Running a warehouse is something that more and more companies are having to get to grips with. The warehouse sector is booming, and it’s all thanks to pent-up consumer demand from the pandemic and changing spending habits.
But knowing how to actually run a warehouse is a little more complicated than many companies appreciate. It’s actually quite technical.
Therefore, in this post, we take a look at some basic warehouse management tips to assist your company and keep costs low.
Organise All Your Stations For Maximum Efficiency
One of the first things you’ll want to do when setting up your warehouse is organise your stations as efficiently as possible. Pickers should be close to sorters who should have a clear route to shipping stations. The overall goal is to reduce the distance that people have to walk during the day to fulfill an item. This way, you can use labour more effectively and avoid exhausting your workers.
Create A Clean Warehouse
Your next strategy should be to create a clean warehouse that can operate accurately. You want to arrange everything in a manner that just makes sense so that things are easy to find and you don’t wind up wasting time.
Usually, keeping everything clean in a warehouse is relatively easy, so long as you use the right flooring. If you look at the commercial warehouse flooring examples here, you’ll notice that they combine durability with hygiene. It’s easy to clean up spills and wash floors when they are made of the right materials.
Cycle Your Counts
Some businesses do a stock check once per year to see what’s in their warehouses. But approaches like this are woefully inadequate because they can lead to big discrepancies between what you think you have, and what you actually have.
A better approach is to implement cycle counts. Here, you routinely count your inventory to see what you have to hand. Pick a time period – usually monthly or quarterly – to do the check. Then correct any errors quickly so that you always have an accurate understanding of your current space availability.
Improve Your Warehouse Location Labels
Having warehouse location labels allows replenishment staff to always choose the right location for goods. Furthermore, it makes life easier for pickers, as they can quickly locate goods through some form of location labelling. Some clever warehouse designers also use this tool to improve the flow of traffic through the warehouse.
Use Mobile Devices To Read Labels
Pickers need mobile devices that allow them to read and scan labels before they put them in their cart. These readings should then be instantly transmitted to a central computer. This way, you can work out how much stock you need to order automatically and keep an eye on picker productivity.
Regularly Remove Stock From Gangways
This tip might seem a little obvious, but it is worth reiterating because of the impact that it has. Always keep stock out of gangways as it can slow down people’s progress as they pick items off shelves.
