“Don’t count the days. Make the days count”
Would it be an overstatement to say that staying organized will definitely pay rich dividends in the long run?
Certainly not. Staying organized and using your time judiciously forms the heart and soul of efficient work culture. Those who follow an efficient time management technique manage to derive more value out of each passing minute.
Using time efficiently helps you derive more out of each passing minute.
Quite frankly, all of us speak volumes about using time judiciously, but our efforts are just are as fragile as our memories.
In all fairness, those managing warehouses and other kinds of storage facilities would know that time management is a job easier said than done.
Managing a warehouse is a daunting task. You have 10,000 different things to look into while managing a warehouse.
Godown and warehouse owners providing storage in Norwich will agree that warehousing is much more than picking up the phone and placing an order for the goods to be delivered to the warehouse.
You need to make sure the orders placed are delivered on time.
Furthermore, you also need to keep track of the unsold stock. Bombarding your warehouse with goods won’t help.
Above all, the gigantic size of your warehouse makes it impossible for you to manage the warehouse to the best of your ability.
Now, some of you might find it hard to believe, but putting best practices to use happens to be a great way of managing your warehouse efficiently while enhancing your everyday productivity.
Here’s a list of best practices you can employ in order to derive more out of each passing minute.
Make each and every inch count
The idea is to maximize the storage space without incurring extra costs.
In order to ensure this, each and every inch within the warehouse needs to be utilized efficiently. Have all your lifts and movable containers intact. This will help you in your bid to move things around quickly.
Also, it is equally important that your warehouse doesn’t look congested. Have different sections within your warehouse for storing different types and kinds of goods.
For instance: If you happen to be dealing in smartphones, then make different sections for storing different kinds of smartphones.
You can have all Samsung smartphones on the first floor of the warehouse. The ground floor can house all your iPhone models.
Similarly, you can also have subdivisions. You can store all your iPhone 6s models in the first 100 boxes on the ground floor. The next lot can contain iPhone 6s Plus. this practice will make the classification process easier for you.
Keep track of the inventory procurement cycle
Now, this one’s important.
If your business is driven by seasonal demand, then piling up your stocks throughout the year doesn’t really make any sense.
Does it?
For example: if you are a woolen goods dealer, then you won’t find people buying snow coats and caps during summer.
The advisable inventory levels stand at 1.5 times the average use. Ensuring optimum levels of stock at disposal keeps the warehouse up and running.
Before acquiring a new consignment, make sure there’s ample storage space in the warehouse. You cannot afford to sit on huge piles of stock throughout the year.
Such a situation will turn your business into a loss-making affair.
Don’t mix up the SKUs
Novice warehouse owners tend to commit this mistake quite often. A lot of them stuff different SKUs Into a single bin in order to save space.
It is advisable to follow this practice for similar types and kinds of SKUs. This will save you a lot of trouble. Group all similar SKUs together.
You can have a separate bin for storing the variants. It will help you in your bid to make the classification process simpler.
Track inventories using technology
It’s a given fact that automation ends up saving a lot of time. In all fairness, the process of automation isn’t just confined within the walls of an air-conditioned workplace.
A warehouse can also reap rich dividends. RFID-enabled tracking and data collection can help you keep track of the inventories.
In this way, you can keep track of the number of goods coming into the warehouse and the number of goods being sent out of the warehouse. It is also advisable to confine manual interference within the warehouse.
Having automated systems in place can help you immensely in your bid to stay on top of the game. Technology can help you track the number of goods lying in all of your warehouses.
You can undertake a strategic assortment of SKU pickup Locations
Amazon needs to be given its due share of credit for coming up with such an efficient way of handling warehouse inventories.
E-commerce outlets across the globe are putting this algorithm to use for sorting out and storing similar products. Also, it will help you store all your variants separately.
It makes sure that all of the variants aren’t been kept together.
This practice will ensure that a delivery guy doesn’t end up picking a similar product (variant) that has not been ordered by the customer.
Maximize space using cross docking
Cross Docking happens to be a widely-used way of ensuring efficient supply-chain management.
Under this setup, you don’t get to store goods within the warehouse. As soon as the shipment arrives at your doorstep, you get it loaded on outbound trucks.
In this way, you’re able to reduce the shelf storage life of your goods.
Employee Training can be of immense help
More often than not, automated warehouse management systems end up being underutilized.
That is because the people (workforce) using those automated systems lack adequate technological know-how.
Make sure all your employees are well versed with all the features of your automated system. An efficient and informed workforce forms the heart of your warehouse.
To conclude
A wide range of factors determines the success and failure of your business.
One of those factors is having adequate storage facilities at your disposal. Also, just having a warehouse isn’t enough.
You need to make sure that all your goods are lying in place. Staying organized will help you stay on top of your game.
