

Addresses: Department of Industrial Engineering, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Surabaya 60111, Indonesia; Department of Industrial Engineering, Atma Jaya Yogyakarta University, Yogyakarta, Indonesia ' Department of Industrial Engineering, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Surabaya 60111, Indonesia ' Department of Industrial Engineering, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Surabaya 60111, Indonesia

Abstract: Warehouse operations are very much dependent on manual works and hence, humans play critical roles. In order to have an excellent warehouse performance, it is imperative to address the human needs so that the errors can be minimised. Papers addressing human factors in warehouse operations are limited. The purpose of this paper is to develop an improvement model that can connect between warehouse performance, human errors in the process, and actions needed to improve the performance. We propose a two-stage deployment procedure, modified from the well-known quality function deployment (QFD). The first stage is to screen human errors that substantially affect warehouse performance. The second stage is to prioritise proposed improvement actions that could address most effectively the human errors. The model is applied to a warehouse operated by a logistics company that handles the storage and distribution of fast moving consumer goods.

Keywords: human factors; improvement model; modified QFD; warehouse operations.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLSM.2017.084468

International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management, 2017 Vol.27 No.3, pp.298 - 317

Received: 29 Dec 2015
Accepted: 14 May 2016
Published online: 07 Jun 2017 *

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