Warehouse Management System 101
In improving your system, many variables are coming into play like the cost, availability of equipment, utility, and even the manpower. The strategy of improving your warehouse system can vary from one company to another, but certain strategies are safe to consider as a constant among all businesses. Here are some of the best practices that need to be done to end up with an efficient warehouse management system:1. Automate Mundane Tasks
Technology is a gift for many businesses to use. And if you haven’t used these tools already, then you’re missing out on so much. There's no denying that the right technology, when incorporated into the appropriate tasks, can greatly help by providing a better flow.However, this doesn’t mean you’re going to spend frivolously on all facets of your warehouse management. The best way to go about automating your tasks is to focus on the problem areas where automation is highly beneficial. By doing so, you can be assured that whatever technological advancements you invest in would be all for the purpose of improving your business.
Here are some of the mundane tasks that can do well when automated:
• Automated storage and retrieval systems
If you’ve got a fast inventory of orders coming in and out every day and your warehouse size is quite significant, you may be wasting a lot of time if your system is still manual. When this task is automated, your orders can be processed faster.
• Pick-to-light system
Another area that could be eating up so much of the time of your warehouse team is when they’ve got to manually locate certain inventory just to fulfill an order.Rather than go through (or try to remember) each isle manually, a pick-to-light system uses special barcodes that can help you locate the item. All you’ve got to do is key in the name of the product, and when the code matches, you’ll be given the exact location in the warehouse as to where to find it.
• Sortation system
Another facet of automation that can be highly effective for your warehouse has to do with sortation. This means placing the items in the right location. It's the technology itself that’ll sort the items into each of their groups—from processing, packing, and even picking.2. Optimize Your Labor Efficiency
Have an assessment of your current labor team at your warehouse. Before you create any drastic changes like employing more members, maybe it’s not a lack of people that’s the problem. Rather, it’s the efficiency and the productivity of your current manpower that are the issue.With that in mind, here are some tips you can apply to improve your warehouse labor’s efficiency:
• If you have to hire, hire locally
If the problem is in the lack of manpower, then go ahead and start employing, but focus on hiring locally. This means considering first the applicants living in your area or those who don’t have to travel and commute far to report to work.
• Tackle any hazards or nuances in your warehouse
Certain distractions can be considered a nuisance in your warehouse. Think dust and noise, among others. These can affect your labor’s productivity when they can no longer focus because of the presence of these hazards.A comfortable and safe working environment will always lead to higher productivity for employees as they won’t have to be overly cautious about possible hazards that might come their way as they perform their job.
• Reduce staff turnover
If your warehouse has a high rate of employee turnover, then you can be guaranteed it’s not functioning as well as it should. A high turnover means you have to keep training and re-training your employees for them to get familiar with the job they’re doing.Not only is this time-consuming, but it also hurts your productivity when your team isn’t necessarily well-versed in the job they’ve got to do because you always have new ones in the team.
There's a better flow of work when your team already knows what to do, how to operate the equipment, and what the system of your warehouse is without necessarily starting from scratch all the time.
3. Measure Your Warehouse’s Performance
As you create changes to improve your warehouse’s efficiency, it’s important for you also to measure its performance. It’s not just enough to stop applying the right techniques without studying whether or not those changes deliver results.Hence, it’s significant to measure your warehouse’s performance periodically. If you find that any changes you may have implemented aren’t working well, then it’s not too late to make more changes.
These are some of the important metrics that are important to consider when measuring your warehouse’s performance:
• Industry growth and trends;
• Competitor practice and performance;
• Costs;
• Customer satisfaction.
Conclusion
One of the downfalls of the operative side of any business has to do with inventory management. This means your warehouse doesn’t function as efficiently as it should because of all the loopholes and weaknesses. When your warehouse isn’t efficient, your operations, customer service, and even your profit-earning potential is going to suffer. When your warehouse’s efficiency is burdened, the warehouse itself will also be in disarray.With the tips above, you can learn the basics of how you can improve your overall efficiency such that you’re able to make the most out of your warehouse’s capacity.