No longer a buzzword in the beverage industry, SKU proliferation is impossible to ignore. Pressure to adapt processes to accommodate its effects is felt by manufacturers and distributors seeking methods to best suit their operation.
“Product volume may or may not be going up, but complexity is going up everywhere, which is driving up manufacturers’ and distributors’ costs, and affecting delivery,” said Greg Ellis, president of Precision Distribution Consulting (PDC), Denver, and York, Pa. “Picking products from the warehouse is more productive if you get five of something 10 times for 50 cases, than if you have 25 different SKUs and pick two of each. Order complexity is the single biggest factor of productivity in warehouses.”