While it is often an overlooked and neglected part of most businesses, the warehouse area is vital to the operation and prosperity of your business. After all, everything you buy, use, or sell comes in and out through the warehouse – and in basic terms, if you have an inefficient warehouse, you have an inefficient business.
Making sure your warehouse is running efficiently is not easy, especially if it has been an afterthought for so long. However, there are some areas you will need to look at first, we’ll start with the most important.
Make sure you have the right people working for you
This is a two-pronged issue that you can tackle simultaneously. First of all, you need to look at staffing levels and make sure you have the right number of bodies in the building. Tell-tale signs that you are understaffed here are pallets of stock not being put away or kitting orders being repeatedly late into production. You need to look at volumes coming in and out and see if hiring warehouse staff is the answer to your problem.
On the other hand, you might find that the reason why things aren’t running the way they should, might be through lack of training (more on that next) or you quite simply have people taking it easy because the area has been neglected for so long and they can get away with it. This one is on you, and you’ll need to ensure you visit often and take an interest in what is going on – rather than just going in heavy-handed to gee people up.
Focus on training
You are likely to find that some of your warehouse staff might only have had ‘on the job’ training for what they are doing, which can often consist of spending a morning with someone else and then being left to get on with it. Clearly, they will not be as clued up as they could be, and are probably (if unknowingly) wasting their time and your money doing things the long way around.
Implementing a proper in-house training program, as well as adding outside training will bear fruit in both the long and short term and is likely to boost productivity as well.
Get the right equipment
Once your headcount is correct and they know what they are doing, you need to give them the right tools for the job. This will vary according to what type of business you have, but you can’t expect them to do a job for you if they are using worn-out or outdated tools and equipment. This might be a gradual process due to cost but replacing and maintaining machinery will help to keep things moving.
Final thoughts
If your warehouse runs smoothly, the chances are the rest of your business will too. You can start to achieve this by ensuring you have the right headcount, and those you employ are trained to do the job properly and safely. To help with this, you should upgrade and replace old and worn-out tooling and equipment, and you are likely to find it is time and money wellspent.
