What does Udaan Do?

Founded in 2016, Udaan is India's largest B2B e-commerce platform, revolutionizing trade by leveraging technology. It serves sectors like lifestyle, electronics, and FMCG, offering a cost-effective model for Indian SMEs. With a network spanning over 900 cities and 12,000 pin codes, Udaan facilitates over 4.5 million monthly transactions, connecting small manufacturers and farmers to nationwide customers. UdaanExpress ensures smooth logistics, while UdaanCapital provides financing solutions.

Know more about udaan here: https://udaan.com/

Let's understand what is warehouse receiving

We can divide the receiving process into 5 basic steps:

• Initial Step in E-commerce Fulfillment: Receiving and documenting incoming goods.

• Verification: Checking the quantity and quality against purchase orders or shipping manifests.

• Inspection: Assessing shipments for damage and accuracy in product specifications.

• Inventory Recording: Logging received items into inventory systems.

• Organization: Arranging items for storage or further distribution.

• Benefits: Ensures accurate inventory records, minimizes order errors, and provides timely product availability to meet customer demands.

Observing the Process of Receiving First-Hand

To grasp the challenge, we visited the warehouses in Soukya and Jigni and observed the receiving process firsthand. Initially, it's essential to understand the key personnel involved in these operations: the warehouse manager, pickers, and truck drivers.

Warehouse Manager: The warehouse manager oversees the entire receiving operation. Their responsibilities include coordinating incoming shipments, assigning tasks to the receiving team etc.

Picker: Pickers: The tasks involve unloading goods from delivery vehicles, checking the accuracy and condition of received items and organizing received items for storage in the warehouse.

Truck Driver: Truck drivers ensure timely delivery of shipments, coordinate with warehouse staff for efficient unloading and inspection, and verify shipment details, providing necessary documentation for goods received.

Step-by-step process of Receiving in the Warehouse

1. Notification: The warehouse receives advance notice of incoming shipments from suppliers, which is communicated by the inbound executive.

2. Preparation: The warehouse manager oversees preparations for the arrival of shipments, ensuring receiving areas are clear and necessary equipment is available.

3. Arrival of Goods: Then the truck arrives at the dock with the goods

4. Inspection/Unloading: Upon arrival, shipments are inspected by the inbound executive and any damages are marked on the paper, Unloading: Goods are unloaded from delivery vehicles by the truck driver, either manually or using equipment like forklifts, and transferred to designated receiving areas within the warehouse.

5. Quality Check: Pickers and the inbound executive verify received items against purchase orders or shipping documents to confirm accuracy and completeness.

6. Documentation: The inbound executive records details of received items, including quantities, condition, and any discrepancies, in the warehouse management system, using the paper which he used during the inspection

7. Storage: Verified items are organized and placed in appropriate storage locations within the warehouse by pickers, based on factors like size, weight, and accessibility.

Finding out the challenges

• The warehouse system's operations are complex and lack organization.

• It relies heavily on paper-based processes, resulting in long training times for staff.

• There are challenges in managing diverse stakeholders, such as warehouse managers, forklift operators, and pickers with different education levels.

• Additional issues include compatibility problems across devices, safety concerns, the need for efficient training, effective error handling, ensuring accessibility, and planning for scalability.

Objective

1. Enhance Operational Efficiency:

   • Streamline and optimize the warehouse inbound process to reduce time, errors, and operational complexities.

2. Real-time Visibility and Decision-making:

   • Provide a user-friendly interface that offers real-time visibility into inbound processes, enabling quick and informed decision-making.

3. Streamline Training and Onboarding:

   • Develop an intuitive interface to minimize the learning curve for existing staff and facilitate efficient onboarding for new employees, reducing training time.

Project Scope

• A redesigned experience for conducting inbound activity at our warehouse facilities

• Tools: Figma

• Stakeholders: Product manager, developers and design head

• Duration: 1 Month

• My Role: Worked on the end-to-end design and development of the new version of this app.

Step 6: Mapping out the old flow

The old receiving process relied on a combination of paper records and desktop systems, requiring users to switch between different mediums. This was time-consuming and cumbersome, leading to inefficiencies and a high cost of paper and printing.

To address these issues, the project aimed to transition to a fully tablet-based inwarding system. This new approach was designed to be more economical for the business by reducing paper costs and offering users a more streamlined, ergonomic solution. The tablet-based system improved workflow efficiency and provided a more convenient and user-friendly experience.

Creating a New User Flow

By analyzing the challenges in the old flow and consulting with stakeholders and warehouse users, we developed a new user flow for the receiving process.

Brainstorming

Once the user flow was finalized, we brainstormed multiple ideas to find the best solutions for our users. Here are some of the key concepts we developed.

We brainstormed multiple concepts, including deciding whether to design the flow for handheld devices (HHD) or tablets, as both are available to our users. The concepts explored included:

• Choosing the correct packaging type, as there could be various types of packaging.

• Adding the pallet and lot, recognizing this as a potentially complex step.

• Entering packaging dates, given that different SKUs may have distinct manufacturing or date labelling styles.

• Adding new packaging and products, to account for any unexpected items received.

• Implementing dock rejection protocols for items that are deemed unsuitable.

Low-fidelity wireframing

• Iterative Exploration: Enabled quick iterations to refine the flow and test multiple directions.

• Stakeholder Alignment: Helped gather input from the product manager to validate the approach.

• Efficiency: Focused on structure and functionality, allowing rapid adjustments without heavy resource investment.

  
  

  

High-fidelity wireframing

View Prototype

Mapping out the design impact

In the new receiving process, 85% of products were identified within 1 minute during the pilot phase, compared to only 75% in the old process.

Additionally, audits in various facilities revealed significant productivity improvements, as the average time to identify a product decreased as follows:

• Chamrail: 80s -> 66s

• Bhiwandi: 87s -> 76s

• Indore: 69s -> 65s

• Souyka: 84s -> 79s

In terms of usability impact

We achieved a usability/effectiveness score of 6 out of 7 using the SEQ method, based on feedback from 23 participants across India, including all inbound executives at various facilities. Additionally, the participants provided valuable insights into which features they liked and which areas need improvement for future versions. This feedback will greatly assist in refining and enhancing the product lifecycle.

Final Thoughts & Next Steps

The completion of the project marks a significant milestone in enhancing operational efficiency and accuracy. By addressing inefficiencies and introducing innovative solutions, this project has streamlined workflows, reduced errors, and improved employee productivity. The design-driven approach ensured that the implemented solutions met both business objectives and user needs, creating a sustainable and adaptable system.

Next Steps:

1. Performance Monitoring:

   • Continuously tracking key metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of the new process.

2. User Feedback:

   • Gather feedback from warehouse staff about their experience with the new system.

3. Maintenance and Updates:

   • Regularly assess the tools and technologies introduced to ensure they remain effective and relevant.

4. Scaling to other warehouses:

   • Explore the potential for scaling the solution to other warehouses or adapting it to similar processes.

"We have already begun working on version 2 of this project, incorporating all the necessary changes suggested by our users. Additionally, we are streamlining the process by removing unnecessary steps to make the app even faster and more efficient."