Tips to drive productivity in your warehouse in the new year

2019 means a fresh start and the opportunity to overhaul systems to focus on greater productivity or efficiency. If you’re looking for options to improve the infrastructure and processes that you have in place next year then there are many ways that you can do this. Whether your problem areas are poor performance or inefficiencies that are causing financial loss, there are many things you can do to improve the situation.

Optimise your warehouse processes

Start the new year as you mean to go on by improving the way that your key processes function. That may mean an overhaul of the systems in place in your warehouse or it could be looking at how technology could help to improve the productivity of your workforce. Automation has a lot to add to productivity improvement, from reducing the time it takes to pick an order to eliminating mistakes. Technology, such as automated storage and retrieval systems, can significantly cut down the time required to complete processes, and equipment such as vertical lifts can ensure that your business is optimising its use of space too.

Improve warehouse management

The way that the warehouse is managed has a big impact on productivity and small changes can make a significant difference. The right warehouse management system will provide perspective on everything, from the hours being worked through to the rate of productivity. With warehouse management software you’ll be able to generate key metrics to measure how well your staff and systems are performing on an ongoing basis. Effective warehouse management can help to reduce waste and maximise operational output.

Focus on speed

The pace of performance within your warehouse will have a significant impact on productivity. Increasing pace is important, as long as this is not at the expense of quality. Improving pace might be a question of rearranging your operations so that staff have a shorter distance to travel when completing certain functions. It could also be the addition of technology that gives your workforce the tools to complete jobs more quickly. If there is one factor that will make a huge difference to your warehouse productivity in 2019, it’s achieving an increase in pace.

Assess the way your workforce is managed

Pay incentives can help to drive productivity, giving employees more reason to work harder, faster and to higher standards. This is also a great opportunity to assess the way that your staff function in their roles. Would more training help to improve productivity, for example, or do your staff feel like there is a piece of equipment or technology that would support significantly better performance?

Demotivated or disengaged staff are not going to be as productive as those that are properly incentivised and feel that their work matters. Reassessing the way the workforce is managed can have a positive impact where productivity is concerned.

Technology has the potential to significantly improve warehouse productivity – contact our team to discuss your options.