5 Tips for More Efficient Warehouse Operations

Efficiency is a top concern for any business with an onsite warehouse or distribution center. To keep customers happy and remain profitable as a business, your warehouse needs to operate with no significant hitches.

While it’s easier said than done, you can implement some simple tactics to help your warehouse run with less friction and greater output.

 

RELATED ARTICLE: THE BASICS OF EFFICIENT INVENTORY MANAGEMENT

 

5 Tips for Maximum Efficiency

Investopedia defines efficiency as “…a level of performance that describes a process that uses the lowest amount of inputs to create the greatest amount of outputs.”

Efficiency, then, is all about the ratio of output to input. In the warehouse, there are some specific ways you can improve this ratio.

 

1. Hire the Right People

An efficient warehouse starts with hiring the right people. You need individuals who are focused, disciplined, ambitious, and goal-oriented. While people can learn a lot of skills, these are innate characteristics that people either have or they don’t.

 

 

2. Get Serious About Training

When you combine the right people with targeted training, you end up with exceptional value. So invest in training. Of course you’ll train your employees in the onboarding process. But include training at regular intervals, too. Make sure your staff continues to improve.

 

3. Invest in the Right Machinery

People are the lifeblood of an efficient warehouse. However, even the best people need the right tools. Therefore, make sure your tools and machinery meet strict quality standards. And ensure that your equipment is always in good repair, too.

“No one wants to think about their new machine not functioning properly, but at some point, any machine will need repairs,” Dalmec explains on their blog. “The difference, of course, is how frequently those repairs are needed, how early on in the life of the machine the issues begin appearing and how costly the repairs will be.”

 

4. Enhance Cross-Departmental Collaboration

The warehouse doesn’t exist in isolation. It’s directly connected to just about every department in your organization. This includes sales, marketing, advertising, customer service, production, and logistics.

In order to encourage maximum efficiency in the warehouse, you have to be certain that there’s optimal cross-departmental collaboration. The more you encourage direct collaboration between the warehouse and your company’s other departments, the fewer mix-ups there will be.

 

5. Aim for Continuity

Once you reach a level of efficiency that you feel is productive and worthwhile, avoid regression. The number-one way to do this is by retaining your top warehouse employees.

Therefore, offer competitive benefits and promote from within whenever possible. Additionally, stay abreast of what’s happening on the ground level. In this way, you can make strategic changes that keep employees satisfied.

The Wall Street Journal suggests that you, “Hold regular meetings in which employees can offer ideas and ask questions. Have an open-door policy that encourages employees to speak frankly with their managers without fear of repercussion.”

 

Empower Your People for Greater Efficiency

Efficiency is about attracting, training, and retaining the right people. It’s about having a team of people who are all on the same page and striving for a single goal. In other words, empower your people and achieve greater efficiency in your warehouse.

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source http://www.business-opportunities.biz/2018/01/22/efficient-warehouse-operations/