Warehouse Management: Best Practices for Picking and Organisation

Warehouse management may seem complicated, but it doesn’t have to be. When done right, you have the ability to reduce costs, improve customer satisfaction rates and increase the efficiency of warehouse operations as a whole. Picking and organisation play a key role in keeping your warehouse maintained to its fullest, and the experts at Monarch have all the information you will need to get the most out of your warehouse efficiency.

Picking

For storage solutions, it’s always a good idea to use standardised containers to store materials. By following this method you are able to simplify warehouse order fulfilment, making it easier to find and store your materials. Your warehouse is sure to look a lot more neat and organised by keeping all materials placed in standardised containers. This method also means you have the potential to minimise the variety of material handling equipment you may need, and will cut down on time wasted while pickers search for the correct equipment.

Having specific bin locations is also an effective way to ensure that all bins and pallets are placed carefully on shelves in the correct location. By doing this, you are reducing the risk of losing or misplacing inventory to an absolute minimum. You should also make sure that these bins, and any other storage solutions, have clear labels that everyone can read and understand. This reduces any staff errors such as misplacing inventory.

You could also implement a cross docking solution to the warehouse. This is a great idea if you want to speed up your operations. By delivering goods to the dock without the need to stop when in the warehouse, cross docking reduces excessive inventory. Not only this, but it can reduce the cycle time between picking and can even lower the costs of handling.

Organisation

Warehouse space by the square foot can be rather pricey, but by investing in more equipment you have the ability to maximise vertical space. It may seem like more money, but it should actually help you financially in the long run as it reduces operational costs, and inventory and carrying costs. In turn, efficiency  of picking and packing operations increase!

It is also a good idea to utilize automation wherever possible.

The ways of going about doing this are endless! From barcodes to RFID tags, there is always going to be a solution that works for your warehouse. This will ensure that you have accurate on-hand counts and locations. Barcode equipment is a cost effective way of doing this. Even mobile phones have barcode technology that can be used in the warehouse.

Another cost effective approach is to use AS/RS. This approach greatly increases the efficiency of picking and packing operations, while reducing the risk of losing or misplacing materials, as well as the risk of packing errors. With AS/RS in place, you have the ability to ship more inventory.

Finally, it’s important to adopt a warehouse management solution if you wish to maximise efficiency. This will consolidate your orders to minimise travel time between picking, and will increase efficiency throughout. This is also something you can integrate with your ERP or inventory management system. By doing so, you will be able to keep everything in sync, while increasing accuracy, reducing costs and improving overall customer satisfaction.

How many of these practices do you have in place in your warehouse? Have you optimised your vertical space to get the most out of your packing solutions? If not, Monarch are here to help. Contact us today to see what we can do for your warehouse, or take a look at our pallet rack solutions to see what you think would work best.