Warehouse space is not cheap. How you manage the space at your disposal determines how efficient your operations are. While one may want to have an expansive, endless warehousing space, the reality is that warehousing space is always limited. However, you can maximize the use of your space by making a few changes. The following material handling suggestions can be highly useful in maximizing space in your warehouse.
1. Forecast with Precision and Improve Inventory Management
To avoid ending up with excess inventory, always have accurate space forecasts. There are modern forecasting tools that are highly capable of managing your inventory and forecasting with precision your warehouse space requirements. Improved forecasting saves you handling costs, inventory acquisition, and obsolescence.
Invest in an effective inventory management solution to generate inventory requirements to help you reduce on-hand inventory without affecting customer service or having to increase stockouts. It’s a no-brainer that a small inventory occupies less space, and automatically improves the management of your warehousing and storage space.
2. Optimize the Layout Design of Your Warehouse
Once you have analyzed the physical characteristics of your warehouse, including the type of goods you want to store and their turnover, you can then optimize your warehouse space accordingly.
For instance, fast-moving items should be stored near the warehouse loading area to make it easy to pick and load them and reduce travel time within the warehouse. You should also have different size racks for storing large and small items to maximize the use of space and minimize the possibility of small items getting lost.
3. Make Effective Use of Space
The space you have is all you have. It may not be all the space you need, but if you use it efficiently, it will meet all your storage needs. However, you will have to think strategically, vertically and perpendicularly. Rather than add extra square footage of space, consider building up. Your goal should be to make creative use of every space at your disposal to enhance operational efficiency.
4. Optimize Warehouse Material Handling Equipment
If you have the correct material handling solutions and equipment, you can boost productivity and enhance your team’s safety. Your equipment should be able to handle the kind of loads you are expecting. Also, make sure the isles are spacious enough to allow safe movement of fork trucks. They should also have functional lights and a horn.
It is important that you take good care of your material handling equipment since it is key to your warehouse’s operational efficiency. Make sure your team is properly trained to do thorough pre-shift equipment checkup, and to regularly schedule maintenance where necessary.
5. Automated Storage (AS) and Retrieval System (RS)
One of the most cost-effective ways of maximizing your warehousing space and improving your entire inventory management is by using an automated storage and retrieval system, which stores huge volumes of your products’ data in a small database, hence eliminating errors. When these storage and retrieval systems are integrated with a warehouse execution system (WES), they can dramatically improve the efficiency of your warehousing storage and retrieval operations.
An AS/RS system minimizes travel time within your warehouse and significantly improves its overall efficiency. When integrated with WES and ERP solutions, an AS/RS is the ultimate panacea for the optimal use of your warehousing space without sacrificing operational efficiency.
To improve your warehouse’s material handling, it is important that you manage your warehousing space efficiently. To do this, you need to ensure that every inch of your warehousing space is appropriately used. This involves strategic use of space and proper placement of differently sized items.
