Logistics audit: Do it yourself in 11 steps
Before you call external experts and pay 14,700 PLN for an audit, you can check for yourself where money is escaping in your warehouse. At Baltic Bridge Consulting, we have been fixing processes since September 2016 and we know that 84% of problems are visible during a simple walk through the floor. Numbers don't lie, so we have prepared a list of concrete points that will allow you to recover profit and the time of your people.
Step 1 and 2: Flow thread analysis and waste map
The first task is to draw the actual path the goods take from the unloading gate to the rack, and then to the shipping zone. In March 2024 at a plant near Tczew, we discovered that one pallet intersected with the forklift path 17 times before it reached the right place. This generates unnecessary risk of accidents and wastes the operator's time, who has to wait for other machines to pass. Take a stopwatch and measure how much time the goods spend in motion and how much they lie idle in buffer zones. We look for losses on the floor, so don't look at the ERP system, but go where the goods physically stand.
The second step is to mark contact points where paper documentation slows down work. If a warehouse worker has to get off the forklift 14 times an hour to sign an invoice or check a shipping list, you are losing real minutes. At Baltic Bridge Consulting, we have calculated that unnecessary getting off the forklift costs an average company about 2,340 PLN a month per employee. Focus on eliminating those moments when the process stops because a signature or clear instruction is missing. Concrete instead of theory – if something doesn't add value, it is a loss that needs to be cut first.
If a warehouse worker gets off a forklift 14 times an hour, you lose 2,340 PLN a month per full-time equivalent.
Step 3 and 4: Operational time on ramps and unloading
Most bottlenecks start at the ramps. We have measured that the average driver waiting time for unloading in Polish manufacturing companies in 2024 is as much as 54 minutes. At Baltic Bridge Consulting, we aim to shorten this time to 22 minutes. Check if your people have the space for the goods prepared before the truck pulls up to the gate. Often it happens that the ramp is free, but the receiving zone is blocked with pallets from the previous day. This is a classic synchronization error that makes the entire warehouse work in fire-fighting mode.
The fourth step is qualitative verification at reception. If your employees check every single item and complaints are still above 1.4%, it means the control system is leaky. In one plant in Gdynia we have worked with since October 2023, we introduced random sampling based on statistics. This shortened the reception process by 37%, and the number of errors did not increase. Numbers don't lie – excessive control is also a cost that no one will return if it doesn't translate into real improvement in shipment quality to the client.
Step 5 and 6: Workstation ergonomics and redundant kilometers
The average warehouse worker in a non-optimal layout covers 16.3 kilometers a day. That is 6.7 kilometers too many. In step five of the audit, you must check where your people walk most often for tools, stretch wrap, or labels. If the printer is located 25 meters from the packing station and an employee has to approach it 40 times a day, they waste 2 kilometers just on walking to the desk. Move equipment where the action happens. We recover your time and profit through simple changes in furniture layout that cost almost nothing and give an immediate effect.
The sixth step is an analysis of storage height. Often the heaviest goods that rotate fastest (group A) lie on the highest shelves, forcing the forklift operator to constantly raise the mast. Every raise is an additional 42 seconds of engine work and battery consumption. Reorganize the racks so that goods leaving the floor daily are within arm's reach or on the lowest rack levels. At Baltic Bridge Consulting we have seen how such a change shortened picking time by 19% in just 11 business days without purchasing new machines.
The average warehouse worker covers 16.3 km a day. We can shorten this by 6.7 km.
Step 7 and 8: ERP system versus reality
This is the moment when you check if the warehouse stock in the computer matches what lies on the shelves. During audits in 2024 we noticed that the average discrepancy in Polish warehouses is 4.2%. This seems little until you have to stop production because one critical screw is missing. Step seven is to conduct a mini-inventory for 50 randomly selected indices. If the error exceeds 1%, you have a problem with entry discipline or theft. Don't look for someone to blame; look for holes in the goods issue procedure.
Step eight concerns the readability of markings. Is a new employee, hired 3 days ago, able to find a specific pallet without asking an older colleague? If not, it means your location system is only in people's heads, not on the racks. This is a huge risk for the company. At Baltic Bridge Consulting, we implement simple visual codes that shorten the onboarding time of a new employee from 14 days to 34 hours. We recover your time and profit, eliminating the need for constant instruction of personnel by management.
Step 9 and 10: Waste management and cleanliness
In the ninth step of the audit, look into the trash bins and the waste zone. If you find undamaged goods there or an excessive amount of stretch film, it means your people do not respect resources. In March 2023 at one of our clients in Pruszcz Gdański, we discovered that film consumption was 28% higher than the norm because the wrappers were set up wrong. Improving this one parameter brought a saving of around 11,400 PLN on an annual scale. We look for losses on the floor everywhere, even where theoretically there is only trash.
The tenth step is keeping order, i.e., the foundation of Lean. A dirty warehouse is a dangerous and slow warehouse. Check if transport routes are free from pallets. If a forklift has to avoid obstacles, it loses 12 seconds on every turn. With 300 trips a day, this gives an hour of wasted work for the forklift and operator. Numbers don't lie – order is not aesthetics, it's pure economics. At Baltic Bridge Consulting we teach that an empty road is a fast flow, and a fast flow is a higher margin on every product sent.
Poor setup of the wrapper cost the client 11,400 PLN a year in film alone.
Step 11: Action plan and verification of results
The last step is to gather all comments and choose the three most important changes that you will implement in the next 7 days. Do not try to fix everything at once because the team will rebel. Choose so-called Quick Wins – changes that cost little and give a visible effect. For example: changing the storage location of the 10 most popular products. At Baltic Bridge Consulting we always repeat: concrete instead of theory. If after a week you don't see a shortening of operational time by at least 8%, return to point one and measure the process again.
After implementing the changes, return to the floor with a stopwatch. Compare the new data with those you collected at the start of the audit. In Gdynia, during cooperation with a logistics company in Q2 2024, it was possible to reduce shipment errors from 3.1% to 0.7% in just 18 business days. Such a result is only possible when you measure progress and don't allow people to return to old, bad habits. Remember that an audit is not a one-off event, but a process that should happen every quarter to maintain profit at the right level.
