A critical path is defined as a portion or subset of a material handling equipment (MHE) system and its associated components that are essential to the efficient and effective performance of a distribution and fulfillment (D&F) operation. Simply put, a critical path is a system or subsystem without which your operation simply cannot survive. A common example includes the coordination of sortation, induction, merge and accumulation conveyors. Performance optimization consulting (POC) is a targeted lifecycle management process through which an MHE vendor analyzes a critical path’s current operation and makes improvements to maximize its throughput and efficiency. This process starts by assessing the existing critical path’s MHE components. It includes a review of current business requirements (package sizes, throughput, customer service levels, etc.), conducts system-specific enhancements and improvements, and concludes by establishing a new performance baseline.

Once the POC process is completed, internal maintenance and MHE vendors can then work to support this new performance baseline. This paper will detail a three-step POC process that can be used to deliver performance improvements on the most important system within a D&F operation.

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