How to Modernize your Warehouse/Distribution Operation, Part 1
For companies to stay successful over a long period of time, they must constantly be improving and changing with the times. This is especially true in warehousing and distribution. One of our core competencies at Establish is helping our clients logically and cost-effectively modernize and improve their warehouses and distribution centers. Over the next few weeks, we will be walking you through many of the steps necessary to modernize warehouses, from the most basic operation to a fully automated solution and everywhere in between. We start with two of the most important: Inventory Locations and Product Labeling.
Inventory Locations
Throughout a warehouse, there are many different places that inventory is stored. Simply adding names to each of those locations can help pave the way to a modernized warehouse so that an item and quantity can be tied to for efficiency and accuracy.
The naming structure can be virtually anything and should be relatively easy to follow. Each individual location should have a unique name and be labeled, with the labels being be easy to read and including barcodes to allow for scanning capabilities or check numbers. At a minimum, inventory location labels should have the location name and barcode, but they can also include more information such as color coding and the product(s) stored there. Below is a sample location name for a warehouse with standard pallet racking aisles:
The benefits of adding inventory locations to your warehouse include:
Better tracking and traceability of inventory.
Improved inventory accuracy and easier cycle counting.
The ability to implement more robust warehouse practices such as barcoding.
Improvement to current picking and put away processes.
More functionality out of the current support systems.
Product Labeling
In addition to labeling the inventory locations, all the products in the warehouse should be properly labeled. These labels should include the product name, associated barcode, lot/batch/expiration date (if applicable) and be clear and easy to read. Products should be labeled directly upon receipt, prior to being put into storage. Even better, it can also be coordinated with suppliers to include these labels on the products that they come in already labeled. Labeling allows products to be identified seamlessly during receiving, picking and inventory counts and will help reduce human error and manual processing.
Next time, we talk about the IT and Support Systems as well as Automated Confirmations (RF scanning, voice, RFID, etc.).