PART III | CHECKPOINT MATERIAL HANDLING ACADEMY

Four questions across the three lessons of Part III. Work them without your notes. These are judgment questions: there's a right way to think about each one, not a sentence to memorize.

CHECKPOINT
  1. L8 Flow Before EquipmentA new engineer hands you a finished layout for a DC that ships outbound cases, processes returns, and replenishes pick faces from bulk storage. Everything fits the floor and hits rate on paper. What's the most likely design problem baked in, and why is it structural, something no equipment can fix after the fact?
  2. L9 The Layered Flow DiagramName the four layers and, for each, one engineering decision it enables. Then: you're looking at a Layer 3 that marks a scan-based sort point with the single note "WMS routes here." Using the three data questions, name what's missing, and say why fully describing that decision point now is L9's job even though answering it is Part V's.
  3. L10 Rate and BottlenecksA colleague sized a line so the Theoretical Rate exactly equals the required rate, no margin, and says the flow "looks clean." Two problems: name the physical phenomenon that makes an exact-match rate fail in the field, and name two of the five stress-test questions you'd run before you'd agree the flow holds.
  4. Flow Governs the QuoteA sales lead wants a price out the door today; the four-layer flow diagram is only at Layer 2. Make the engineering case, in plain language, for why a quote built before the diagram is complete is a quote built on assumptions, and name which later scopes (controls, safety) can't be priced honestly until which layers are done.
YOUR RIVERSIDE WORK SO FAR
DeliverableQuality Criteria
Riverside four-layer flow diagram (all layers) + rate targets + stress test
  • Layer 1 complete and confirmed before any equipment is specified
  • Layer 1 complete before Layer 2 rate numbers are added
  • Layer 2 rates and speeds set before any controls scope is written
  • Layer 4 people, access, and the forklift crossing complete before any safety scope is priced
  • Outbound, replenishment, returns, and exceptions drawn as separate flows
  • Design rate set explicitly (20 CPM, not the 18 CPM current peak) and documented
  • Every assumption labeled safe or unsafe; unsafe ones flagged as open items (WMS latency, Zone A/B split)
  • The three data questions marked at every smart decision point
  • The five-question stress test run, with any gaps named as flow issues, not equipment fixes