A lot of thought and consideration must go into the administrative and management side of a warehouse. With safety hazards always present and expensive inventory cycling in and out, you need to know the basics of warehouse management to handle all the necessary aspects of the job. Neglecting any part of the process—whether it is somewhere along the line of receiving, storing, or shipping—can have negative repercussions that can either harm the business or workers.

General Layout

The most critical part of taking over any warehouse is to know the amount of space you have to work with and how best to organize that space. If starting from scratch, it is beneficial to understand how to calculate your warehouse’s storage space. From there, after knowing the limitations of your space, you can adequately organize workstations, walkways, equipment storage, and the direction of workflow.

Proper Labeling System

With your warehouse’s general organization, you need to establish an order to store your inventory. Your employees need to be able to quickly and easily find anything within the walls of your storeroom, and that means adherence to proper labeling and storage. Have your storage system follow a clear order, whether that means labeling racks alphabetically and shelves numerically.

Employing Regular maintenance

Equipment, from small tools like RFID guns to large vehicles such as forklifts, will inevitably need maintenance. This can take the form of preventative precautions, like instructing employees in the proper use of equipment or reactionary maintenance for when they break or become faulty.

Do Not Wait on Repairs

The level of safety risk varies between equipment, but when it doesn’t risk safety, it can risk efficiency. A forklift that is not running properly poses a significant safety risk to workers on the floor. Likewise, having an administrative tablet that is defective can lead to the shipping of improper orders or recording an inaccurate count of inventory.

Knowing When To Rethink

The basics of warehouse management are to know how to efficiently organize workspaces, employees, inventory, and monitor equipment; however, there are times when changes you implement are not working as intended. When those situations occur, it is equally important to know when to take a step backward to reevaluate your processes—both new and old. Do not stick to a new way of doing things when there are clear signs that it is not working.