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Warehouse Planning & Organisation Tips

March 16, 2018 by Susan Brooks

Warehouse logistics solutions

Effective warehouse planning and organisation can bring a number of benefits. Chief amongst them of course is that a well-run warehouse will be a company asset instead of a logistic bottleneck.

This can increase profits through additional shipments, lowers costs by removing inefficiencies and – most importantly – reduce any headaches for warehouse staff and management!

To achieve these lofty aims, many different pieces must work together. It is helpful to think of a warehouse space as a truly integrated logistics solution – but what does that mean?

Well, to us, it means:

 

Efficient Layout

Quite possibly the most important element of an effective warehouse is a layout plan that maximises space. Frankly, no warehouse will ever be big enough (trust me on that!) so you have to use every inch that you can, as efficiently as possible.

You simply must try to separate areas for storage, for receiving in and for dispatching out. The idea behind separating them out is that you don’t want one part of the warehouse to affect on the operation of another. Don’t let a vehicle delivering inbound material to take up space that prevents that day’s dispatch being prepped.

 

Staff

The second most important element of a well-run warehouse is the staff that run it. Ensure they are fully trained up on all systems and equipment. That may seem obvious, but too many warehouses have staff that can’t operate all equipment. Fork lift driving for example is a key skill in this part of the business, so all staff in the warehouse should be trained up to use one.

Also remember that happy employees are typically harder working employees. It can be tempting to keep staff facilities at a minimum to maximise storage space – but this is a false economy. Ensure that staff have a break room or rest area, that they have facilities to make drinks and a bathroom.

 

Lights

Another area where some will look to make a saving is in lighting the warehouse. Again, this is a false economy. The little bit of money you will save in electric bills will be lost 5 times over in low productivity.

For one thing, it makes the job of the staff harder when they are peering through the gloom trying to read paperwork or scan barcodes. For another, it doesn’t exactly do much to improve the working atmosphere.

Treating your staff well is a very important part of an efficient warehouse – and as we’ve seen, it’s really not that hard to achieve in a well-planned warehouse.

 

Materials

As far as forward planning goes, one of the most important elements is materials – or rather ensuring they are always in stock. Earlier in my career, I spent time working in a warehouse that always seemed to run out of material – everything from packing boxes to tape was always in short supply.

This stemmed from having no centralised ordering procedure – people just ordered what they wanted, when they wanted it. This was so inefficient it was insane! Designate a member of staff to monitor supplies and set up a delivery for restocking at a predetermined date – once a month.