https://www.camcode.

com/asset-tags/warehouse-operations-best-practices/

Warehouse managers know all too well that the task of managing operations for a warehouse
facility is far from straightforward. Warehouse operations managers are tasked with ensuring the
efficient flow of products in and out of the facility, optimizing the buildings layout, making sure
orders are fulfilled and products are in stock, but not overstocked. Add ensuring profitability and
minimizing overhead and labor costs to the mix, and warehouse operators have their work cut out
for them.

With so many factors to balance, considerations to weigh in every decision, and pressure from
stakeholders on all sides to be more productive, minimize expenses, and maintain a smooth
supply chain flow, its no surprise that there are many articles and resources outlining best
practices for warehouse operations.

To make analyzing the vast array of information on warehouse operations best practices, weve
put together a relatively concise list of best practices from a variety of sources. Weve scoured
the far corners of the web to identify these 51 best practices for warehouse operations to provide
a useful resource for warehouse managers aiming to be top performers in their field and produce
the best results possible for their companies. While categorized by topic, please note that the
following best practices are not otherwise rated or ranked in any particular order of importance.
To jump to a specific section, use the links in the table of contents below

1. Use automatic data collection. People writing numbers on pads of paper or keying strings
of numbers into a keyboard is a bad sign, McKnight says.

The benefits of automatic data collectionvia bar code and radio frequency identificationare
well-established, including increased productivity and accuracy and lower labor costs. But plenty
of companies still havent implemented automatic data collection.

Some organizations with 30,000 or 40,000 item numbers and multiple facilities are still convinced
theyre better off without technology, McKnight says. Denny McKnight, partner, Tompkins
Associates Inc., a supply chain integration firm headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., quoted
by Leslie Hansen Harps in Best Practices in Todays Distribution Center,
InboundLogistics.com

2. Dont rely on manual data entry processes. INSTEAD: Use mobile computers with bar
code scanners or RFID readers at the receiving dock to immediately identify products on arrival.
This helps get product off the dock quickly and eliminates nearly all the errors associated with
manual receiving: including identification, counting, and data entry errors. With scanning and
RFID technology, youll avoid the mistakes that wreak havoc with inventory accuracy and eat up
time and resources to fix. And that means your warehouse staff can focus on processing
customer orders more quickly. Top 10 Losing Warehouse Strategies and How to Avoid
Them, Motorola Solutions; Twitter: @MotoSolutions

3. Promote information visibility company-wide. The Best in Class point to an extensively

proliferated warehouse visibility infrastructure that allows them to share information throughout
their operation and across the company. Another respondent points to visibility as a means to
improvement. A senior vice president in supply at a large retailer indicates that faster information
access to critical users coupled with extended shipping-receiving hours, led to a decrease
in cycle times between 11-20%. The Warehouse Management Benchmark Report,
Aberdeen Group; Twitter: @aberdeengroup

4. Asset tracking paired with a warehouse management system (WMS) provides the
automation necessary to maximize warehouse productivity. Smart businesses understand
that controlling inventory, fulfillment and shipping costs is essential for success. Companies are
constantly striving to improve their warehouse operations by increasing agility, visibility and labor
efficiency. This requires use of best practices combined with a sophisticated Warehouse
Management System (WMS) that optimally manages all resources within the distribution
operations while minimizing the total cost of operation or ownership (TCO). Warehouse and
Fulfillment: Streamline Your Fulfillment Process and Keep Your Customers Satisfied,
NetSuite; Twitter: @NetSuite

5. Data synchronization improves visibility and streamlines ordinarily labor-intensive data

integration tasks. Central to every supply chain is the common SKU, and its interaction
between the differing systems determines the success of a number of critical business
measurements. The key to harmonising data flow across complex suites of software applications
in any size organisation is to synchronise all data that relates to the common SKU horizontally or
vertically within the enterprise. This approach to standardising common product data at the
system level and having no barriers to data transformation, is fast replacing labour intensive data
integration tasks. The next evolutionary stage in the trade of data between organisations is where
data repositories are updated with the very latest SKU information directly from suppliers. This
transfer of interoperable data is now at a global and cost effective level, seamlessly upgrading
inventory repositories, eliminating re-keying and reducing transcrepancies. It is set to become
best practice where continuity of SKU information is essential for WMS, BOS, and POS
investments. One source of data makes sense. The result retailers, suppliers and consumers
all become winners. With most companies aiming to eliminate returns and re-deliveries; reduce
supply chain fines or chargebacks; provide better invoice matching and stock holding, we might
one day be talking about carbon
fingerprints rather than carbon footprints. Logistics & Supply Chain Technology Best
Practice Handbook, BASDA; Twitter: @BASDAUK

6. Use bin locations to quickly locate products. Are you using bin locations to locate your
product? The vast majority of distribution software packages available today utilize bin locations.
This allows for immediate, accurate location of products within your showroom and warehouse
zones. Many distributors are leery of taking advantage of this tool because of the perceived need
to keep vendor lines together. Bin locations, in fact, free you to locate product based on sales
volume, thereby reducing the number of footsteps required to pick those key items that tend to
show up on a majority of orders. I call this locating your product by velocity rank.

Can you pass the Temp Test? Are you able to bring in a new hire or temporary employee and
be confident that this individual is productive within two to three hours? Utilizing bin locations
provides a map for the new recruit to follow. This allows you to look for someone skilled in the
area of material handling. Without bin locations, you will need to look for someone who is
experienced within the product lines you carry in order to find the product to fill orders. They will
require more hand holding to learn where those different product lines are kept within your four
walls. Dan Belanger, Dos And Donts of Efficient (And Safe) Warehouse Operations,
Gases and Welding Distributors Association (GAWDA); Twitter: @GasWeldEdge
7. Dont mix multiple SKUs in a single bin location. Mixing multiple SKUs in the same bin
location reduces picking productivity. We have done time and motion studies that prove that there
is a definite time penalty associated to mixing multiple SKUs into the same bin location.

We see this in many warehouses where a bin location may represent a shelf level that contains
5 10 SKU pick facings. The operator is directed to the shelf level and then needs to search
through the different SKUs to find the item to be picked.

Not only does this reduce accuracy, it also slows the operator down by as much as 15+ seconds
per pick transaction. Having a discrete pick location for every SKU is rule #1. Marc Wulfraat,
President, MWPVL, 5 Ways to Improve Order Picking Productivity, SupplyChain247;
Twitter: @SupplyChain247

8. Record the number of times inventory is picked during specific time frames using an
asset tracking system. There are times when it may not make sense to stock a product. As an
example, if an item is picked only five times a year, the cost of storage can be eliminated by drop
shipping from the manufacturer. By recording the number of times a product is picked, you can
determine the value of the space where the inventory resides. Best Practices Inventory
Management, Promotion Fulfillment Center; Twitter: @PFCFulfillment

9. Asset tracking enables more accurate forecasting, essential for lowering costs and
improving inventory management. Forecasting can go a long way to lowering costs and
ensuring the success of inventory management efforts. When retailers are able to accurately
predict which items they need and the correct quantity, they will be better suited to meet the
expectations of their customers without having surplus stock. Better forecasting requires deft
observation of market research, market demand models, demand patterns, minimum stock levels
and historical techniques and can play a huge role in successful inventory management.
David Anderson, Three inventory management best practices, SalesWarp;
Twitter: @SalesWarp
10. Use a unique tracking number, not the assets serial number. Its possible that an
assets serial number will be identical to that of another asset. If the serial number is used as the
tracking number, the duplicate numbers will cause confusion because there is no way to tell the
two assets apart. This can compromise data integrity and lead to inaccurate customer balances
and inventory, reduce your rental income and impact customer satisfaction. Using a unique
tracking number different from the serial number eliminates these problems. In the rare event that
a tracking number is lost, the asset still can be looked up using its serial number and re-labeled
properly to retain the assets history. Christine Span, Top Five Asset Tracking Best
Practices, TrackAbout; Twitter: @trackabout
Warehouse Operations Logistics Best Practices

11. Establish advanced shipping notification. This may seem like a no-brainer, but many
distribution centers still have not implemented electronically transmitted advanced shipping
notifications (ASN). Relying on a regular shipping & receiving schedule can result in inefficiency
throughout the distribution center. Delays happen, disruption happens- and it causes deviation
from the regular schedule. The resulting issues start with improper staffing at the receiving dock
and ripple through the warehouse. However, by leveraging electronic advanced shipping
notifications within the purchase order and inventory management functions, labor can be
planned with more certainty. Order fulfillment and transportation activities can be adjusted to
ensure proper service time requirements are met, and transport modes are optimized to keep
costs down. 11 Warehouse and Distribution Center Best Practices for Your Supply Chain,
Legacy Supply Chain Services
12. Implement an efficient returns process. Returns are fundamentally complex because of
how they impact physical inventory, electronic inventory and accounting systems. All items must
be identified, assigned to a customer or account, assigned a disposition and then physically
sorted for processing. Since some of the product might be discarded or kept back for
vendor chargebacks, not all merchandise enters electronic inventory; some merchandise must
be repacked and accounted for manually versus electronically. Finally, credits are generally
issued at a later time and often for only some part of a return, including discarded or un-saleable
goods. This process is difficult to automate with a generic ERP package and very challenging
with a simple paper process. Specialized returns systems, whether part of a Warehouse
Management System (WMS) or stand-alone, can support effective automation with appropriate
setup. Expert Insight: Best Practices in Warehouse Returns, Suppy Chain Digest;
Twitter: @scdigest
13. Handle tasks efficiently and avoid procrastination. Sometimes when you receive major
shipments from suppliers, its easy to give it the ol, Eh. Lets just take care of this later. Put an
end to the procrastination and take the time to breakdown the boxes, shove them in the recycling
bin, un-package your products and stock them accordingly. This is a habit you must commit to. If
your shipment comes around the same time each day/week, then schedule it on your calendar.
Putting it off will only allow it to become an even larger beast, waiting for your attention.

