When your warehouse is neat, clean, and organised, you’d be having a lot of space to include the additional items. On top of that, tracking and delivering the shipment products to your customers would become a lot easier. You not only get customer satisfaction, but your business will thrive on honest and good reviews.
To improve warehouse efficiency, you don’t have to invest a huge amount or have to deal with any complicated strategies. Small steps make a great impact, effectively increasing cost efficiency, productivity, and your business performance.
Here’s what you can do to improve the warehouse efficiency
Use all available space (use tall storage units/pallets)
To fit all your products and make the best use of your warehouse, use tall storage units. It makes use of the vertical space of your warehouse. It means you don’t have to expand the floor space to increase the shelf size.
With the taller units, you not only increase the storage size, but you can also keep the warehouse neat and organised. The only thing is you need the right equipment to keep and pull the storage units from the taller shelves.
In addition to it, think about the type and size of the shelving you are using. To get a more organised look and have easy access, store smaller units on small shelves or wooden pallets and increase size accordingly to the products you store. It helps you achieve a streamlined and orderly look.
Minimise unnecessary inventory
You should take care that you’re not stocking the warehouse with the products you don’t need. Unnecessary stocking of products will lead to a cumbersome warehouse. Make sure you’re storing the products that can be dispatched early. According to it, you can request the suppliers to deliver the products in small quantities.
It allows quick and easy storing and delivery of your products. It keeps the movement active and fresh in your warehouse, reducing misplacements effectively.
Update technology
It’s important to update your warehouse according to the technology. For instance, there are systems like WMS (Warehouse Management System) that improve and suggest methods for picking and putting away your products.
To remove errors in tracking your products, you can use a barcode system and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) so that you can get accurate transactions of your products.
Using updated technology will make less use of paper and time, thus increasing the efficiency of your warehouse activities. It also benefits your employees so that they don’t make errors or misplace while storing or picking your products in your warehouse. .
Consider using third-party logistics
Sometimes, you alone can’t handle the whole shipment of your products. As you have other business operations where your presence is expected, you may or may not be able to focus on your warehouse activities. So, here you can consider using third-party logistics, shortly known as 3PL companies.
Though it looks like an additional investment, there is enough proof that smaller or bigger companies increased their efficiency after hiring 3PL companies. As they concentrate fully on your marketing and merchandising functions, you can expect a continuous and steady growth of your business. With 3PL companies, you can increase your warehousing operations and storage and order throughput.
Organise workstations
All workers in your warehouse must concentrate on organising their workstations to keep the clutter at bay. It helps the workers to find the right tools without searching their entire desk. Use pen stand, newspaper weights, and sticky notes, attach pins for loose papers or staple if necessary for neat and clean desks.
While organising, you can follow the 5S rule – Sort, Set in order, Shine, Standardise and Sustain. Ensure that your employees follow the 5S technique, which is designed to keep the clutter at bay and reduce mistakes. It makes your warehouse safe and efficient and you can maintain it easily and quickly.
Motivate your employees
E-commerce business is booming despite the pandemic and lockdown restrictions. Hence, you will have continuous supply and delivery of products. In this scenario, you should motivate your workers to work fast and efficiently so that there won’t be any room for errors. Your business thrives when your workers show commitment and enthusiasm in warehouse operations. So, make sure there are doing the assigned work correctly and on time.
The above are the simple rules for you to follow to increase the efficiency of your warehouse. Make sure to follow these to increase your return on investment.
