Tips for improving warehouse efficiency
Processing shipments quickly is the most obvious place to start when improving the efficiency of your company’s warehouse. This means that as soon as orders arrive, your employees pick, pack and ship the items. For many businesses, this involves continual training of employees.
Regularly scheduled training ensures they are always up to date with new technologies and systems.
Other tips for improving efficiency include:
- Audit and review warehouse performance constantly to identify areas for improvement.
- Keep your products organized properly, so they can be picked, packed and shipped more easily and more quickly.
- Schedule vendor receiving appointments.
- Prioritize your stock by value.
- Transition from a single-channel fulfillment center to an omnichannel fulfillment center.
- Streamline warehouse operations with improved picking and packing processes.
Tips for Improving Warehouse Productivity
In order to address productivity issues before they arise, it is imperative that you communicate with your warehouse workers about priorities and pressing issues. As part of this effort, ensure that all warehouse conditions are safe and streamlined for maximum productivity. This includes making your warehouse work environment more comfortable for workers with such additions as air conditioning, soft flooring and break rooms.
Other ways to improve warehouse productivity include:
- Offer an incentive program to encourage employees to excel.
- Use kitting strategies by grouping products that are often purchased together in order to save time processing orders.
- Invest in higher-quality equipment to reduce downtime caused by broken equipment.
- Measure the appropriate metrics and report back to workers as needed so they can self-monitor performance.
