Small and Medium-Sized Warehouses: 3 Ways to Manage Storage More Efficiently!

How a company stores, manages and processes their stockpile of products is one of the key factors of success. In an era where decoupling is happening globally and there’s an ever more present push back against globalization with international supply chains coming under attacks by politicians, viruses, and workers, shipping and JIT manufacturing have become riskier. Warehousing and having proper stockpiles of necessary products and items has become more important than ever before. 

This is especially true for medium-sized businesses relying on small or medium-sized warehouses to run their businesses and fulfil client orders. Aptly managing the warehouse can spell the difference between bankruptcy and success. That’s why this article will focus on proper small and medium-sized warehouse management - read on and you’ll find actionable advice you can use to improve your warehouse’s efficacy and reliability. 

#1 Increase the Productivity of Your Employees 

Small and medium-sized warehouses usually have a very limited workforce with only a few people taking care of all the crucial tasks - furthermore, medium-sized businesses don’t have the budget to lavishly and carelessly hire more employees. That’s why the productivity and the ROI on the people you initially hire are so important: 

• Monitor their productivity: the key to making your employees more productive is closely monitoring and measuring their performance. Only after you have adequate data on how each of your employees performs do you truly have the ability to use data-driven methods to increase performance through a carrot and stick system. 
• Jump at any chance to automate processes: automation is the future - it can help you save a lot of money in both the medium and the long run. Automation doesn’t always mean replacing workers either, there are a lot of AI programs and automation methods that augment the work of your employees and make them more productive.  
• Hire new people only as a last-resort: putting someone on your payroll is a significant commitment, and you want to keep your business lean at the beginning, so always try to find ways around hiring new people: this mindset will help you think about more efficient ways of utilizing your human and material resources. 

#2 Use Adaptive and Efficient Storage Solutions to Better Utilize the Space

Small and medium-sized businesses see a lot of fluctuations in the amount of business they get - they grow at a much higher pace than large businesses: but growing at a higher pace doesn’t justify moving to bigger warehouses every so often. One of your business’s key to success will be utilizing the space you already have effectively.  To this end, you need to use space-saving storage options like pallet racks, trollies, foldable boxes, and other effective and flexible storage options that can fulfil your storage needs as your business grows and evolves. 

#3 Housekeeping is Important 

Warehouse operations can be quite hectic and depending on demands for products & services, your warehouse can see an exceptional amount of activity frequently. This hectic nature of warehousing, if not properly managed, can lead to disorganized operations and slowdowns. Products will go missing, orders will go unfulfilled, and space won’t be properly utilized. This is why housekeeping is so important. Always make sure the warehouse is organized and the warehouse goods are properly accounted for.