If you dont have time to stock them on your shelves, another thing I used to do when working in
retail was Id take all the boxes and line them up. Open each one and see what is included. From
there, make a mini stocking pile in each box. Knowing where they will eventually be housed, put
close-proximity items together, so that you can then pull them to the correct spot on your
warehouse floor and stock them quickly. Breena Fain, 6 Ways to Optimize Your Warehouse
Management System, StitchLabs; Twitter: @StitchLabs
14. Implement lean warehouse operations practices. Designing and implementing Lean
warehouse operations can have a great impact on the total supply chain output. By approaching
the waste focus areas mentioned above with Lean solutions, some of the opportunities that come
up to reduce lead times in warehousing include:

Reduction in material handling time in order picking, put away, palletizing and shipping.
Reliability of information to coordinate the rest of the supply chain.
Reduction in truck and containers loading and unloading times.
Reduction in time spent checking and looking for inventory.
Increased flexibility to adapt to changing market conditions and customer
specifications. Lean Warehouse Operations, Four Principles
15. Control inbound and outbound freight to reduce this area of cost. Virtual libraries are
being filled with articles on how to reduce or slow down this area of cost. It must be your number-
one ongoing focus to prevent profit erosion. Use a consultant to help you competitively bid. While
carrier agreements are proprietary, experienced consultants can still help identify areas to
negotiate reductions without hurting service levels. Curt Barry, 10 Ways to Improve
Warehouse Efficiency and Reduce Costs, Multi-Channel Merchant; Twitter: @mcmerchant
16. Require vendor receiving appointments. An easy way to help minimize surprises and plan
your dock staffing is to require all inbound carriers to schedule delivery appointments. There are
two different methods to schedule and they can be used concurrently. The first method is to
simply assign each carrier or delivery a specific time or window of time to deliver. The second is
to assign either a specific or recurring daily, weekly, or monthly schedule to arrive. This allows
you to schedule staff accordingly and make the best use of your dock. Vendor receiving
appointments are absolutely critical if you share a dock or ship both inbound and outbound out of
the same area. Any advance paperwork or data should be provided before the delivery is made.
By requiring appointments and information about incoming loads, surprises are
minimized. Back-to-Basics, Part 1: Receiving, Exceed Consulting

17. Conduct an ABC Analysis, which is helpful for categorizing your inventory by
value. ABC is a hierarchy of your most valuable items to the least (by dollar value). This is also
referred to as the Inventory Categorization Method. Since you may not value your entire stock
equally, this control will have you focusing your time and resources on items that make you the
most money.

A- items are big-ticket or priority stock. These goods require tighter controls and monitoring since
they are your largest revenue and cost contributors. Due to their costs, you would most likely be
carrying smaller volumes on hand. Since these items are heavily sought after, they should be
stored under lock and key. In addition to security, A-list products will require higher frequencies
of stock reviews and re-ordering. This ensures that you have adequate supply.

Conversely, C-items have lower values but you may be carrying large volumes of them. For
example, if you owned a hardware store, nails in bulk may be considered a C-item. B-items sit
right in the middle for value, volume, frequency of stock reviews and re-orders. Colleen
Rodericks, Inventory management techniques and best practices, inFlow;
Twitter: @inFlowInventory
18. Re-slot your pick positions as often as necessary. Up to 60% of a pickers daily activity
can be involved in travel time (afoot or on a forklift or walkie), so reducing that time-spend is an
excellent idea. A good product slotting strategy can reduce travel time thereby reducing picking
labor. Always weigh the time and cost of a complete re-slot against the costs of it. Busy
operations re-slot their fast moving, high-profit SKUs every day. Slotting the facility once and
leaving it that way for years is typically a recipe for wasted time and money. Scott Stone, 13
Best Practice for Warehouse Productivity, Cisco-Eagle; Twitter: @CiscoEagle
19. Utilize cross-docking wherever possible. Superior logistics planning includes cross-
docking wherever possible. Cross-docking is the practice of unloading materials from an
incoming vehicle and immediately loading these same materials directly onto outbound vehicles
with minimal or zero warehousing interval between. Think of this as Just-in-Time shipping.
Cross-docking is an ideal solution when product freshness is paramount. Cross-docking evolved
out of a need to get perishable goods to market quickly. This procedure is one of the key
inclusions an organization can make to its portfolio of standards whose function is to drive
manufacturing and distribution center improvements. Anica Oaks, 5 Lean Best Practices for
the Warehouse, Apriso Manufacturing Transformation Blog; Twitter: @Apriso
20. Create DCs that fulfill orders for multiple channels. For some companies looking for
omni-channel fulfillment efficiencies, the trend has been to move away from DCs dedicated to a
single channel and instead have DCs that fulfill orders for multiple channels, says Ian Hobkirk,
founder and managing director of Commonwealth Supply Chain Advisors.

