10 tips for better warehouse management

E-commerce is changing the Belgian internet landscape at breakneck speed. According to Eurostat figures, 21% of Belgian companies already had an online shop in 2017. What’s more, online consumption is growing rapidly. According to BeCommerce, 86.5 million online purchases were made last year alone, not including the B2B market! How do you get products from the manufacturer to the customer as quickly as possible? Managing your warehouse is crucial. Follow these 10 tips and also find out how we have improved our warehouse management. This allows us to send out several hundreds of orders per day to seven European countries – all within 24 hours.

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► 1. Choose your strategy according to the number of your mailings

It’s

no secret that the size of your business determines your warehouse management strategy. First, know how many orders you handle each day, then choose one of these logistics strategies.

► 2. Optimise your working environment

• Limit movement: locate and identify your products easily with warehouse labels. If you create a clear and logical system, your pickings will run smoothly and quickly.
• Move your heavy products efficiently: equip your warehouse with conveyors, forklifts and pallet trucks and keep your employees from getting hurt as much as possible.
• Invest in quality equipment such as barcode scanners, displays and a warehouse management system (WMS).A WMS retains the location of your products and thus avoids misrouting.In this video you will notice that we also use a strong and clever WMS system :

► 3. Structure your warehouse into zones

If you don’t use your warehouse space properly, it will quickly become chaotic, so apply these tips

• Number each product and establish logistic routes that lead quickly to the required product
• Clearly structure your warehouse. Delineate a buffer zone, a storage zone, receiving and shipping zones and a transport zone. Mark your walls and floor with signage tape for example.

► 4. Automate your packing process

If you pack more than 50 orders a day, it would be worth investing in a packing machine. With these machines, you can produce cushioning faster and close your boxes without any problems. If you are not aware of the models on the market, no problem! Download our guide to packing systems and machines and become a real expert.

► 5. Establish a high turnover storage area

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Every business has fast moving products. These products generate a lot of profit and are therefore very important, so store these products close to your packing and shipping area and save maximum time.

► 6. Process your products according to their logistical characteristics

Classify your goods according to their specificities and improve your warehouse management

• Heavy or bulky products: these products often need to be handled by a machine, so provide plenty of room around this area.
• Fresh products: store all these products in a cold zone.
• Customised products: provide a separate area for these products which will certainly not be stored in your warehouse but will go directly to the packing area and then to the customer.

► 7. Use the cross-docking technique

Using cross-docking allows you to reduce your travel time considerably. The products you receive are no longer stored in the warehouse. They are prepared directly for dispatch. This saves you more storage space and says goodbye to unnecessary deadlines and travel. This technique is certainly useful for customised products that you receive directly from the manufacturer.

► 8. Process similar products at the same time

This saves you a considerable amount of time on your picks. If your logistics system records multiple SKUs of the same product, you can bring them all in at the same time – even if the SKUs ordered are from different customers.

► 9. Manage out-of-stock situations

Managing stock-outs is a headache for many logistics managers.These shortages disrupt the production line and lead to customer dissatisfaction.So create an automated procedure in collaboration with the after-sales service and sales team.The most common method is to automatically send an email notifying the customer that the product is back in stock.

► 10. Perform quality checks

Le client n’apprécie pas les commandes incorrectes. Il est donc important d’éviter ces erreurs le plus possible. Nous vous recommandons de contrôler vos commandes à chaque étape : l’arrivée, le picking, l’emballage et l’expédition. Effectuez ce contrôle à l’aide d’un scan. Vous saurez ainsi facilement si le produit est bien associé à son client ou à sa commande. Vous verrez rapidement votre nombre d’erreurs diminuer comme neige au soleil.