Making sure that your warehouse runs smoothly and efficiently is probably one of the most important parts of your business. A warehouse that is not watched and monitored can cause a lot of wasted time and money in work hours.
There are a few ways in which you can easily get your warehouse running to its best capability and supporting your business as it should.
Plan your warehouse carefully
Mark areas on the floor where it is safe for your employees to walk and where there is likely to be machinery such as forklifts used. Have signs around reminding all employees that they are entering an area where high-viz jackets, vests, and safety shoes should be worn at all times.
Be sure to have plenty of safety clothing available on hooks by the exit and entrance doors so your employees can keep themselves safe. This will also act as a reminder that these items must be worn.
By carefully planning where each of your products is kept and the routes your workers will need to take when selecting the products, you can organize routes to obtain the maximum efficiency among your teams. Implementing smart programs like a tool tracking software can also help with keeping your team organized and efficient in the warehouse.
You could have maps by doors or on the ends of long aisles to assist your workers, so they become accustomed to where the products are kept. This will cut down on the amount of wasted time your workers will spend wandering around looking for the products they need.
Color coding zones or numbered zones could also help your workers see where they need to be, and if you have a very large warehouse, it may be a good idea to have teams who only work in certain areas rather than having workers wandering around the whole site.
Training staff effectively
By training all your warehouse employees in your warehouse practices, manual handling, layout, safety, and all machinery that is used in your warehouse and playing to the strength of each individual, you will be making your employees as effective as you can.
You will also have a multitasking warehouse workforce. This is good for covering sickness and holidays, as well as getting jobs completed quickly due to nobody waiting around for the only person who can operate certain machinery, though obviously if you only have one piece of machinery and someone is using it, there will still be downtime occurring.
On this subject, it will always be beneficial to make sure that you have enough equipment to get the job done quickly and efficiently. The number of items of machinery you will require will depend heavily on what it is you do and how big your warehouse and your business actually are. Some items of machinery will be more beneficial than others, but ones such as a tugger forklift can make moving products from A to B a lot faster as they can move more than one load at a time, making product movement around your site much quicker.
Implement cross-docking
Where possible, implement cross-docking. This will save time when receiving products from suppliers which will be going out to customers. Load the products straight into their delivery vehicles. This saves time and hassle in storing and then removing the products from your warehouse.
Barcodes can be used to book these products onto your system as goods in when they are received and then scanned again when they are loaded onto the delivery vehicles to book the products out.