Ten years ago when e-commerce was still fairly new, you had a lot of channel separation in the
way companies set up and run DCs, and e-commerce fulfillment, in many cases, was outsourced
to a 3PL, says Hobkirk. One of the trends were seeing now among retailers is to have multi-
channel fulfillment centers in which inventory and fulfillment for all channels is under the same
roof.
The key driver for an omni-channel DC is the benefit it has on inventoryhaving one pool of
inventory that can be used more flexibly to accommodate forecast deviations. There are other
factors driving omni-channel fulfillment centers, such as the lower costs from being able to use a
common pool of labor, but its the inventory factor thats truly driving this trend, says Hobkirk.

The rise of omni-channel fulfillment makes inventory management more complex, which
elevates the need for better systems for execution, forecast collaboration, and management
reporting, including warehouse management system (WMS), enterprise resource planning
(ERP), as well as demand management and cross-disciplinary collaboration, says Don
Derewecki, a senior consultant with supply chain advisory firm St. Onge Company. Roberto
Michel, Warehouse/DC Management: Six Best Practices for Better Inventory Management,
Logistics Management; Twitter: @LogisticsMgmt

Safety and Risk Management in Warehouse Operations

21. Make warehouse safety a top priority. There is more to warehouse safety than compliance
with fire codes and OSHA regulations. Unfortunately, too many warehouse and 3PLs look at
safety as meeting the minimum mandated by law or their conscience. Often, neither goes far
enough. In this chapter, were going to look at Best Practices for Warehouse Safety, discussing
the benefits and risks to employees, managers and employers of both creating a culture of safety
in the warehouse, and failing to do so. For those companies that fail to promote safety, it is often
due to insufficient time, inadequate resources, or the opportunity to save money through corner
cutting. In the long run, however, a safe warehouse environment delivers important cost savings
through: higher employee satisfaction and increased productivity, fewer workplace disruptions
and reduced absenteeism and equipment downtime. You can extend the life of your warehouse
infrastructure such as storage and material handling equipment, as well as reduce damage to
inventory. Most importantly, dont assume that a safe workplace carries a jaw-dropping price
tag. Inventory and Warehouse Management Best Practices, DiCentral SmartTurn;
Twitter: @DiCentral_EDI

22. Form a safety committee. Although not particularly severe, warehouse accidents are
numerousthe warehousing and storage industry experiences nearly 15,000 injuries and
illnesses each year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

To keep a lid on accidents, warehouse operators should stress worker training and establish
safety best practices, says Bob Shaunnessey, executive director of the Warehousing Education
and Research Council (WERC), an Oak Brook, Ill.-based organization dedicated to warehouse
management and its role in the supply chain.

For most warehouses, forming a safety committee is the first step toward implementing
enhanced safety procedures.

A safety committees members are usually selected from specific organizational groups
including warehouse floor workers, shift supervisors, and department managers. This approach
gives everyone a voice, but keeps the committees size to an effective number of participants.
John Edwards, Warehouse Safety: Its No Accident, Inbound Logistics;
Twitter: @ILMagazine
23. Have an emergency response plan in place. Inadequate fire safety provisions,
improper use of lockout procedures and failure to wear personal protective equipment also
create hazards in the warehouse workplace. Employers should have an emergency plan that
describes what is expected of employees in the event of an emergency, including:

Provisions for emergency exit locations and

evacuation procedures;
Procedures for accounting for all employees
and visitors;
Location and use of fire extinguishers and
other emergency equipment. OSHA Pocket Guide, Worker Safety Series: Warehousing,
OSHA.gov; Twitter: @usdol

24. Avoid common mishaps at loading docks and staging areas. Loading docks or staging
areas are common areas in a warehouse where injuries and damage to products occur. Common
hazards include:

Product falling onto employees head, feet, arms, and legs;

Weak housekeeping programs that result in congestion;
Employees jumping from a high elevation to a lower elevation;
Lifting dock plates and constantly adjusting them; and
Forklift or pallet jacks rolling off the dock.

