When you’re paying for warehouse space, you want it as optimised as possible. A warehouse that’s not optimal is simply wasting potential storage space. It’s also creating a slower working environment, meaning that you have potentially wasted warehouse worker time. At its worst, a poorly optimised warehouse can also lead to errors in picking, packing, and shipping; all of which is costly to correct and could even lead to losing customers and clients.
That’s why warehouse optimisation is important. Whether you’re optimising layout, storage, or staffing, there are often ways to do things more efficiently in a warehouse situation. While we here at Colby Dandenong are always happy to provide a tailored solution when it comes to optimising your warehouse, consider some of the tips in this article to get you started.
Tip 1. Keep safety as the highest priority
Warehouse safety is extremely important. Not only can safety issues in warehouses lead to injury or even death, they can also make your warehouse move more slowly. Safety needs to be the highest priority in any workplace, not only because it’s the right thing to do, but also because it’s good for productivity.
Take a relatively minor safety issue like a tripping hazard, for example. If a warehouse worker only has a small trip and doesn’t even fall over, they’ve still been momentarily slowed down. They may also drop whatever they’re carrying and damage it. While this is a small accident, these things compound until your warehouse is losing hours every week. And that’s a small trip. Imagine how much time is lost with a bigger injury.
Tip 2. Before trying to improve your warehouse, define what you’re trying to improve and why
It can be tempting to try and improve every aspect of your warehouse, but going in without a plan can actually be more detrimental to how things operate. Basically speaking, if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. Here we’re assuming that even a poorly operating warehouse will be doing something right.
This can be difficult, especially if you feel every aspect of your warehouse is underperforming, but sometimes there’s only a few elements that are causing a number of problems. Determine the most important thing to improve in your warehouse and fix that first. Then move to the next problem.
Tip 3. Get the right pallet racking and shelving for the job
Each different type of pallet racking is designed to store items a specific way. Double deep pallet racking, for example, is great for high density storage, but in situations where stock rotation isn’t important. Another example is pallet live storage; this allows for easy management of first in, first out stock rotation, but requires access to the back of the racking.
There’s so much to choose from when it comes to pallet racking and warehouse shelving, it’s easy to make the wrong choice if you don’t know about all the options.
Evaluate the pallet racking and shelving you’re using and find out if it’s the best you can get for the application.
Tip 4. Keep fast moving items near packing stations
Regardless of the industry you’re in, some of the items being stored in your warehouse will move out of it more quickly while some will sit on shelves for months at a time. One basic thing that can be done to save warehouse worker time is to keep those fast moving items closer to packing or shipping stations. This is an obvious time saver. After all, if your most frequently shipped item is on the other side of the warehouse from your packing stations, you’re wasting a lot of time just transporting that item within your warehouse.
If you don’t know what items are leaving your warehouse most frequently, it may be time to upgrade your warehouse software.
Tip 5. Invest in good warehouse software
Good warehouse software can help you keep track of the items that are coming in and out of your warehouse and quickly show you what your most popular and least popular items are. It can also give you information about picking and packing times, warehouse layout information, and more.
Without good and effective warehouse software it can hard to pinpoint where efficiencies in a warehouse can be found. It’s very worthwhile.
Tip 6. Install a raised storage area or mezzanine floor
A raised storage area is a great way to effectively double the storage area in your warehouse, especially if the product you’re storing needs to be easily accessible without a forklift. If you’re finding that your warehouse simply needs more floor space, a raised storage area may be the way to go. Similarly a mezzanine floor can provide additional storage space or working area.
Before considering whether or not you need to move to a bigger premisses, consider a raised storage area or mezzanine floor, it may be able to help.
Tip 7. Use conveyor belts to transport goods quickly and safely
A well designed conveyor belt system can easily transport goods through a warehouse both quickly and safely. Conveyor belts are particularly useful for larger warehouses where goods need to move from one side of the building to the other. They’re also great in warehouses that use raised storage areas and mezzanines, as it’s easy to get goods from the raised area to the ground area via conveyor belts.
Conveyor belts can be both gravity conveyors and powered, depending on the application. They also come in many different sizes, all the way up to pallet conveyor belts.
Tip 8. Consider temporary solutions
In a busy warehouse, it can often feel like things will never end. But is the current situation only temporary? Has a large one off shipment come in that’s taking up all of your storage? Something like this can often be handled by temporarily outsourcing storage or hiring temporary warehouse workers.
Find out if you need a permanent solution or just a short term.
Tip 9. Make sure your materials handling equipment is well maintained
Well maintained materials handling equipment can help prevent accidents and also make a warehouse run as efficiently as possible. Old and worn out equipment is at a risk of breaking, which slows things down. While materials handling equipment is expensive, it’s worthwhile having the best. It will pay for itself many times over.
Tip 10. Get expert advice on optimising your warehouse
Ultimately, getting expert advice on warehouse optimisation can actually save money into the future. A well optimised warehouse requires less floor space and fewer warehouse workers; both of these things can be expensive.
Beyond offering pallet racking and warehouse shelving, we here a Colby Dandenong can provide the right advice for your business and your warehouse. If you’d like an honest opinion on how to get the most out of your warehouse, contact us today.
