Not being clear about the location of your products within the warehouse, or not knowing the exact number of SKUs in inventory may cause serious issues when undertaking deliveries.
Here are 4 indicators that will reveal if your storage area is not being productive. Analyze them so that we can work in a solution that helps you avoid future problems.
1. Unable to find products or SKUs
A serious indicator that something is not functioning properly in your warehouses is being unable to find your SKUs when required: no pre-established order is implemented, the adequate processes are not followed to maintain uniformity, or if the logic changes when rotating staff; that is, not having a reliable inventory or operation.
Not having defined locations and placing materials in any available space denotes a null product control. As illogical as it may seem, many industries continue to employ old methods and trust the memory of their employees to find items; or they do not have tools or defined process in a precise, productive, and reliable way.
An effective solution for these issues is the use of WCS and WMS technologies, and/or automated warehouses, which will help you locate all products in suitable places within the warehouse, and that are usually randomly and intelligently assigned to the products according to each product’s rotation and features.
2. Insufficient Storage
It is expected that companies that focus and provide excellent service, grow. When this happens, warehouses and operations expand, thus requiring larger work spaces.
If you do not have sufficient space volume to support all all locations and sufficient products to meet the demand, most certainly the quality of your processes, material handling, and order fulfillment will be impacted.
The warehouse management software and/or automated warehouses are tools that allow carrying out operations with information that facilitates decisions and prevents failures due to a lack of space. Furthermore, they allow expanding the storage volume by up to 300% within a same area, adding many advantages, such as the elimination of errors due to an inadequate inventory management.
If your company handles small-sized, highly valuable items; the best solution for you is the Shuttle; when working with heavy, large-sized equipment, choose a Tower Mat; for boxes and totes, analyze the option of a Miniload; and for materials in heavy pallets, the Uniload is the best choice.
3. Not knowing your available inventory
Product waste, theft, and losses indicate that no inventory control is in place, even when inventory checks are made on a monthly or bimonthly basis.
This problem represents economic losses that not only impact in a lack of SKUs, but also affect the deliveries, orders, and commitments with customers.
A viable solution is the implementation of a cyclical inventory, supported by technologies such as WMS and WCS. Together, they provide visibility, operation control, and productivity.
A cyclical inventory allows the exact, real-time control of the available stock. The count begins with a product, and continues successively with another product until returning to the initial product; adjustments never end (hence derives the ‘cyclic’ designation). During this process, you may update amounts and add or remove products already used.
With the new market trends, such as e-commerce and multichannel, all companies should know exactly what is in store and how much can they sell in order to meet the requirements of this business window.
4. Searches take too long
Depending on the size of your distribution center or warehouse, search times for the remotest products (in distance or height) tend to substantially reduce operations, reflecting in low productivity.
To successfully deal with this, it is advisable to automate through the use of stacker cranes (AS/RS), shuttles, carousels or by means of belts and racks in an arrangement that enables the operator to easily access products with high, medium or low rotation.
A productive, world-class storage system is critical to your company. For this reason, GIEICOM offers a team of true experts in internal logistics and the best storage technologies (from the reception area to shipment).
Contact us, our consultants will gladly assist you.
