4 Golden Rules of Maintaining a Successful Warehouse

Managing a warehouse is not an easy feat. After all, it’s up to you to organize your inventory and ensure that everything that’s coming in and going out is carefully monitored and tracked. That’s why proper maintenance is essential to ensure everything stays as organized as possible. Here are the four golden rules of maintaining a successful warehouse, and making it as efficient as possible.

Prioritize Lack of Errors

When it comes to running a warehouse, the most important aspect is avoiding errors. Even the slightest mistake can have a substantial butterfly effect on the overall organization of your warehouse. As such, it’s important that you carefully monitor your operations in order to ensure accuracy.

One of the best ways to do this is to monitor KPIs for the logistics industry like picking accuracy. By carefully observing your metrics you’ll be able to measure your accuracy, and note where you have room to make improvements.

Create a Logical Layout

In order to make life easy for your pickers, you’ll need to make sure that everything is laid out in a logical sense. Beyond having enough room for your stock, you should also make sure that everything is within reaching distance for your pickers to grab. You should also consider the size of any forklifts or dollies which will need to be utilized in your warehouse.

If they don’t have enough room to pass, it could lead to a serious accident. Always consider space first, and then consider where things should be laid out logistically. For example, the items that you need on hand more often should be kept at the front of the warehouse. Everything in the back can be larger items and rarer orders.

Label Everything

One thing you should never do is leave your inventory unlabeled. Even though you may know what it is, not everyone else in your warehouse does. Labeling doesn’t just help you stay organized either. It can help your workers stay safe and avoid dangerous scenarios like unknowingly exposing themselves to hazardous materials. In addition to detailed labels, everything should also have a barcode. Doing so will significantly speed up your process and reduce the risk of order errors.

Make Technology Your Friend

The best way to keep an organized warehouse is to use a warehouse management system. In other words, keeping your warehouse organized on a manual system is not a realistic long-term plan, particularly if you’re planning on expanding your inventory. The sooner you can move towards technology, the faster you can get orders out, the easier it will be to find your inventory, and above all, you’ll find yourself with much less missing inventory.

The sooner you put these tips to use, the sooner you’ll find yourself with an organized and efficient warehouse that provides the right tools for your employees to get their jobs done all while keeping your customers happy.