Warehousing design and management is a very important thing to keep in mind when building a new warehouse. A poorly designed warehouse could have catastrophic problems. Here are three very important things to keep in mind when designing and running a warehouse to avoid problems.
- Warehousing plans include a good picking path. Picking is done by the employee known as the picker, and as you might have guessed, actually does the picking of the products. Once the picker receives his assignment of what needs to be picked, he/she goes onto the warehouse floor. There should be enough room on the picking path to allow room for a cherry picker (which is a machine that the picker drives and raises and lifts him to reach items on the higher shelves). So, the aisles for the picking path need to provide enough room for the cherry picker and should also include room in case it needs to be turned around. Also, if there are areas where machinery like a cherry picker should not be driven, it is important to mark those areas.
- Warehousing needs to keep up with technology. Some people like to stick with their paper methods. But, a warehouse will run so much more effectively using a computer and tracking system. Inventory and locating items will be so much easier. Paper is much easily destroyed or lost or even accidentally thrown away. Computers do crash, so it is also very important that a backup of the computer is in place. A good practice is to do a backup of the computer at the end of the day. Depending on how much stuff needs to be backed up, this process can be done overnight so it doesn't interfere with actual working times.
- Warehousing can be messy. So, good housekeeping is a must. For example, have a dedicated area for employees to eat and make sure that food should not be near their working station. Be sure to set out ample garbage cans for employees. Make a schedule for a dedicated individual to sweep the floor on a daily basis. Additionally, the warehouse will probably invest in a riding floor cleaner, especially if the warehouse stores chemicals. Chemical spills should be cleaned up immediately and according to their spec sheets to avoid contamination. Make sure each employee cleans their station at the end of their shift. That way, in warehouses that have multiple shifts; the night shift crew does not have to spend time cleaning up after the day shift workers.
Warehousing, as you see, has a few tedious items that are pertinent to its success. These are only 3 tips on how to run an effective warehouse, and just touches barely the surface of what is important in running a warehouse like a well-oiled machine.
