W
arehouse management is complex, but
when done right it can reduce costs,
improve customer satisfaction and in-
crease warehouse operational efficiency. It’s simple to
improve warehouse operations with the adoption of
good warehousing practices. Here is a list of the top
11 ways to improve operations by adopting just a few
warehouse management best practices.
Warehouse Picking Best Practices
1. Use standardized containers to store materials.
Standardized containers simplify warehouse
order fulfillment, making it easier to find and
store materials, and giving the warehouse a neater
appearance that improves organization. Using
standardized bins can minimize the variety of
material handling equipment you need. They also
eliminate wasted time while pickers search for the
right equipment.
2. Use bin locations to ensure that pallets are placed
carefully on racks in the assigned location. This
can minimize lost or misplaced inventory and
reduces time spent looking for materials.
3. Use clear, readable labels that can be read by
people as well as scanners or other equipment to
further reduce errors.
4. Implement cross docking to speed up operations
and eliminate excessive inventory handling by de-
livering goods needed for orders to the shipping
dock without making a stop in the warehouse.
This reduces the order cycle time and material
handling costs.
Warehouse Organization Best
Practices
5. Warehouse square footage is expensive, so max-
imize the use of all your vertical space, even if it
requires an investment in additional equipment.
You will reduce operational costs, inventory car-
rying costs, and increase the efficiency of picking
and packing operations.
6. Utilize automation wherever possible. Use bar-
codes, RFID tags, NFC or whatever technology
works best for your inventory mix so you always
have accurate on-hand counts and locations. Bar-
code equipment is not an expensive choice — you
can even use a mobile phone.
7. One of the most cost-effective ways to use auto-
mation is with an automated storage and retrieval
system (AS/RS). It greatly increases the efficiency
of picking and packing operations, and reduces
lost or misplaced materials and picking errors.
You will be able to ship a greater number of per-
fect orders with an AS/RS in place.
8. Adopt a warehouse management solution for
maximum efficiency. A well-structured ware-
house management software will consolidate or-
ders allowing you to minimize travel time during
picking, increasing efficiency and throughput. It
can integrate with your ERP or inventory man-
agement system so that your inventory stays in
sync — increasing accuracy, reducing costs and
improving customer satisfaction.
9. Use omni-channel distribution centers rather
than separate warehouses or sections for each
channel. You will be able to reduce the total
inventory in your supply chain, have greater visi-
bility into availability, and simplify order picking
and reverse logistics.
Warehouse Inventory Management
Best Practices
10. Many people think of cycle counting as an
inventory management tactic for keeping on-
hand balances correct. While that is one positive
aspect of the practice, the more important aspect
is to treat cycle counting as a quality assurance
test. When you find errors, don’t just correct the
balance. Instead, investigate the reason for the
discrepancy and make changes to your warehouse
management procedures to prevent the issue
from occurring again. Over time, a good cycle
count program will improve accuracy to near
perfection.
11. Integrate your AS/RS and WMS solutions. These
two technologies work together, each increasing
the usefulness of the other. With the right equip-
ment in place, managing a warehouse becomes
much simpler and it will be easier to meet your
metrics for perfect orders, accuracy, efficien-
cy and productivity. The easiest way to ensure
seamless integration is to select an AS/RS and
WMS that are designed to work together, so you
eliminate the cost and hassle of integrating them
yourself.
www.WestfaliaUSA.com
The Satellite Review
7