Automated Warehouse Systems & Business Growth

Warehouses contribute greatly in earning profit for the business. It is not just the storing of the products, but the receiving and shipping the same. This can save you time as well as improve customer satisfaction to a great extent.

Thus, to become successful in this field, many organizations are using automated warehouse systems. By 2027, the global market of logistics automation is estimated to reach over $121.3 billion. So, let’s explore some vital information regarding correct warehouse management below.

Warehouse Optimization: What Is It?

Warehouse optimization is nothing but a strategic procedure that works on the improvement of various tasks to enjoy high productivity, efficiency, and accuracy of warehouse operations. This includes tasks like leveraging technology, improving operations, ensuring precise inventory management, and enhancing spatial utilization.

Proper warehouse optimization is required for various reasons. It can improve accuracy and speed, reduce costs, and even increase overall productivity, along with complying with regulations and maintaining safety.

Thus, this entire procedure of optimization covers a wide range of tasks, from slotting optimization to designing layouts. In this way, it can integrate automation and refine methodologies regarding inventory control. So, let us go through an overview of the different aspects of warehouse optimization.

Operational Aspects

These include the everyday tasks and procedures within a warehouse. Some of those vital tasks are inventory rotation, picking methods, receiving, shipping, and returns management.

Holistic Aspects

Warehouse System optimization does not only include some isolated improvements. Instead, it operates by thinking of the warehouse as an integrated entity. Thus, it recognizes that some changes in one part can have a great impact on another part. Hence, a holistic approach makes sure that your warehouse can operate quite efficiently and cohesively.

Functional Aspects

This aspect includes the broader strategic components. Those elements are technology integration, layout design, workforce management, and even relationships with your suppliers

Why Should You Optimize Warehouse?

A warehouse is not just a storage facility but a place where you will get the chance to prove why your clients must rely on you. With this, you can create an unforgettable unboxing experience or even offer affordable quick shipping. However, you must remember, it is not an easy task to complete. In fact, it can be quite complicated, expensive, and even time-consuming

However, if you are ready to spend your money, time, and resources, then you can easily enjoy some benefits just by choosing warehouse optimization. Some of those benefits can be:

Greater Customer Satisfaction

Customers will come back to you when they are satisfied with the product and delivery system. In contrast, if they get incorrect or delayed orders, your company will receive some negative impacts. So, optimizing your warehouse in the right way can ensure that you will meet or even exceed the expectations of your customers. In this way, you can easily turn some one-time buyers into your repeat customers and enjoy better profit.

Improved Productivity

The right warehouse optimization procedure can streamline every procedure. This means quicker turnaround, lesser waste of time, and even the ability to handle a huge volume of orders in the correct way.

Increased Profitability

The faster is the movement of products the better is the cash flow. Moreover, with efficient utilization of space, you can reduce storage and labor costs. Thus, you can protect your bottom line with ease.

Tips For Efficient Warehouse Optimization

The right kind of warehouse optimization can balance technology and integrations with proper training and streamlined warehouse procedures. However, you can enjoy the complete benefits of an efficient warehouse only when all these elements align perfectly. To achieve that right balance, you need to follow a few best practices with your operation of warehouse optimization. Some of those are:

Analyze & understand your existing warehouse configuration.

You should start the task by creating a detailed analysis of your existing staffing levels, warehouse setup, and technology. You must check out if your workers are tripping over each other because of a cluttered layout. Does the accuracy of your orders decline if the volume of orders increases? Is a big part of your warehouse space collecting dust?

Answers to these questions will show you the spaces you need to make some improvements or changes. You might find an opportunity to organize your warehouse in a better way than before, upgrade your shelving systems or warehouse racks, or even buy new equipment.

No matter what it is, this initial evaluation is the first thing that you must do to start some actional changes. 

Identify your goals and areas of pain

In this step, you must define what things you wish to achieve. So, you can question yourself: what your brand is aiming for? For example:

● Reducing operational costs to improve profitability?

● Reducing shipping times to enhance client satisfaction?

● Improving space optimization to meet the growing demands of customers?

● Increasing accuracy in packing to reduce returns?

Only specific goals can show you the right direction and purpose of your hard work. Thus, you can plan your strategy in a far better way than before.

During this stage, you must think of your customers as the priority. For instance, if you wish to reduce costs, but in turn you compromise the accuracy and speed of shipping, then you might affect customer satisfaction in a negative way.  

Get your inventory management right first

After assessing your existing setup and identifying your goals, the first task you should perform is optimizing inventory management. This includes several vital tasks, including reducing holding costs, improving cashflow. Only with the right inventory control techniques and systems, you can successfully increase your warehouse efficiency.

Adopt a warehouse management solution.

The right warehouse management system, or WMS can easily centralize data and automate many vital tasks that are quite prone to errors and even labor-intensive. Some of those are receiving, storage, shipping, picking, packing, kitting, etc.

A proper WMS can streamline these procedures and offer a single source of truth, so you don’t have guessed anything. Thus, your workers can work with ease. With the right WMS, you can get:

● Better order efficiency

● Accurate inventory counts.

