It’s not just the labour the inventory and the freight that’s involved in running a successful warehousing operation. There is a plethora of other factors that all come into play to make a warehouse operation function well, but just what can be done to make these processes more efficient and productive? This post takes a look at what’s involved in managing a warehouse and how it can be optimised for better output.
Evaluate Your Systems and Processes
Scrutinise your picking methodology and identify areas that need to be improved for whatever reason. Identify key areas in need of restructuring and set time and efficiency targets to ameliorate these things. Budgeting is important here to predict spending on rolling out new processes. Ascertain whether to improve upon the systems you currently have, or to invest in new technologies.
Optimise Labour Productivity
Labour in the warehouse is one of the highest costs you’ll face, and safety and occupational health are not to be taken lightly, and putting the health and safety of your workforce first is paramount. Evaluate the workstations and carry out tests to see where the process and tasks are falling short. From training programmes, to investment in new and specialised equipment for your employees, there are many ways in which you can speed up productivity.
Maximise Vertical Space
Pallet racking is a technique that makes use of the vertical space in your warehouse, meaning you can maximise capacity in comparatively small floor space. It’s recognised as a safe way to increase goods capacity if implemented correctly. The appropriate tools and following health and safety procedures are essential here. Places like Handling Equipment are great to investigate to this end.
Evolution of Storage
Industrial storage needs a lot of forethought and planning in order It might be worthwhile to think about factoring in automation to your warehouse in order to increase productivity and make your business more future-ready. The future for robotic automation in warehousing looks very bright; jobs that for safety and scale reasons that cannot easily be performed manually may require a certain degree of automation, which, when installed can maximise the amount of work that can be performed in comparison to manual warehouse labour.
Once you’ve analysed what exactly you need to improve upon within your current systems, problems can be focused on in a methodical and logical way to then be rolled out in your warehousing operations.
