Even with its well$-$trained staff, on$-$time delivery was a problem last year. According to the operations manager, the primary reasons for the shortfall were lower than expected picking accuracy and longer than expected pick times. The quality analyst summarized last year$$s picking accuracy by month.

Picking accuracy last year

Month

Picking accuracy $(\%)$

Jan

$98$

Feb

$99$

March

$98$

April

$98$

May

$95$

June

$99$

July

$96$

Aug

$99$

Sep

$99$

Oct

$97$

Nov

$96$

Dec

$98$

The accountant and IT analyst went through the WMS system to calculate average time used to pack pallets last year. In their calculations packing consisted of picking items $($inclusive of time needed to record the transaction in the WMS$)$ and time spent traveling throughout the warehouse locating SKUs.

Warehouse Pallet packing times last year

Month

Picking $($min$)$

Travelling $($min$)$

Jan

$0\mathrm{.}123$

$0\mathrm{.}55$

Feb

$0\mathrm{.}154$

$0\mathrm{.}4$

March

$0\mathrm{.}124$

$0\mathrm{.}23$

April

$0\mathrm{.}133$

$0\mathrm{.}23$

May

$0\mathrm{.}132$

$0\mathrm{.}34$

June

$0\mathrm{.}133$

$0\mathrm{.}33$

July

$0\mathrm{.}135$

$0\mathrm{.}34$

Aug

$0\mathrm{.}135$

$0\mathrm{.}22$

Sep

$0\mathrm{.}132$

$0\mathrm{.}21$

Oct

$0\mathrm{.}133$

$0\mathrm{.}33$

Nov

$0\mathrm{.}13$

$0\mathrm{.}2$

Dec

$0\mathrm{.}132$

$0\mathrm{.}3$

The operations manager blamed poor pallet packing times on the increased number of picks per pallet and longer travel distances in the warehouse necessary to complete picks. The IT analyst pulled average items picked per pallet and SKUs picked per pallet from the WMS$.$ Her findings, by customer