Controls include:

Securing dock plates so they dont roll over;

Conducting daily inspections of loads and temporary storage
arrangements;
Never allowing a forklift or pallet jack to back to the edge of the
dock;
Enforcing safety rules about employee movement from higher dock
elevations to the lower ground surface; and
Monitoring assigned safety inspection forms West Bend; Twitter: @WBsilverlining
25. Provide appropriate ladders for the various jobs within your warehouse, and provide
training so that workers can easily identify the most appropriate ladder for tasks. Material
handling is not the only potential source of injury within a warehouse. Items may have to be
stacked so that space is used more effectively. Ladders may be used to reach the top of shelves
or racks. Choosing the right ladder for the job and using it for its intended use will minimize your
risk of injury. Warehouse Safety, KEMI

26. Clean up spills as soon as possible, and remove inventory and supplies from aisles
when staff must vacate the area for a short time. The warehouse is a place with lots of stuff.
Its narrow aisles, tall stacks of goods, and poor lighting are the exact ingredients that can
compromise visibility. Slipping and tripping over materials or spilled liquid are common accidents
that can be avoided if the warehouse maintains adequate lighting and equips dark corners with
special lights that can be easily switched on and off. Remove unnecessary steps or ridges and
encourage employees to never leave any cargo, box, and goods unattended on the floor.

If a warehouse worker needs to temporarily leave the floor, it is important for him or her to move
materials away from the center of the aisle while keeping lights on. In cases when something is
spilled, employees should take the proper steps to close the area with visible signs and clean up
as soon as possible. Tom Reddon, 4 Ways to Avoid the Most Common Warehouse
Incidents, Knowledge at Work

27. Only trained operators should use equipment such as forklifts, cranes, and
hoists. Forklifts and hand trucks arent the only warehouse equipment that can prove
hazardous. Contact with moving conveyor parts can cause serious injuries. Thats why its so
important to keep their guards in place. Cranes, hoists, and derricks can be operated only by
trained operators who know enough to keep from swinging a load over people or to remove their
hands or feet from controls while a load is suspended. In addition, anyone who works in the
vicinity must pay attention to crane movements; if you work or stand under a crane, youre
looking for trouble. You may spot hazards in the way this equipment is loaded, too. Heavy or
unbalanced loads could fall over and cause serious injurieseven fatal ones. BLR.com;
Twitter: @BLR_INC

28. Use sound storage practices to minimize the risk of fires. The method of storage can
affect the rate of fire spread and its severity for the same material. For example, paper reels
stored vertically can give rise to stack effect. For indoor storage the suggested maximum height
of pile is 4.5m. The clearance from top of pile to the lowest point of roof members, electrical
fittings, or fire detectors should be a minimum of 1m. A colour band should be painted on the wall
to indicate the maximum height to which materials can be stacked. N.V. Subba Rao and K.
Ramish Ramalingham, Risk Management in Warehouses, Cholarisk.com
29. Safety equipment must be used at all times. In the warehouse it is vital that forklifts or
hydraulic dollies are used to lift items that are too heavy. Appropriate eyewear and hard hats
should also be worn when required. Employees should be aware of emergency exits and the
sprinklers installed in the roof should not be blocked at any time. Safety equipment is
implemented in order to minimize workplace injury, so although it may be time consuming to
initiate its use, it does pay off in the long run. Warehouse Safety Principles: 6 key
guidelines to keep your workplace safe., AdaptALift; Twitter: @aalhyster

30. Post safety expectations in highly visible locations and key areas. Warehouse
supervisors should ensure all safety expectations are posted clearly in close proximity to all
equipmentforklifts, hydraulic dollies, hand jacks, etc. Doing so assures that employees have
constant visual reminders of the inherent dangers of using such equipment, and the safety
precautions they should take to avoid injury. Warehouse Safety Checklist: 8 Things Every
Manager Should Review, Legacy Supply Chain Services; Twitter: @legacyscs

31. Establish accountability and give staff a sense of ownership over warehouse safety
practices. Once your staff has been trained and provided the right equipment, they need to be
held accountable for working safely. This must apply to everyone in your warehouse. You cannot
overlook bad habits of supervisors while reprimanding a dockworker. How you handle safety
infractions is up to you, but your employees must own their actions. You will see better results if
you offer suggestions for safer operation at the same time you express criticism.

You do need to document lapses in safety. Without proper records, you may not have the
backup you need to take action against an employee that continues to ignore your requirements.
Documentation will also help protect you if an employee is injured performing an action after they
have been instructed otherwise. Jerry Matos, Product Specialist, Cherrys Industrial
Equipment, 6 Ways To Encourage Warehouse Safety, Industrial Distribution;
Twitter: @indistwebsite

32. Consider enlisting an outside expert to identify warehouse hazards. To help improve
the safety in the workplace, consider bringing in an outsider. The outsider does not necessarily
need to be a consultant or OSHA representative, but may be a business associate, or peer. The
point is to have a fresh pair of eyes evaluate the warehouse. Sometimes what is seen in plain
sight every day may be an overlooked hazard. Best Practices for Warehouse Safety, Labor
Law Center

