Solving problems in the warehouse

Solving problems in the warehouse

 Solving problems in the warehouse

Take a moment to think about the idea of a warehouse, sounds simple, right? The only work these people have to do is a ship and receive containers! How hard can it be? I mean, the shipment comes in, the workers put it somewhere in the big building they work in, and then it's sent to another destination when needed. Organizing and running such a business really can't be that difficult.

But that's just the thing - it's really that hard. There is much more to the warehouse concept than many people can even begin to understand. Sure, shipping and receiving is a simple process (for the most part, if you're lucky), but everything in between is where it gets tricky.

If you know someone who works with or deals with warehouses, the word "inventory" probably makes him or her cringe. This is a task that no one wants to deal with because most of the time it goes completely wrong and it is a huge problem to fix. Imagine having thousands of products on pallets and having to count them to make sure the correct number is there.

Even missing one can spoil orders big time. Oh, and don't forget that you need to make sure the product is of a certain type. For example, my family deals with chemicals, powders, and other materials in our warehouse. A powder manufacturer, however, has many different types of just one type of powder. And let's not forget that sometimes these products are shipped together on the same pallet which makes it very confusing and difficult to verify.

This does not include the fact that in many cases the products are not in their correct area in the warehouse. Often, it becomes like a massive search for products because when large quantities of pallets are shipped they get misplaced and you are forced to take the nearest available place to place the pallet. Basically, the palette is forgotten and lost in the middle of different products.

You might be thinking that I'm exaggerating these types of issues, but in reality, it happens on a weekly basis when dealing with inventory. We're not perfect, and neither are any other warehouse companies, but there are solutions that reduce the stress and inconsistencies that occur.

First, computers are our life savers. When we're not sure what's come and gone from our destinations, guess who's our backup - the computer! They allow us to double-check to make sure the correct items were shipped and even received. Another solution we've discovered is to arrange the inventory alphabetically and numerically on the floor.

As you can imagine, this saves us a lot of time searching for specific types of products in the warehouse. In reality, however, some items are more popular and are shipped more frequently. These selected items are the ones we keep close to the industrial lift to save time in retrieving them on the forklift.

As they all say, time is money! Even something as simple as writing products and their codes on packages or pallets can save a lot of time when trying to find products in a hurry. Also, instead of waiting every month to check inventory, we've found it's more efficient to do it every two weeks.

This way, it becomes easy to find out where we went wrong and what happened to the lost products. Again, computers help us with this because it allows us to keep a count of products and materials on a spreadsheet that can be edited and changed to accommodate new quantities.

As you can probably assume, keeping track of inventory is definitely not the only thing that warehouse facilities face. Many times, small warehouse companies are limited when it comes to storage. All in all the warehouses are no more than a million square feet, as I'm sure you can imagine.

This is where we have to get creative when it comes to making room for the thousands of new items that will eventually need space alongside the products currently being stored. One of the most beneficial solutions our company has invested in is shelving.

Some materials, such as drums, cannot be stacked on top of each other like powder bags or even cartons. With shelving in different parts of the warehouse, we are able to create space above rather than across vast floor areas. To do this, you need not only shelving but also a forklift. This type of equipment is necessary to operate a warehouse facility. And not to mention, it can't be just any kind of forklift.

Your equipment must be reliable to ensure that you will be able to complete orders and move items from high places without difficulty. Customers aren't expecting to hear that you can't ship any product they need until your forklift is back up and running.

As we all know, not everything can be easily fixed these days. The solution is not only to have a reliable forklift, but also a backup. This gives the company the security of knowing that even if a machine fails, it will still be able to manage and run its day-to-day business.

So, think about the warehouse idea again. Doesn't sound easy enough to send and receive goods, right? From inventory discrepancies, organizational mishaps, and storage and equipment issues, running a warehouse can be a complex task at times.

There are countless problems that these businesses face on a daily basis, but thankfully there are solutions to overcome them. For small business warehouses, following these different solutions to these types of problems is essential to ensure that their business is competitive and running smoothly.