The modern business landscape in India is changing rapidly. The year 2020 marked the rise of the digital era—many businesses switched to online mediums to reach more audiences. The e-commerce industry thrived and created demand in various other segments of the supply chain. During this surge, the warehousing and logistics industry also noticed a significant rise in the size of inventories and shipments. This has invited several challenges.
Today, the warehousing and logistics industry in India is putting in efforts to maximize productivity and efficiency. It aims to handle the increased volume of inventories, receipts, shipments, orders and returns better than ever. There are many approaches to achieving results, with processes as simple as workflow optimization others as complex as AI algorithms. So, here are some tried and tested tips to improve warehouse efficiency and productivity.
Manage Your Space
You need space to build a warehouse and manage that space to run a warehousing business effectively. A well-designed layout for the available floor space is conducive to smooth operations and simulates maximum productivity. This can be achieved by using the vertical space effectively. Tall shelves of inventories accompanied by the right material handling equipment or material shifting equipment can allow a better storage capacity for the same available floor space.
Additionally, using different sizes and types of racks with battery operated pallet truck and forklift trucks to store smaller or heavier cargo respectively can further segment the layout and help organize the inventory better. It also reduces operational challenges like unsafe storage, and bottlenecks while shipping, etc.
Reduce Physical Processes
Management of space at a warehousing facility can prove to be effective, however, to obtain the best possible efficiency it is necessary to remove the unnecessary.
Warehouses usually are large facilities spread across acres of space. The employees at a typical Indian warehouse, walk to the respective aisles—load or unload manually—then report to the respective station. This process emphasizes on manual labour and the productivity for the warehouse is dependent on labor efficiency. Additionally, this method requires a significant amount expense and also invites various hazards.
The best productivity and efficiency can be achieved by using equipment that reduces human effort and errors. Motored material shifting equipment like forklift trucks, battery-powered forklift trucks, reach trucks, battery operated pallet truck and electric stackers promote agility, in turn, increasing efficiency.
Welcome Technology Solutions
Warehousing is a complex operation with many possible areas of improvement for productivity. However, advanced logistics technologies like automated robots, warehouse management systems (WMS), AI & ML solutions for inventory management, and other technological solutions are proving to be effective.
These solutions are able to identify the pain points and bottlenecks of your current systems and processes. A well planned technology investment to address specific challenges of your warehouse can help boost productivity and efficiency.
Resize the Inventory
For some warehouses, maximum efficiency and productivity can also be achieved by shrinking the inventory. Keeping only what you serve by targeting only a few segments can help you maintain an agile process. This can be achieved only by reducing or eliminating safety stocks. You can also get frequent deliveries in smaller quantities from suppliers to avoid a stock out.
Summary
The warehousing industry has seen a sudden demand in recent years. Adhering to which the industry has devised new practices and measures to ensure productive and efficient operation. These processes aim to simplify the various aspects of a warehouse by implementing disruptive and practical solutions.
It is very important to simply tasks for the workforce in order to improve productivity. Various material shifting equipment can be used to perform different operations like diesel powered forklift trucks, and electric warehouse equipment can maximize the efficiency and productivity of a warehouse. Finally, it is very important to understand the requirements of your business. Speed up the processes wherever possible and shrink the inventory to serve a specific segment with the highest possible efficiency.
