Rev Up Savings and Reduce Cost with These 7 Warehouse Upgrades

Here at OpenWorks, we’re always looking for innovative ways to help your business run more efficiently, especially one of the most critical components of any successful company: the warehouse. It's the heart of your operation, where everything comes together and where you can make or break your bottom line.

Discover these seven warehouse upgrades that will help you rev up your savings and reduce your costs.

1.    Embrace the Power of Automation

Automation is the ultimate turbocharger for your warehouse. It helps you reduce the risk of human error, speed up your processes, and eliminate costly bottlenecks. By automating your inventory management, order fulfillment, and shipping processes, you can reduce labor costs, increase output, and streamline operations.

2.    Get Smart About Your Inventory

One of the biggest challenges of running a warehouse is managing your inventory. It's essential to know what you have, where it is, and when you need to reorder. That's why smart inventory management is key.

Using barcode scanners, RFID tags, and other advanced technologies, you can track your inventory in real-time, optimize your stocking levels, and reduce the risk of overstocking or stock outs. Think of it like a GPS for your warehouse.

3.    Go Vertical

When it comes to warehouse space, the sky's the limit. Going vertical and adding more levels of shelving, you can increase your storage capacity without expanding your footprint.

It's like building a skyscraper for your inventory. And with modern warehouse racking systems (and a commercial facility cleaner like OpenWorks), you can customize your storage to fit your needs, whether you're storing pallets, boxes, or individual items. As consumer shopping habits have shifted to online purchasing rather quickly, warehouses have struggled to keep up. And, with same-day, one-day, or two-day deliveries becoming the norm, the industry must keep up.

Going vertical has become the answer to many warehousing issues. When you go vertical, you:

- Satisfy customer demand for sustainability: more products can be stored locally reducing the need for carbon emissions

- Address urban land shortages: Getting enough land to build a 500,000 (or bigger)-square-foot center is becoming more and more impossible. Going vertical alleviates building sprawl.

- Can rely on micro-fulfillment centers located in high-volume urban markets.

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4.    Upgrade Your Lighting

A well-lit warehouse is a safe and efficient warehouse. Upgrading your lighting to LED or other energy-efficient options can improve visibility, reduce eye strain, and save on energy bills.

Modern lighting systems can be integrated with sensors and controls to automatically adjust lighting levels based on occupancy, time of day, or other factors. It's like giving your warehouse a high-tech facelift.

Light sensors also measure the amount of ambient light present and automatically adjust electric lights accordingly. This "daylight harvesting" technique is a simply way to ensure no electric light is wasted.

Before you upgrade, you will need to check and recheck your required lumen requirements for your building.

An important factor is considering the space between the floor and the ceiling. To find out lumen suggestions per square feet (known as foot-candles) follow this guide:

-For warehouses handling large items, the ideal lumen requirement tends to be around 10 lumens per square feet.

-For warehouses storing and handling smaller items, this number shoots up to around 30 lumens per square feet.

-For aisles, something in between is recommended. So 20 lumens per square feet is the recommended requirement.

Good to know: more isn't always better.

5.    Harness the Power of Data

Data is the lifeblood of any modern business, and your warehouse is no exception. Using data analytics tools, you can gain insights into your operations, identify areas for improvement, and make data-driven decisions.

You can track metrics like inventory turnover, order cycle time, and pick accuracy and use that data to optimize your processes and reduce costs. You can even use data to track your light, water, and HVAC usage to ensure you stay in or under budget.

The process known as data mining, can help you identify patterns and relationships to solve business problems through data analysis. If you are still manually doing so, it's easy to upgrade as there are so many software suites available that can help and trim down your costs and time to delivery. Data mining helps you find hidden info and patterns in data sets.

Moreover, modern warehouses will choose to use software that requires a very low learning curve and can be up and running in a short amount of time.

You don't have time to learn software coding or a brand new skillset (if you don't want to). Look for products with a friendly user interface and an easy to understand reporting structure.

6.    Embrace Lean Principles

Don't just settle for a tidy workspace, aim for a lean, mean clean and sanitized machine! Lean principles are all about reducing waste and improving efficiency.

By embracing lean principles in your warehouse, you can eliminate unnecessary steps, minimize idle time, and optimize your workflow, leading to significant cost savings and improved customer satisfaction. Not only this, but lean principles help you fight against the constant battle of dirt, grime, and the occasional rogue coffee spill.  

Remember "The 7 Wastes." These are the 7 most common sources of inefficiency in a manufacturing/warehousing/heavy machinery industry. They are:

-Overproduction

-Waiting

-Transportation

-Inventory

-Motion

-Over processing

-Defects

You can also take a listen to one of our recent podcasts which goes in depth into how to "Rethink Your Maintenance Strategy" with expert Erik Hupje. You'll find yourself surprised with what you didn't know.

7.    Invest in Employee Training

Your warehouse is only as good as your employees. That's why investing in employee training is critical. You can improve safety, reduce errors, and increase productivity by providing your team with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed. And by cross-training your employees, you can create a more flexible and resilient workforce.

There are plenty of ways to make your warehouse more efficient and effective – starting with regular maintenance and cleaning. OpenWorks offers tailored commercial cleaning and facility services to plants, warehouses, and fulfillment centers. We recognize the danger of a one-size-fits-all approach and instead provide an integrated set of services to improve efficiency with a single trusted provider.

Our reliable and personalized services are designed to meet the unique needs of each site, with each of our local teams working around schedules to avoid operational disruptions while their trained service providers understand the state and federal regulatory and compliance requirements for manufacturing. Contact us today to learn more about our manufacturing facility and warehouse facility management and commercial cleaning.