Product Innovation for Warehouse Workers
Designing people-centric food distribution systems.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Low retention rates of warehouse workers
The International Foodservice Distributors Association (IFDA), a food service distribution company, was experiencing low retention rates among its warehouse workers. These low retention rates were increasing hiring and training costs. They wanted to identify bottlenecks in the experience and explore potential solutions.
PROCESS
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT
Warehouse selectors face physically demanding and repetitive tasks, leading to fatigue and safety risks, while small and medium-sized facilities lack resources for automation - forcing workers to develop their own methods to meet productivity targets.
SOLUTION
A pallet attachment that reduces strain of repetitive selecting
OUTCOME
Eliminate repetitive bending and cut selecting time by 19%
SUMMARY VIDEO
USER RESEARCH
Understanding roles in food distribution warehouses
PRIOROTIZATION
Through user research we realized that selectors have the most physically demanding job
SELECTORS TASKS
CO-DESIGN
Painpoints to product requirements
Bending while picking, cases falling from pallets and wrapping orders were identified as critical painpoints. An additional product requirement was the ability of the technology to work with existing technology.
DESIGNING
We designed and discussed ideas with the warehouse workers to identify the most helpful solution
PROTOTYPING
OUTCOME
