How to Manage a Warehouse

Managing a warehouse is not easy and requires a lot of work and energy. Your responsibilities may range from supervising and evaluating employees to shipping, purchasing, receiving, inventory control, storing and distributing merchandise. Operating an efficient, safe, and productive warehouse is a multifaceted job, but you can follow some guidelines to ensure that you do your job well while protecting employees and goods.

 

1.    Prioritize warehouse safety

 

Keep the warehouse clean, tidy, and organized. The aisles and walkways should be free of spills and debris. Do not leave boxes or merchandise in aisles where people may trip. Mark all sidewalks, driveways, and slopes with highly visible floor markings.

Make sure that cables or suspension equipment do not hang above the sidewalk or driveway.

Use wall space to add lockers or hooks.

Use tape to manage the wires on the floor or cover them with a wire cover.

 

Ensure that all areas are properly illuminated. Bright lighting allows your employees to stay awake and understand their surroundings, thereby increasing alertness and workplace safety. Make sure that the bulb is replaced immediately after it goes out, and there are no dark areas in the warehouse.

 

Train employees on general warehouse safety practices. All warehouse employees should participate in warehouse safety standard training and confirm in writing that they have received sufficient training. Many injuries are caused by improper material handling, so your safety plan should focus on the correct way to pick up, reach, and carry heavy objects. You should also include a section on the safety of the loading dock, including limiting the height of stacked pallets and keeping the dock area clear of obstacles.

 

You may want to develop a security plan specifically for your company. Cooperate with the human resources department to develop training materials.

 

Consider online training, which allows you to archive training materials (videos and printouts) so that they can be viewed multiple times.

 

Ensure that employees who use machinery and equipment have received appropriate training. Employees operating warehouse equipment—forklifts, mechanical loaders, electric stackers, elevators, linear packaging machines, etc.—must receive comprehensive training in their use and obtain certification when necessary.

 

Ensure that these employees are trained to identify hazards, respond quickly, follow safety protocols, and be particularly careful in loading and unloading areas.

 

If operating a vehicle or equipment (such as a forklift) requires certification, you must verify that employees have received this training.

 

Enforce safety regulations. Such rules are designed to avoid injury to employees who may deprive you of skilled labor. Enforce safety regulations by placing reminder signs in appropriate places and punishing employees who often ignore safety regulations. Don't set exceptions for anyone who violates the rules.

 

Educate your employees to use appropriate protective equipment, such as hard hats, steel-toed boots, goggles, and thick gloves.

 

Ensure that forklift or other machinery operators are properly trained and only use designated lanes when moving such equipment around the warehouse.

 

Perform regular safety inspections. Make sure everything is up to date. Plan regular inspections and maintenance of vehicles, machinery, equipment, and loading docks to keep them working properly.

Report, replace or repair any damaged or missing safety features. The lights, reversing sensors and warning signals should be tested on the vehicle.

Test the repaired equipment to ensure its safety before returning it to the warehouse

Handle any reported safety hazards immediately.

 

2.    Manage warehouse employees

 

In addition to training employees on safety protocols and how to use equipment safely, they also need to receive training on how to select correctly. They need to know how to use the scanner, how to complete the order, and how to work as efficiently as possible. Human error is one of the most common problems in warehouse inventory management, and the only way to reduce these errors is to conduct proper training.

 3.    Keep the warehouse in order

 

After the layout is determined, you must properly arrange the warehouse. It is easy for employees to put items in the wrong place. Placing items in incorrect locations will cause a lot of trouble in finding these items in the future. The warehouse must be properly organized at all times, and the supervisor should check it regularly.

 

4.    Check delivery and pickup operations

 

Coordinate the trucks and drivers that carry goods in and out of your warehouse so that every function runs smoothly. Coordinating the arrival and departure of trucks can promote the efficient use of your loading dock. This will be easier if you use a specially designed software package. This does not mean buying a full-service plan immediately. You should be able to find a program that only handles delivery and transportation coordination. Take advantage of the free trial offer before choosing a program.

 

Coordinating loading and unloading means trying to arrange the arrival and departure of trucks so that they don't have to wait while other trucks are loading and unloading. Make sure your dock is always in use and the number of trucks will never exceed the available space.

 

You should also focus on restricting arrivals so that your unloading team has enough time to unpack and sort the arriving items before more arrivals. If they arrive sooner than this, it will create a "bottleneck", leading to costly inefficiencies, not to mention employee pressure and frustration.

 

Arrange staff timetables so that there are enough porters to load and unload trucks. This may require additional staff for bulk cargo.

 

Organize your receiving process. Assign enough product inspectors and receivers to each shift to compare the invoice with the received product and check the condition of the product when it arrives. Make sure your employees know how to deal with damaged goods. Ensure that the received products are quickly put on the shelves to avoid discrepancies between the received goods and the actual goods on the shelves.

 

Provide enough working space for your receiving team. This ensures that recently received products will not be confused with existing products.

 

Control the quality of transportation. Implement controls to check the quality of the products before they leave the warehouse. Organize a system to inspect and remove defective or incorrectly packaged items from the goods before they leave the warehouse. This helps prevent costly returns.

 

Let experienced employees you trust take charge of quality control. Their experience can save your warehouse a lot of money.

 

Track your shipment. Your customers will want to know exactly where their products are and when they will arrive. This will also help you quickly deal with lost packages. Be sure to use any shipping service you use to implement shipping tracking and regularly check the accuracy of its tracking.