Optimizing Warehouse Operations Workflows

33. Clear aisles make for an efficient flow of inventory. The movement of inventory
throughout the warehouse should be done by experienced materials handlers with certifications
or licenses to operate forklifts and boom lifts. These materials handlers should be able to move
from one section of the warehouse to another with ease due to aisles that are not full of unstored
inventory. Inventory that has not been placed in its proper bin or warehouse location can cause
problems with inventory systems, especially under a FIFO, or First In, First Out, inventory
system. A FIFO system ensures that the inventory that was received yesterday is moved to the
shipping dock before the inventory that was received today. This inventory system reduces the
chance of obsolete inventory sitting in warehouse bins. Justin Johnson, Best Practices in
Warehouse Operations, Chron.com

34. Store the most frequently picked items close to the shipping area. When considering
the level of effort involved in warehouse operations, the greatest expenditure of effort is in the
picking process. To gain efficiencies in picking the labor time to pick orders needs to be reduced
and this can achieved in a number of ways. Companies with the most efficient warehouses have
the most frequently picked items closest to the shipping areas to minimize picking time. These
companies achieve their competitive advantage by constantly reviewing their sales data to
ensure that the items are stored close to the shipping area are still the most frequently picked.
Martin Murray, Supply Chain/Logistics Expert, Warehouse Best Practices, About.com
35. Implement efficient dock management practices. Some of the most valuable square
footage in the warehouse is dock space. All material must flow in and out of your docks, and
these are limited in number (and not readily added to). Space on the inside and outside of the
docks is some of the busiest in your warehouse. Dock best practice depends on the type of
inbound you receive and for many companies balancing available dock doors, equipment, and
labor is difficult, so the receiving dock becomes a choke point in the supply chain. Docks in
todays warehouses must be more flexible and must support a variety of receipts that are coming
in at a faster rate and in greater frequency and with just in-time and VMI programs, smaller
quantities and mixed pallets. Warehousing & Fulfillment Process Benchmark & Best
Practice Guide, Warehouse Education and Research Council (WERC); Twitter: @WERC

36. Calculate resource and space requirements based on expected receipts and current
backloads. Put-away is the process of moving material from the dock and transporting it to a
warehouses storage, replenishment, or pick area. Best-practice companies manage the put-
away area by calculating resource and space requirements based on expected receipts and
current backlogs. Best practice is to put away product the same day its received, because not
doing so affects space, causes congestion, increases transaction errors, and makes product
more susceptible to damage. In a busy warehouse, it is easy to let product put-away fall behind
other tasks such as picking, replenishment, shipping, and loading. But pulling away resources
from put-away tasks can affect fill rates by not having product in pick racks. This can bring about
congestion in staging areas that overflow into aisles. Delaying put-away may also result in
product damage as the merchandise is moved, again and again, to make way for higher priority
receipts. Proper staffing of the put-away team will support down stream processes of picking and
shipping, and in the long run lead to better customer order fill rates. Kate Vitasek, Best
Practices in Material Handling and Put-away, Multi-Channel Merchant;
Twitter: @mcmerchant
37. Establish stable warehouse operations within the warehouse first, then work to
improve pre-planning efforts. The first place to start the MRO improvement process is in the
warehouse itself. Once stable warehouse operations have been established, maintenance and
operations can work to improve their pre-planning efforts. At first glance, this appears to be a
daunting task. Trying to organize, store, identify and properly manage thousands of disparate
inventory items, with different and seemingly unpredictable demand patterns, creates an
environment in which it is difficult to succeed. Creating an implementation strategy that is simple,
straight forward and thorough, is critical to a successful MRO Warehouse Operation. Creating
the Perfect Warehouse, MRO Connection

38. Maximize vertical space. On the production floor, where space can be limited, its important
to take advantage of every inch of available space (floor to ceiling). As noted in an Occupational
Health & Safety article, solutions such as pallet racking can lead to safer working conditions as
well as increased efficiency in the warehouse. Pallet racking, the most common way of storing
pallet loads in the world, is an easy-to-use storage solution; its used in the vast majority of
warehouses, manufacturing facilities, commercial warehouse operations, and even retail
stores. Jennie Dannecker, 10 Ideas for More Efficient & Productive Warehouse
Operations, Cerasis; Twitter: @Cerasis
39. Use your WMS software to sequence orders and organize the workflow. Sequencing
your orders by pick path, and batching together single lines, same-zone orders, and difficult picks
such as non-conveyable items saves tremendous time on the distribution center floor. Again,
your WMS software should be able to organize the workflow and optimize sequence
performance. 10 Ideas for a More Efficient Warehouse Operation, ShelfPlus

40. Communicate effectively and often. Clearly communicating to workers your

organizational goals and the processes to achieve them is one key to effective warehousing
operations. When managers fail to create an environment of open and clear communication,
employee productivity suffers, resulting in high turnover and wasted resources. Increasing
Warehouse Productivity, Inbound Logistics; Twitter: @ILmagazine
41. Make smart use of floor space. Matt Grierson is managing director at Dexion, which
provides industrial and commercial storage solutions across Europe. He says that only a small
fraction of the companies that approach him believing they need to move into larger premises
really do need to. The rest have enough space already, theyre just using it badly.

