Easy Tips for a Tidy Warehouse

It's very easy for a warehouse space to become crowded and unorganised. It doesn't even necessarily have to be down to a lack of attention or bad management. It can simply happen as a business grows and focuses on generating income that incoming stock and outgoing orders get jumbled together. While it's not the end of the world, an untidy, unorganised warehouse space isn't perhaps the most efficient way of doing things.

Fortunately, it doesn't take a magic fix to solve this issue and make a warehouse space efficient, organised and manageable. By focusing on small areas one at a time, you'll wonder why the space became unorganised in the first place. Let's have a look at some possible areas to focus on.

• Organise items into types of product.
  Using an inventory here will help. It makes it easier to find whatever it is you're looking for if you know whereabouts to look, and will also help to keep track of products coming in or going out. Products grouped together are easier to find than individual items scattered about.
  
  
• Label things up!
  It sounds obvious I know, but it's worth mentioning. Grouping products into categories is a good start, but ensuring that each item is clearly labelled and identifiable will also speed things up for employees looking for specific products. It will also reduce the potential risk of the wrong items being shipped or stored.
  
  
• Sensible stacking
  Again it may sound obvious, but stack and store products in an ordered and sensible manner. Boxes and other items can be neatly stacked on top of each other, rather than spread out all over the place. And perhaps the purchase of racking or shelving may enable users to make good use of the available vertical space. You can very easily increase storage capacity while at the same time reducing used floor space.
  
  
• Organised storage of products and boxes
  This will enable you to keep the aisles clear of clutter and it will make the warehouse so much easier to move around in. If you're not having to manoeuver around all sorts of items on the floor you will also make the space more accessible for vehicles such as forklifts. Clear aisles will also help to improve safety, reducing the risk of trips, falls and other accidents.
  
  
• Regular monitoring
  Finally, regular monitoring and checking of the running and condition of the warehouse will help ensure that issues do not become overwhelming. Keep an eye on the way the warehouse is being maintained and check that the tips listed above are being followed properly. If this is not done then things will quickly get out of control and then it will take even longer to sort out next time.
  

While not a comprehensive list, the tips and suggestions we have just looked at will begin to improve the organisation and running of any warehouse space. We may not like to admit it, but we can easily allow things to get out of hand if we don't know what to do to make things better.

Take the advice above on board and try it out! An organised workspace is a far more efficient place to work in and improves working conditions for everyone.