Sarah William, Executive Chronicles | A messy warehouse results in losses, broken inventory and inefficient business activities. So, why be a victim of it when you can improve the condition with only a few efforts. The following are some amazing tips for you to ensure your warehouse remains clean and organised at all times:
Lean inventory practices
Lean inventory means to only store items that are required and nothing more. You should maintain a lean inventory to avoid unnecessary clutter because ordering more and more inventory, when not required, will not only cost you a bunch of pounds, but will also make your warehouse look untidy; making operations inefficient.
Keep it clean and organised
Regular cleaning is required to organise the warehouse effectively because it allows you to manage the inventory, keep a track on its condition as well as what needs to be ordered more and what less. This may sound quite simple but what people don’t realise is a clean warehouse is easier to manage and also makes the environment healthy for the personnel working inside it.
Don’t unnecessarily hire personnel
Hiring a bunch of people to manage the warehouse will only make it more unorganised because too many cooks spoil the food. Linear management will allow you to manage your warehouse inventory as well as personnel more effectively because following a single warehouse strategy is easier when there is only one person to make the final decision.
Own the right equipment and tools
Do you have sufficient equipment and tools in your warehouse? Be it a forklift, trolley or any other equipment, make sure you buy high-quality equipment because not only do they offer utmost efficiency but also require less maintenance than cheap equipment. Now it is your decision: do you want better outputs and spend more right now or do you want to have average outputs and pay ongoing maintenance costs & bear all the related hassles?
Employ an efficient ERP software
Do you know what ERP software does and how can you utilise it to increase productivity and reduce errors significantly? It includes integration of a plethora of applications which allow you to collect, store, manage and interpret data from various business activities. This may sound too technical for a layman, but it isn’t. There are many software which provides you easy interpretation; allowing you to take better decisions while planning and organising your warehouse. This helps in inventory management as well as keeping the warehouse tidy.
Reduce waste production and ensure appropriate disposal
Waste is the enemy of keeping any space tidy and organised. It basically refers to anything that does not have enough value to be considered useful. If you organisation generates a great load of waste, due to your business processes, then firstly, don’t dump it in your warehouse, and if your warehouse generates waste due to any reason, then along with minimizing it, ensure an efficient waste disposal method because apart from taking substantial space in your limited-spaced warehouse, it also makes the environment unfit to work. Reducing productivity and wasting space can never be good, right? Try to keep a check on waste-producing activities and hire experienced professionals to make sure it is disposed of with care to avoid impacting the environment adversely.
Keep a check on errors
Are all your business activities error-free? That is quite impossible! However, what you can do is keep a check on activities that produce the most errors and employ methods which can help in reducing it. ‘Errors’ is a very vague term, so it can simply be defined as any event that decreases the output or capability of essential practices and activities. E.g. technical errors leading to irregular inventory management or personnel errors leading to broken inventory. Errors also become barriers to warehouse management. So, Avoid practices that cause errors. Period!
Order, track, label, ship, repeat
The best path to keeping the warehouse clean, tidy and organised is by following a simple process, i.e.
- Order- order inventory as per the sales strategy, not in superficial numbers.
- Track- Track all orders to keep a check on the inventory.
- Label- Label different items to reduce errors and increase efficiency. It will also help in shipping the products.
- Ship- Ship as soon as you receive the order to make space for new inventory.
- Repeat! Repeat! Repeat!
Automate what can be
Technology has revolutionised every industry, and the primary change that it brought is automation. So, exploit it to the core! Automate all the processes that you can to ensure fewer errors are caused, and less people are required in the warehouse. This will reduce clutter and ensure a better management strategy execution that you can imagine.
Keep it clean! Keep it organised!