Grierson says: Inefficiency just happens. You start with a big empty shell thats high and deep
and you slowly begin to fill it as your company grows. Most of the companys efforts are
concentrated on generating sales, naturally, and the warehouse gets forgotten. Before long, your
warehouse is full, but its wasted space and youve got a lot of unused potential.
By using your space efficiently, your staff can get jobs done quicker and can complete more jobs
in a day, you save on purchase or rent by not expanding unnecessarily, and you can go longer
before the huge burden of relocating into bigger premises.

Grierson adds: There are a lot of shelving options. Two-tier or mezzanine, fixed or mobile. If you
can squeeze your rows of shelving together, and only open them up when access is required,
you can save 50% of your floor space.' Tim Aldred, How to manage an effective
warehouse, The Guardian; Twitter: @tim_aldred

42. Design storage systems to meet the needs of the current and planned mix of storage
types. The layout of a warehouse that supports an adjoining manufacturing facility will have
different requirements than a facility supporting product distribution to stores or a facility that
supports end-user fulfillment. Some operations place emphasis on replenishment of product to
the point of use, others on product picking or order fulfillment.

Regardless of the ultimate mission of the warehouse, best-practice companies have designed
storage systems to meet the needs of the current and planned mix of storage types. They have
optimized storage locations and layouts to fit product without the need to restack or repalletize it
once received. The warehouse management system will track storage location profiles and
properly assign product to the best storage location. As a result, best-practice companies have
excellent cube-fill rates.

In addition to optimizing the cubic fill of storage locations, best practice is to minimize travel time.
If a product is in high demand it should be placed closer to its next point of use. In this case
demand should be based on the number times the product is required, not on the number of
units required. The difficulty of retrieval should also be considered in travel time. Higher-demand
product should be placed on the most easily accessed storage space, typically floor level for
racking and between waist and shoulder level in pick racks. Kate Vitasek, Storage and
Inventory Control Best Practices, Multi-Channel Merchant; Twitter: @mcmerchant
43. Reduce order processing cycle time. In one analysis of a distribution operation, data
revealed that the overall order processing cycle time was extremely inefficient. Of the total order
cycle time, it was actually being worked on only 37.9 percent of the time. Six percent of the time
was wasted while people dealt with problems such as waiting for lift equipment, computer issues,
interruptions, and blocked aisles, and the remaining 56.1 percent of the time orders sat idle. This
is a low productivity ratio by any standard. While its unrealistic to expect a productivity ratio of
100 percent, an increase to 75 percent efficiency would double productivity. How can this
opportunity be captured? Are Your Warehouse Operations Lean?, Plante Moran;
Twitter: @PlanteMoran

44. Implement and maintain operational standards in all functional areas. Maintain and use
standards in all major functional areas. This will assist management in identifying systemic
bottlenecks such as aisle congestion or other workflow problems. Warehouse Workflow
Handbook, WERC; Twitter: @WERC

45. Improve cycle time utilization through lean applications. Lean applications can help
improve cycle time utilization, reduce costs, increase productivity, and increase customer
satisfaction. To get to lean, begin with conducting a time study and analysis of the current order
fulfillment process. Identify non-value added steps and note the amount of time spent on each of
them. Then, assess overall workflow in an attempt to reveal inefficient product pick paths, wasted
motion, excessive delays, excessive footsteps, aisle and work area congestion, and equipment
availability. Chris Calderone, Creating a Lean HME Warehouse Operation, Lean
Homecare; Twitter: @LeanHomecare
Best Practices for Improving Inventory Management

46. Reduce inventory inefficiencies. Warehouse management systems are critical to tracking
the various stages of the manufacturing process. From production to delivery, officials need to be
able to monitor inventory as it makes its way through the supply chain. This is especially relevant
during periods of growth, as a sudden influx of inventory may overwhelm employees on the floor,
leading to costly errors. Without a robust inventory control system, managers may have
difficulties locating materials or finished products, causing them to dedicate more manpower and
resources to this process. Officials with Land Rover dealt with this issue on a regular basis,
according to Zebra Technologies. When vehicles rolled off the assembly line, they were subject to
a number of finalization processes, including testing, setting configurations and addressing any
existing errors. Managers had a great deal of difficulty identifying where individual items were
located along the supply chain, resulting in a high degree of uncertainty and risk. Nancy
Master, Identifying Warehouse Management Best Practices, RFgen;
Twitter: @RFgenSoftware
47. SKU profiling can facilitate profitability. Understanding how every SKU carried in your
distribution center (DC) can and should contribute to your companys bottom line is the best
way to design and run DC operations. Heres why: Each SKU has a potential cost impact that
goes well beyond its actual purchase price. The decisions surrounding whether a SKU should be
stocked and where, and in what status it is to be held in the supply chain, impact the profitability
of your company. And from a selfish standpoint, these same decisions, made without sufficient
evaluation, can rob your distribution center of capacity and efficiency. FORTE Industries
48. Establish minimum holding stocks to cover lead times. It has been established that the
role of inventory management is to ensure that stock is available to meet the needs of the
beneficiaries as and when required.

