Is Your Warehouse A Mess?

The warehouse is an essential part of any growing business. Companies that sell physical products often store them in warehouses they own. And they are usually located within the same area where their office premises are.

Warehouses vary in size. Some can be as small as a room in your home. While others can be as large as several combined football pitches! But one thing that is common with many warehouses is that efficiency and productivity can drop.

The result in such warehouses is that health and safety levels decline, and stock can get misplaced. Does this sound like a familiar problem with the warehouse at your company? Don’t worry; you’re not alone. The good news is there are plenty of things you can do about the issue.

The following steps are ones that any company owner can take to better manage and organize their warehouse. Here is what you need to know:

Do you need more space?
One of the biggest problems with inefficient warehouses is space. Yes, you could invest in storage solutions to help make the most of small areas. But if your warehouse resembles a tin stuff full of sardines, it could be a good idea to upgrade to a bigger warehouse.

There are a few options available to you if you need to upsize. The first is to move your warehouse and office to a new location. Of course, you will need to deal with the process involved with moving your business to new premises. But you can soon enjoy bigger warehouse space.

If you own your premises, and you’ve got spare land available, you could always extend your warehouse. Before you choose this option, you will need to determine whether you’re allowed to do so by your local council. And you will also need to get some quotes on how much the project will cost.

Extending your warehouse is perhaps the easiest option in terms of hassle. The only downside is the cost. The bigger you extend your stores area, the more your business will need to pay.

Do you have the right people?
Sometimes the cause of warehouse inefficiency is to do with the people you’ve hired. Warehouse operatives won’t always do a great job 100 percent of the time. That’s because the work is usually low paid, and staff turnover in the sector is high.

If you want your warehouse to run like a well-oiled machine, it pays to invest in your staff. Choose the best people to work at your company and reward them with a suitable living wage – not the legal “minimum” wage.

Determine what motivates them in their work. Do they want to learn new skills, such as forklift driving or advanced computer skills? Would they prefer benefits like childcare vouchers and flexible working?

To keep the best staff at your company, and especially in your warehouse, it makes sense to find out what drives your workers. And ensure they stay motivated. Doing so will result in increased efficiency and productivity.

Does your distribution network suck?
There are often bottlenecks in warehouses that can slow down what everyone does. One of the most common ones is distribution. In case you are wondering, I’m talking about the processes involved with moving goods in and out of your warehouse.

Let’s say, for example, that your business operates a large central warehouse. You have dozens of operatives working inside of it, and deliveries get made and received several times each day.

If you need to deliver goods to local stores or other distribution warehouses, how fast do those deliveries get made? Not fast enough? You’ve just found your main bottleneck. So, what can you do to improve the situation?

The first thing you should do is hire extra staff at your warehouse. They can help load pallets onto your trucks faster. The next thing is to invest in your fleet of trucks. OK, I know that trucks aren’t the cheapest of vehicles to buy.

But the good news is that websites like Auto Trader Trucks list used models for sale. That means the cost of new additions to your truck fleet are much lower than they’d be if you bought new models.

Once you have extra staff and trucks, you can increase the amount of deliveries your company makes. Doing so will then free up space and resources in your central warehouse. It makes perfect sense, don’t you think?

Are you automating things in your warehouse?
Even if you operate a small warehouse, automation can promote a more efficient environment. For example, let’s say that you’ve taken delivery of some products from a supplier.

The first thing you need to do is log each barcode onto your stock management system. Are you typing in all the barcode numbers by hand into your keyboard? If so, a barcode can help to speed up the process.

Are you someone that operates a large warehouse, like Amazon’s fulfillment centers? If so, you can invest in some high-tech automation solutions. For instance, robots can pick products from shelves and place them onto conveyors.

It saves a lot of time finding and retrieving stock. All that’s left is for warehouse operatives to pack the goods. They can do so by using suitable boxes, containers or pallets ready for shipping. Even then, you can automate particular parts of this process too!

The level of automation you adopt in your warehouse will depend on what your needs are. And, of course, how much money you can afford to spend on the task.

Are you standardizing your shipping boxes?
When you have boxes of goods awaiting dispatch, you’ll need to stack them up in your warehouse. At least, until a shipping truck arrives to collect them from you.

One issue with this approach is that some warehouses aren’t using standardized shipping boxes. That means it takes longer for operatives to stack everything, as some boxes are small, and others are large. By using common box sizes, it’s easier to stack and store boxes for shipping.

Photo by Iko | Shutterstock