With businesses booming every day, warehouses are reaching their full capacity in their storage units, leading to congestion of products, an uncomfortable work environment for the workers, and time going to waste for moving products around trying to make more space. