Warehouse management is the backbone of your company. Good warehouse operations are a critical factor in your success for it is synonymous with the customer experience that your company provides. It keeps the product flow efficient which in turn, secures increasing profit margins.
And much like any other system, it is not problem-proof. Common warehouse management issues that warehouse supervisors encounter include inaccurate inventory, problems with picking, maximizing storage space, to mention a few.
If your warehouse operations are hindered by these problems, here are 5 of the best solutions to get over them:
- Warehouse layout
Your warehouse layout serves as the barometer as to how organized your workforce will be. Place the items of high demand at the front of the line for easy picking. The more complex categorizations generally need to be under automated tools like voice-directed systems for instant data, to minimize errors, and to better product delivery.
- Inventory location
This kind of problem generally develops over time, as new products are added to your inventory. Available space begins to be limited, therefore causing operations to move slower. Failing to set up an efficient location for your inventory often leads to supply and delivery issues.
Re-organize the layout of your inventory to ensure easy access to popular items.
In cases wherein you have used up your warehouse space, you may explore the option of looking at for sale warehouses or the ones for lease to help you with this problem.
- Inventory accuracy
The common issue with having an inaccurate inventory is human errors. Wrongly counted set or group of items during regular on-hand inventory counts may create significant disparities with your inventory management system.
Track down those discrepancies if there is time. Provide sufficient training on the use of the management system, then subject it to review to determine if there is anything to be improved or eliminated.
- Optimize picking
Regardless if you rely on the manual or automated method in picking, the important thing is that you are ready to adapt when exceptions happen.
Exceptions such as finding an item placed on a wrong slot or offering an approved substitute item occur. The important part is to remain focused and compliant with the system in place, even during situations when it may seem that it is counterintuitive.
- Quality control
It’s the job of quality control to assure that the rest of the warehouse management program functions as intended. And in many cases, the person doing quality control is also assigned to do or monitor the other tasks such as picking and shipping of items in the inventory to lessen errors.
You can assign a different person to manage the other tasks that will directly report to quality control instead, to avoid confusion and other supply chain issues.
All of these problems are woven into all your operational tasks in the warehouse, thus in cases that these situations arise, know that the proper response is always complying to the system in place. Look for what went wrong and focus on correcting and optimization.