An important step in increasing productivity, which is often overlooked, is storing goods and materials efficiently. Be it warehouses, shops, food stores, or agricultural and construction businesses, following the correct procedure for storing goods can increase the overall productivity multifold.
In addition to that, using innovative waste reduction strategies can also positively affect the productivity in your business.
To help you with all of that, here are some must-follow tips:
Use Racks, Shelves, and Pallets Safely
Storing goods or raw material on shelves, racks, and pallets is a great idea since it saves a lot of horizontal space. But to ensure that everything is stacked correctly, you must follow these tips:
- Level the floor before installing vertical storage units.
- If you’re looking to fix shelves or racks to walls, make sure that the walls can support the weight onto them.
- Place the units in a way that staff can easily access them.
- Make sure there is enough space for handling equipment (for example, forklift trucks) when necessary.
- Do not overload the shelves. The goods must be appropriately aligned and shelves shouldn’t overhang.
- Use personal protective equipment wherever necessary.
- Place the heaviest items at the bottom.
Minimize the Risks of Hazardous Materials
If you’re storing chemicals or other hazardous substances, they must be handled in a way that exposure to them is limited.
These tips will help you:
- Store the minimum quantity possible at a time.
- Store substances that are incompatible separately.
- Maintain gauges and valves to avoid leaks.
- Keep a spill kit near the storage space.
- Train the staff in what should be done in case of a spill.
- Wear protective clothing if necessary.
- Label the containers that you use for short-term storage properly.
- Do not overfill containers.
- Store flammable goods far from ignition points.
- Store hazardous liquids far from drains so that they do not reach water sources.
Use Efficient Weighing Systems
Incorporate weighing scales such as platform scales or truck scales in your warehouse as per your requirement. Weighing scales offer tremendous benefits and help in optimizing inventory management.
Here’s how:
- They improve the accuracy of billing and shipping.
- They help prevent the overloading of shelves, racks, and pallets.
- With accurate weight measurements, you can improve quality control.
- Weighing scales help optimize inventory and eliminate the shortage.
- They help monitor and minimize wastage.
Incorporate Technology
For handling goods at scale, just the human effort may not be sufficient. But that’s what technology is for. Innovations in technology for warehouse storage and inventory management can be used to streamline the entire process and increase revenue multifold. For example, automated vehicles can save human efforts, and labor can be assigned for jobs that require human intervention.
Further, technologies like automated counting scales can keep the count of items and also send real-time reports directly to you. Cloud technology can store huge amounts of data online and also allow easy access to it.
Handle Waste Effectively
The optimization of any industrial process cannot be imagined without active waste management and waste disposal.
Here are a few tips that you must follow:
- Segregate hazardous, non-hazardous, and biodegradable waste before getting rid of them.
- Identify recyclable material and reuse as much as possible. For example, storage cartons can be reused.
- Use trash compactors to compress trash. This would increase the landfill volume.
- Recruit an industrial waste management firm if necessary.
- Appoint a dedicated professional for effective waste management.
As the size of your warehouse increases, the risks associated with it also increase. Moreover, how you handle inventory and discard waste also affects the environment drastically. So, follow these tips above and bring efficiency to your inventory and waste management practices.