Organisation is the key to efficiency, and in a commercial warehouse, it’s especially important. Everything needs a place, and it also needs to be easily accessible.
Start At the Beginning
Before you decide how you’re going to store, you need to be absolutely clear on what you’re going to store. Before a major overhaul, go through everything to understand what you have and whether you actually still need it (or whether you will in the future). Then you can start allocating space and deciding what you need by way of shelves, bins, cupboards and so on.
Shelving
Most warehouses will have shelving predominantly, and whilst that sounds obvious and straightforward, getting the wrong shelves can create problems in itself; there isn’t a one-size fits all option, and having shelves that are too tall or too deep, or too far apart, will affect the productivity and output.
Consider the load weights, too. You may well need different types of shelving, such as units specially designed for heavy loads, or to hold pallets. Specialist businesses like Rack Zone https://www.rackzone.ie/shelving/industrial-residential-shelving can supply industrial shelving Ireland wide, so take some expert advice at your planning stage.
Closed Storage
Shelving is great, but there are things that you, or certainly your employees, will want to keep locked away, so it’s important to offer lockers or lockable cupboards or drawers. This could include wallets and phones for staff if they are not able to keep personal possessions with them at work, but it might also cover chemicals that need to be stored separately. Sensitive data might also need to be stored securely.
Labels
Having the physical storage is only part of the organisation solution. It all needs to be labelled clearly and simply so everyone who needs to access things can do so. Sometimes product names and SKUs will be all that is required, though. For other things, product descriptions and even photographs might be pertinent and save confusion and time when locating things.
For more tips on how to sort out your warehouse and get organised, see the suggestions from The Workplace Depot.
Once the warehouse is designed and systems are in place, keep an inventory and do regular stock checks to ensure your plans stay on track. Investing time at the outset will save significant time overall.