Achievements of Civilization: The Book of Wealth; Wealth in Relation to Material and Intellectual Progress and Achievement Being an Inquiry into the Nature and Distribution of the World's Resources and Riches and a History of the Origin and Influence of Property, its Possession, Accumulation and Disposition in all Ages and among all Nations, as a Factor in Human Accomplishment, an Agency of Human Refinement and in the Evolution of Civilization from the Earliest to the Present Era.
™
Printed in 1895, there were two editions, a "Fin de Siecle Edition" of 950 copies, and an "Author's Edition," limited to 250 copies, which contained the printed name of the owner and the author's signature.
Up until now The Book of Wealth has been famous not just for its content but also for its difficulty to find and the wealth of those who owned it, with the few available copies being owned by famous dynasties such as the Kennedys and the Rothschilds. Not only has it been used by the world's richest individuals and families, but also by a number of the modern day motivational speakers and wealth creators such as Dr. Demartini. Indeed leading motivational speakers have used The Book of Wealth as part of modern approaches to achievement, from "The Laws of Attraction" to "The Secret".
The author Hubert Howe Bancroft, a prolific American historian and publisher,organized naturesdistribution.com a big team and set out to analyze every significant example of financial success in recorded history, going all the way back to the Babylonians and Egyptians. The Book of Wealth analyzes common traits of wealth creation and the factors common to kings, businessmen, companies and countries who achieved a massive acquisition of wealth in their lifetimes and left lasting legacies behind. This is the most amazing book ever written - it is a literal code to eternal wealth, it will inspire, expand and assist you in taking your vision of wealth building to a new and more powerful level.
The Book of Wealth was originally sold in two editions for $2,500 and $1,000. Calculated for 2009 inflation, that is $63,616.99 and $25,446.79 respectively!
Abstract
Given the low margin nature of most distribution businesses, it is imperative to maintain the lowest possible labor costs. This paper will show how to use Lean and Six Sigma tools to minimize the labor required to pick, pack and ship orders from a warehouse.
Background
This distribution company embraced Lean as part of their company's strategy to constantly reduce costs and improve customer service. They began their journey by applying Lean and Six Sigma tools to their primary operation, warehousing, picking, packing and shipping packaged goods to customers.
This project used 3 Lean Six Sigma Tools:
Visualizing the Problem with Spaghetti Maps A Spaghetti Map is a simple Lean tool to help visualize extra movement of people within a process. It establishes baseline performance, shows the need for improvement and provides insight into how to redesign the layout of a work-area. They can sometimes be combined with time studies to break down each step and its duration.
The Lean Team at this Distributor began the project by creating a Spaghetti Map of the current state. For 3 orders, with a total of 7 items, the warehouse attendant travelled all over the warehouse, covering from one end to the other and almost all 4 corners. This is a lot of movement for 7 items.
At the Pack & Ship area there was repetitive and un-necessary movement. One table is for packaging, a different table has the UPS computer, a different table has the internal ERP system computer (that closes the order and moves it to the invoice queue) and yet another table has the ticket printer. Finally, they stored boxes about 25 feet from the packaging area. Each order required a separate trip to box storage.
The Spaghetti Maps make the case that this warehouse could be improved; reducing the labor required to pick, pack and ship orders.
Using Pareto Analysis to Make Improvements They next moved to using a Six Sigma tool, Pareto Analysis, to analyze how to reduce the move-time required to pick, pack and ship an order. Pareto Charts were developed in the late 1800's by an Italian Economist, Vilfredo Pareto. He used this analysis to determine that wealth was skewed to a small portion of the population. In his time, 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the families in Italy. From Vilfredo we derived the Pareto Principal or 80/20 rule. This is commonly used in sales, with 80% of sales generated by only 20% of customers.
They created a Pareto Table for the number of times an item was on an order (or was "picked"). Quantity or Sales $ was not important for this project as we were concerned with reducing move-time. Therefore, how many times a warehouse attendant had to go to that item to pick it, was the critical metric.
Item Code, Orders, % Total, Cum %
CW-932-42, 476, 1.08%, 1.08%
CW-035-44, 433, 0.98%, 2.06%
AW-255-19, 432, 0.98%, 3.04%
WE-823-09, 330, 0.75%, 3.79%
TW-114-02, 297, 0.67%, 4.46%
AW-255-31, 263, 0.60%, 5.06%
NW-115-45, 258, 0.58%, 5.64%
HW-040-27, 255, 0.58%, 6.22%
TW-332-72, 251, 0.57%, 6.79%
SW-008-32, 248, 0.56%, 7.35%
TW-134-11, 227, 0.51%, 7.87%
TW-124-12, 222, 0.50%, 8.37%
MW-000-68, 215, 0.49%, 8.86%
AW-744-54, 207, 0.47%, 9.33%
VW-330-06, 200, 0.45%, 9.78%
SW-201-60, 197, 0.45%, 10.2%
This table shows the items that make up the top 10% of "picks". There were about 6000 items kept in this warehouse. Sixteen items accounted for 10% of all picks! The concentration of the top items was much higher than 80/20. It was actually 80/10, with 10% of the items accounting for 80% of the picks.
Warehouse Re-Layout The team then mapped the location of these top 500 items. The top sellers, in terms of "picks", were located all over the warehouse.
To view the Spaghetti Maps and this location-diagram go to .
To reduce the move time required these top 500 items were moved as close as possible to the Pack & Ship Area. Many of the smaller items were moved right into the Pack & Ship area on shelves next to the packing table.
Then the Pack & Ship Area was rearranged. The boxes were moved right next to the packing table. The ERP and UPS computers were put on the same table. Everything was as close as possible.
The result was minimal movement to pack and ship products to customers.
Control Plan Every 6 months the Vice President of Operations reruns the pick-velocity report, and maps out the location of top 500 items. As items fall off the list they are moved further back in the warehouse. As items move onto the top 500 list they are moved as close as possible to the Pack & Ship Area.