WINTER 2021

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THE DISTRIBUTOR’S LINK
Robert Footlik
Robert B. Footlik, PE is a retired Professional Industrial Engineer. With over 50 years’
experience as a Warehouse and Logistics Consultant to a wide variety of clients including
Fastener Distributors, Bob has a wealth of valuable information for our industry and he is
willing to share it. While Footlik & Associates is now closed, his expertise is still available
to his friends and our readers. For friendly advice, a second opinion or just to start a
conversation, he can be reached at robert@footlik.net.
MAKING SENSE OF THE WAREHOUSE
Ages ago my Industrial Engineering Professors told
their students that, “The future of the warehouse is
revealed in the data of the past.” It was their eminent
opinion that a good warehouse manager could rely on
information that was collected systematically and reliably
then analyzed mathematically
to gain a true measure of any
operation. Therefore a good
manager is one who collects,
appreciates and analyzes the
maximum amount of data.
Hoo boy were they wrong!
And the Covid-19 pandemic
proves it. Even with vast
abilities for data collection the
crisis went from bad to worse.
Any Fastener Distributor with a powerful Warehouse
Management System now knows that that even with plenty
of information the operation can quickly go downhill and
descend into chaos and unprofitability if the management
team works from home. No matter how many cameras
and sensors are in the warehouse there is no substitute
for an on premises, educated and enlightened Supervisor.
Zoom meetings are most definitely far less effective than
the immediacy of on site management.
A major difference between a good manager and
a GREAT one lies not in how they analyze past history,
it’s how they use their senses…all their senses. Much
of what is going on in any operation can be learned by
becoming fully aware of your sensory inputs.
CONTRIBUTOR ARTICLE
What do you SEE?
One can walk thru an area a thousand times and
see nothing. A rookie cop needs a good mentor to “read”
the neighborhood and sharp eyes to spot anomalies,
impending problems and community needs. So does a
Warehouse Manager. It isn’t
just a matter of seeing, there
is also the art of knowing what
you are looking at.
Inventory or orders near a
doorway might be an innocent
temporary move, or it could be
the set up for an impending
theft. Those fresh scratches
on a door jamb may be
indicative of a break in. And everywhere you know how
to look there are clues pointing to security problems.
The earlier illegal activity is identified the better the end
result. One manager who spotted company inventory in
the dumpster emptied the box and refilled it with a note,
“We know who you are, don’t come back.” The next day
he was short 3 people…who never came back, even for
their paycheck. And over the next week everyone in the
warehouse quietly and privately thanked him for getting
rid of the bad guys.
Looking for problems, however, isn’t enough. Look for
outstanding efforts, changes in staff demeanor and even
little things that might pass unnoticed. A good manager
will bend over and pick up trash from the floor.
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