Micro Innovations Part I
August 7, 2024
How Sorting Line Efficiency Was Improved for A Major Chinese Logistics Company
When I visited a major Chinese logistics company in March 2009, I was startled by what I saw. At the end of every turn of the sorting line, two workers were continuously picking up packages that fell and placing them on the next section of the conveyor belt. So I decided to speak to the husband and wife who co-owned the business about what was taking place.
At the time I had just started a consulting practice, Hyco Technology Co. Ltd, which focused on transforming the efficiency of logistics and the supply chain through technological innovation and process optimization. It was my third entrepreneurial venture.
I saw a business need for Hyco Technology because China had just legalized private express services that year. Up till then, these services had operated in a legal gray area despite their substantial growth.
When I met with the co-owners of the logistics company, I asked them why the workers were stationed at the end of the conveyor. Their response was that they were simply following “American processes” and that other Chinese companies also did this.
When I pressed the owners as to whether the stationing of workers added “value,” they replied: “Without them, many packages would fall to the ground and not proceed to the next sorting phase.”
My counsel was this: Have the engineering department add a non-powered roller at the turns of the conveyor belt. That way when the packages reach the turn, they’ll automatically turn without falling off.
Within a week of the company adopting my proposed solution, the workers stationed at the end of the sorting line were reassigned. Three months later, when word got about my efficiency improvement, all express logistics companies in China had eliminated the stationing of workers at THE end of sorting lines and replaced them with non-powered rollers.
But unfortunately, when I worked as a temporary worker in the warehouse of a E-commerce and express delivery giant in the United States in 2023, I still saw the above-mentioned roles.
