Warehouse, as your storage of inventory, should always be thoroughly organized so you know where to get particular items when you need them. You would not want to spend hours in search for a specific item with customers waiting for it. There are various methods and management systems that you can apply to organize your warehouse. Wireless LANs, RFID systems, barcodes, and automatic identification are only some of the systems that are designed to enhance efficiency and accuracy and help you monitor the flow of products in your warehouse. Here is how you can improve the performance of your warehouse and the control of your inventory.
1. Upkeep
It does not mean that the organization of your warehouse meets your current standards because it was initially well-organized. If the warehouse manager has not maintained the upkeep of the warehouse properly, you may find the level of organization unsatisfying. Hold the warehouse manager responsible for the upkeep and provide him with a daily checklist.
2. Perform inventory control more frequently
Have a more accurate back-office system by having cycle counts go through all locations every quarter. Do not wait the time of the annual physical inventory count to carry out regular inventory control audits, but have cycle counts more frequently. Perfect the time it should take you to go through all locations by analyzing the discrepancies between cycle counts.
3. Know your high-selling products
Make your high volume items easily accessible by placing them closer to the shipping area and you will save yourself a lot of labor time. The employees will think of you as a considerate leader and your organization will feel a considerate increase in productivity. Do not apply this to low-selling items so to avoid unnecessary re-allocation.
4. Enough room for receiving
Give the inventory management personnel enough space to work, and you will avoid a lot of inventory errors. Making receiving errors can lead to various kinds of bad issues later in the selling process. By eliminating them, you will save yourself some money, time, and preserve your credibility.
5. Prohibit any unauthorized entrances
Minimize unauthorized traffic in your storage premises. It is risky having unauthorized people wandering around the place where your goods are stored. Provide your employees some kind of identifier so you could distinguish them from those who should not be in the warehouse.
6. Categorizing
By using a good categorizing system and a quality pallet racking system, it will assist your personnel in finding what they are looking for. Put an effort in product categorization, labeling and signs to direct the employees through your warehouse, without bothering supervisors about directions and item locations.
7. Labelling and color prioritizing
Put labels on your products so to make it easier for pickers to choose the right inventory and reduce errors in the storage process. Creating colored orders is also a nice trick that will help in identifying the products that go to your most valuable customers according to the color priority they have been given.
8. Quality control
With a proper quality control, conducted by one of your veterans, you will avoid having to fix mistakes made by not double-checking orders.
9. Clean up before closing
By finishing right, you will be able to start right at the beginning of each work day. Make sure that the storage house is cleaned up and the order processing is finished before closure time. Days will not start in disarray if employees put the inventory back where it belongs by the end of the day. If they leave it for the morning, they will do it more sluggishly then at the end of the work day.
Organize your warehouse to be an effective and efficient place of business with the proper amount of planning. A warehouse that is well organized means that the inventory will be much easily placed, stored, pulled and shipped to customers, which means more productivity and money for your business.
