Streamlining your warehouse storage process is an easy and cost-effective way to help increase your company’s productivity output, efficiency and employee well-being. Regardless of your sector or industry, having a functional and smooth-running warehouse is essential for a well-run and profitable business.
In this article, we will highlight six steps you could take to improve your warehouse storage solutions and reap the benefits.
At Western Industrial Products, our team are experts in helping companies from a wide range of sectors and industries of all sizes optimise their warehouse storage solutions. Part of this service is calculating your current warehouse size and how much of that space can be effectively used for storage solutions.
Having a plan of your warehouse, and knowing exactly where items are stored can help increase the productivity of your warehouse.
This can be done in numerous ways, however, one of the most efficient warehouse storage plan solutions is ensuring that all of your most popular products are stored at the front of your warehouse. This not only helps when packing and sorting deliveries but also when you’re receiving goods as well.
Other ways to organise your warehouse storage include:
Having inventory charts, labels and a warehouse storage plan can also assist you in not only knowing where your stock is but also ensuring staff members know where things are stored.
One of the most important stages in warehouse management and stock distribution is the receipt of goods. To ensure your stock is received without damages, you must have a system in place to receive your goods from your suppliers.
When you optimise your receiving process for goods, you can help ensure that all items are delivered correctly resulting in fewer mistakes, complications, mix-ups and even broken or damaged stock.
Solutions such as:
Can help ensure you receive your goods in a timely and streamlined manner, with some teams moving the items to the received section of the warehouse before being distributed to its designated storage area. Power pallet trucks and scissor lifts, forklifts and conveyors will allow you to unload the cargo quickly and safely.
Put-away – the process when the items that have been received are then moved throughout the warehouse to be stored in the optimal warehouse storage location. Not storing stock and items in their respective places can impair the productivity, safety and efficiency of your warehouse, so this step is incredibly important.
The benefits of putting your items away in an effective and streamlined manner include:
Depending on the items of stock you’re storing in your warehouse, you could utilise your aisle space as additional storage space. However, before you do this, it is important to note that if you use forklifts, pallet movers or other vehicles in your warehouse, you must ensure there is adequate manoeuvring space for them.
If you can reduce the size of your aisles, you could implement various racking and shelving solutions to help store large, medium and small items with ease.
Inventory, HR documents, receipts, stock, pass orders, and other paperwork that needs to be kept within the warehouse should have a separate storage solution to ensure ease of access and confidentiality.
Cupboards, drawer cabinets and filing cabinets can be kept in a secure location in or near the warehouse.
Adding a warehouse mezzanine is a great way to increase your storage footprint, without having to outsource additional space or extend your warehouse. What are mezzanine floors? By building a mezzanine in your warehouse, you can utilise unused space and provide various facilities including:
Ensuring your warehouse is strategically organised is crucial to running a successful business. Other benefits of streamlining your warehouse storage process include:
For more information or to find out how we can help you streamline your warehouse storage solutions, get in touch with our friendly team today by calling 01364 651860 or emailing enquiries@westernindustrialproducts.co.uk