● Faster shipping than before.

● Reduction is the cost of operation. 

Opt for lean warehouse techniques

Just by choosing some principles regarding lean management, you can reduce the time that your employees must invest in non-value-added tasks. With this option, you can always do more with less.

Invest in staff training

Your warehouse can only become efficient when you have some highly-trained employees. If your employees are not trained properly, they won’t be able to perform some vital tasks effectively. This may be quite troublesome.

So, you can implement a proper labor management system and some training sessions to make your workers efficient in their respective jobs. This will eventually result in fewer errors and less rework.

Outsource warehouse management to a 3PL

Proper warehouse and inventory management needs time, good investment, and even expertise that many companies don’t have today. This is where outsourcing to a 3PL or logistics partners can help you out.

It involves some important things, including warehouse inventory management and warehouse putaway, packing, picking, shipping, and more. Thus, just by handing off the task of your warehouse management to an expert partner, you can benefit in multiple ways and even focus on some other vital tasks.

Warehouse Optimization Checklist

Now, in this part, let’s discuss some of the most vital tasks businesses may need to follow to enjoy a successful optimization procedure.

Understand your warehouse space inside and out

When you need to maximize capacity while continuing an efficient flow of items through your warehouse, then you must understand its working space clearly. Not only just square footage, but the actual capacity can be dictated by the certain layout that a business must adopt to enjoy inventory management.

Define clear locations for products

When employees will have a clear idea about the exact locations to store, receive, pick, or even ship every product, they can easily complete the tasks. This is most important when they need to high-velocity items because confusion may result in missed sales, expensive delays, and dissatisfied clients.

Choose storage solutions specific to your inventory

You must choose all your storage ideas according to several important variables. Some of those are the size, sensitivity, and weights of the products. This will help you to manage your warehouse in the best possible way

Label picking aisles for easier navigation

You must give your employees a clear idea about how to find certain items amid the huge number of items. This will make the entire procedure of inventory management quite faster and more efficient than before.

Indicate the optimal route for inventory flows

Nowadays, inventory can flow through a warehouse in multiple ways. However, it is important to indicate the best route for inventory because it will make the overall procedure a lot easier to complete.

Benefits of Warehouse Optimization

There are many interesting benefits that you can enjoy just by optimizing your warehouse in the right way. Some of those are:

Better inventory management

Inventory management is not an easy task. It needs proper planning and execution of several important tasks. However, with real-time inventory management procedures, you can enjoy some benefits like:

● Optimize Storage

Space With proper procedures, you can identify which items are fast moving and which are not. Thus, you can use your storage efficiently.

● Reduce Stockouts

Real-time updates related to inventory can help businesses to react fast, so, they can make sure that stocks match the demand. 

Accurate order picking

Just by accurate order picking, you can enjoy benefits like:

● Improve customer trust

With the practice of delivering the right product at the right time, you can always enjoy customer satisfaction and loyalty.

● Reduction in Return Rates

Accurate picking can easily minimize returns and picking errors. Thus, you can save both your money and time. 

Effective kitting & assembly

Kitting is the procedure of preparing your products to be sent out. In contrast, assembly refers to assembling an item before shipping. So, by choosing effective kitting and assembly, you can enjoy benefits like:

● Inventory Efficiency

You can track your items in a more streamlined way if those are kitted. This can eventually reduce potential errors and stockouts.

● Cost Savings

With an effective kiting and assembly procedure, you can reduce the amount of time that your employees might need to prepare each order. Thus, you can enjoy significant cost savings.

Fast shipping & receiving

The shipping speed of your items can easily make or break the experience of your customers. So, with fast and efficient shipping, you can enjoy some benefits like:

● Competitive Edge

A faster receiving procedure can satisfy your customers with fast delivery of items. Thus, you can remain ahead in the competition.

● Enhanced Customer

Satisfaction Just by meeting all delivery expectations, you can satisfy your customers greatly and enjoy more positive reviews. 

Swift returns processing

By optimizing your warehouse with some streamlined return procedures, you can enjoy benefits like:

● Data Insights

With a clear idea regarding tracking of returned items, you can give some important insights into some important components. Some of those are customer preferences, product quality, and also some potential areas of improvement.

● Inventory Turnover

With properly processed returns, your items can be resold more quickly. Thus, you can reduce holding costs with ease.

Warehouse Optimization vs. Warehouse Management 

Warehouse optimization includes the procedures regarding larger warehouse management. The entire process of warehouse management includes the procedures and principles that help in performing the daily operations of a warehouse. Thus, warehouse management needs warehouse optimization to complete a few vital tasks, like scheduling labor, organizing space, fulfilling orders, etc.

Conclusion

So, to conclude, we may say that, in this competitive world of logistics, a well-planned and executed warehouse optimization can be remarkably effective. As a business grows and evolves more, it will need proper storage solutions to enjoy profitability and customer satisfaction.

Thus, you need to follow the vital strategies to perform proper warehouse and inventory management if you wish to stand out in the crowd.