Saving time, increasing productivity and efficiency: improving warehouse logistics is a key factor for companies today. The continuous growth of electronic commerce and the multiplication of orders to be sent per day require optimal management in the supply chain and the correct choice of warehouse equipment .
Here Are Tips To Improve Your warehouse logistics.
1. Choose the logistics strategy appropriate to the needs of your warehouse
A small warehouse that ships 50 orders a day does not follow the same strategy as a warehouse that has more than 1,000 shipments a day.
Identify your needs, evaluate your warehouse and the number of orders placed before establishing your logistics strategy. :
- Small logistics:For about 50 orders per day, 500 m² warehouse with a team of 5 people, the organization does not require a particular strategy: picking is done as the order is placed and the team members can perform different functions depending on of necessity.
- Structured logistics:More than 50 orders a day, the warehouse must be more professional, the distribution of the products must be rigorous, the picking must be carried out in batches of orders and each member of the team must be assigned a particular task.
- Industrialized logistics: More than 1,000 orders per day, the warehouse must be automated to increase the pace. The logistics manager must install a WMS (Warehouse Management System), which is warehouse management software to optimize order processing.
- Logistics outsourcing : The last option, practical but expensive, consists of subcontracting specialized third-party storage logistics, capable of coping with significant peaks of activity.
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2. Improve the work environment
- Limit unnecessary movements: Optimize the distribution of products on the shelves to facilitate picking.
- Limit the transport of heavy loads: Equip your warehouse with transport carts , folding carts or pallet trucks . You will avoid the risk of an accident at work and you will take a lot of work away from your employees.
- Investing in quality equipmentis also an important option to improve the work environment: a high-performance WMS, barcode readers, screens, etc., will facilitate the work of team members and reduce the rate of logistical errors.
- Machines also help:Wrapping machines , filling production machines or sealing machines , depending on your needs, can greatly speed up the work.
3. Structure and order the space in the warehouse
The good use of space is essential so as not to transform your warehouse into a battlefield .
To structure the space, you must:
- Establish a numbering system for all products and create logistics routes that will quickly lead to the desired product.
- Delimit storage and workareas: overstock areas, storage areas, picking areas, arrival and departure areas, loading and unloading areas, etc.
4. Specialize the tasks of each of the employees
The more professionalized a warehouse is, the more precise the tasks to be carried out by the teams will be. And if the employees have a good knowledge of their tasks, the warehouse activity will be much more efficient.
Distribute the tasks of each one from the different areas of the warehouse: picking, preparation of orders, reception, shipping, packaging, postage, etc.
5. Establish a zone of high turnover stocks
In each warehouse there are products with a high turnover , they are the most requested by customers and, therefore, the most requested by team members.
It is recommended to create a special area for the storage of these products , an area near the arrival area and the packaging/shipping area.