9 Storage Tips For A More Effective And Efficient Warehouse

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It is a common misconception that your company has an efficient picking operation only because your products roll out on time and the customers are happy. The efficiency and productivity of your storage systems depends on how your reorganize the process and the systems and train your workforce accordingly!

The following are 9 tips to improve your warehouse operations:

1. Profile your orders.
Store Keeping Units change with the seasons hence you need to re-slot your warehouse to accommodate your business model. You must review the setup at least once a year. This ensures that your units are in the correct physical location and storage media thereby reducing unnecessary travel for your order pickers. Your warehouse management system should have a dynamic slotting module.

2. Analyze your current picking methodology.
You must make sure your picking methodology suits the needs of your organization. A correct picking methodology is critical for optimizing productivity whether you choose single order or multi-order, batch picking or zone picking.

3. Use software to sequence orders.
Sequencing ...
... your orders by pick path, batching together all the single lines and same-zone orders saves tremendous time on the distribution part.

4. Create a warehouse within a warehouse.
By grouping together 20% of your SKUs that complete 80% of your orders you can gain extraordinary efficiency as it cuts down the travel time for your pickers. But you must ensure that the 80-20 zone is properly designed to accommodate high-volume activity.

5. Evaluate your storage equipment to ensure proper application.
One of the most effective storage tips for an efficient warehouse operation is to place the slow-moving, low-cube items in bin shelves and the fast-moving items in carton/pallet flow. This improves the storage density and picker productivity.

6. Create “wheelhouse” zones in your picking area.
You can improve your order picker ergonomics by slotting your fastest-moving units in the waist-to-shoulder better known as “wheelhouse” area of your storage media.

7. Designate only two or three standard shipping cartons.
With only two to three boxes plus a few custom sizes to choose from the pickers will put orders together faster. Cutting down the sizes of the boxes optimizes freight expenses.

8. Consider automation.
Order pickers spend 60% of their time walking the product or moving the product around. Consider a conveyance or any other automated solution to reduce their extensive travel time. You can use multi-level pick towers to save travel time.

9. Understand your technology options.
There are plenty of options are available to increase the efficiency which includes the bar codes, voice-activated technologies, pick-to-label etc. These technologies are designed to improve accuracy and provide different levels of increased picking productivity.