While modern warehouse processes are becoming increasingly automated, collaborative, and cloud-based due to advancements in technology, warehouse operations are still prone to errors and mistakes. Warehouse problems can significantly impact the efficiency and productivity of a particular warehouse operation or the entire chain of processes associated with it.

 

 

A smoothly functioning warehouse is critical for a business and customer satisfaction as it helps quick, accurate delivery of goods. While often it may be too late to prevent a problem or perhaps reduce the amount of damage done, you want to minimize the costs linked to it and ensure that goods keep flowing efficiently through the system without any holdups.

Following are some tips you can enhance the efficiency and cost savings of your warehouse operations.

 

Optimize Picking Process

Taking too much time to pick orders means delayed order fulfillment and late deliveries, resulting in unsatisfied customers. If this is an issue you are facing, you must find ways to make warehouse picking more efficient and cost-effective by reducing travel time and improving order picking productivity. Besides placing items in their correct locations and effectively managing your inventory levels using a warehouse management system, you must assess your material handling equipment. Order picking is a vital aspect of warehouse operations. You want to provide your workers with reliable machines to let them perform their job without any technical hindrances.

If your warehouse operations are small, you may want to reduce costs by renting or buying used equipment. It would not be a bad idea to buy a used hyster forklift, pallet jack, order picker, or any material handling equipment to get a reliable machine at an affordable price. Do not forget to set up regular maintenance checks to ensure everything is in perfect working condition. That will diminish the chances of sudden breakdowns, which may be costly in terms of both time and money.

 

Improve Inventory Management

Have you experienced any of these problems:

• Receiving complaints from customers that they received the wrong product or an incomplete order?
• Accepting orders assuming you have enough stock to fulfill it, only to find out later that you do not. Now you must place a back-order, significantly extending your order lead time.
• Rejecting orders thinking there is not enough stock to fulfill it, but later discovering out that you do.
• Your employee productivity has decreased as they have been running around looking for missing products?

If the answer to any of these is yes, you must focus on enhancing your warehouse's inventory management. Keeping accurate counts of inventory items is one of the most pressing challenges in managing warehouse systems. Warehouses lose billions of dollars each year due to inventory discrepancies and lost sales. That makes it imperative that you adopt a solution to overcome these warehouse inventory challenges.

Perhaps the most effective and cost-efficient way to reduce errors and maintain accurate inventory levels is to get automated and implement a dedicated inventory management software like RFID with the warehouse management system (WMS) to save time and resources. That would help accurately track the movement and location of items throughout the warehouse, improving inventory accuracy.

 

Make Your Layout More Efficient

Optimizing your warehouse layout is crucial to the smooth operations and success of your warehouse. It is an essential component of the overall efficiency and productivity of your employees. If your warehouse operations are slowing down, it may be about time to review your warehouse lanes and routes and improve the accessibility of products for your picking team.

One of the best ways to cut costs and save time is to facilitate fast picking and shipment of goods. The most popular goods should be located at the front of the facility so that order pickers do not have to travel to far-flung inventory locations to pick those items. Besides, make it easier for your workers to move around the warehouse by creating plenty of cross-aisles.

Make sure to place items in their correct location to ensure the highest functionality and optimal picking efficiency. Being disorganized will cost you time, effort, and money by negatively affecting every aspect of warehouse operations, including inventory, picking, and orders.

A fully optimized layout will improve your space usage in the warehouse, reduce stock losses and boost overall efficiency.

 

 

Warehouses are the backbone of all companies doing business around the globe. However, a number of issues routinely affect warehouse operations that can cost money and result in delayed order fulfillment, derailing the warehouse operations. Knowing the potential challenges your warehouse may encounter and how to effectively handle them can help reduce the damage caused while saving valuable time and money.