Inventory represents a large cost to the humanitarian supply chain. This is made up of the cost
of the inventory itself, plus the cost of transporting the goods, cost of managing the goods (labor,
fumigation, repackaging, etc) and keeping the goods in warehouses. The inventory managers
job is to make inventory available at the lowest possible cost.

In order to achieve this, the inventory manager must ensure a balance between supply and
demand by establishing minimum holding stocks to cover lead-times. To achieve this, the
inventory manager must constantly liaise with the programs to keep abreast of changing needs
and priorities. The warehouse must always have sufficient stocks to cover the lead-time for
replacement stocks to avoid stock-outs. Warehousing and Inventory Management,
Logistics Cluster; Twitter: @logcluster
49. Perform cycle counts and analyze discrepancies. Dont wait until the annual physical
inventory count comes to perform regular inventory control audits. Perform cycle counts and
analyze their discrepancies to perfect the time it should take you to go through all locations. Its
good to have cycle counts go through all locations every quarter so that you have a more
accurate back-office system. Andy Eastes, CEO of Agile Harbor, 10 Ways to improve
warehouse efficiency and inventory management without software, SKUVault;
Twitter: @skuvault

50. Develop an approved stock list for each location. When you stock an item you are
making a commitmenta commitment that the product will be available in reasonable quantities
for immediate shipment or delivery to customers. Most distributors warehouses are filled with two
things: stock and stuff. Stock is the material you intend to be in the warehouse. That is, the
items necessary to meet or exceed customers expectations of product availability. Stuff is
everything else. You must separate the stock from the stuff in each of your warehouses. Our goal
is to liquidate the stuff and arrange the stock items in such a way to minimize the cost of filling
customer orders. John Schreibfeder, President of Effective Inventory Management,
Inc., The First Step to Achieving Effective Inventory Control, via Lanham Associates;
Twitter: @LanhamAssoc

51. Maintain constant, consistent communication with vendors. A good relationship with
your vendors is crucial to your companys success especially if you outsource any part of your
retail operations. Your fulfillment provider becomes your brand in the eyes of the customer, so its
important that they understand your plans for your inventory as well as you do.

This means constant communication of your promotional plans, product information, and
upcoming releases. Every retailer wants a flexible, trusted fulfillment provider but a retailer
should also be flexible and trusting in order to make the relationship work seamlessly. Steve
Warren, 4 Tips for Effective Inventory Management, Multi-Channel Merchant;
Twitter: @mcmerchant
52. Achieve inventory analysis efficiency. With solid inventory analysis, you can ensure that
you are investing in the right amount of the right products to remain competitive. By developing
and using a comprehensive set of tools to closely monitor the performance of your inventory, you
can achieve more of your goals more efficiently. Bill Knapp, Socius, Beyond Software: 6
Effective Inventory Management Practices, featured on the ERP Software Blog;
Twitter: @erpsoftwareblog and @mssocius

53. Understand the warning signals. The easiest way to identify that you have too muchor
the wrong inventoryis the amount of dust settled on the product in storage. If you see more
than inch of dust, then thats likely a sign of obsolete inventory. However, there are other, more
specific indicators that inventory management issues need to be addressed.

If there are significant discrepancies between the book inventory and physical inventory, this is a
direct indicator that there is a problem with inventory management. Another distinct indicator is
when your warehouse staff is having trouble locating inventory on a timely basisan issue thats
particularly critical when FIFO, batch/lot number or serial number controls are involved.
The issue of locating specific inventory is typically tied to inventory discrepancies. And, of
course, if youve seen a trend in the increased use of outside storage space, then this can
indicate another ongoing inventory management issue. Norm Saenz and Don Derewecki of
St. Onge, Inventory Management 101: Time to revisit the principles, Logistics
Management; Twitter: @LogisticsMgmt

54. Use both fixed and moveable tracking options. When companies think of warehouse
tracking, they think primarily of movable tracking options, tracking the units and pallets that
actually get moved around the warehouse and sent up the supply chain. This is only one part of
the warehouse management process do not forget the benefits that come with used fixed
trackers, too! By tracking fixed warehouse assets, you are able to assign and manage
destinations much more easily, and arrange strategy protocols as needed without mass
confusion. It is better to think of warehouse tracking in two different parts, one fixed and one
movable. Justin Velthoen, 7 Tips for Warehouse Inventory Management, QStock
Inventory; Twitter: @QStockInventory

55. For physical count inventory, keep like inventory together in a single location. Bring
like inventory together into a single storage location. The same part shouldnt be in several
storage areas unless physical size dictates a limitation. In that case, keep available quantities to
a minimum and move remainder to a location that isnt part of the easily accessible storage
(overstock location).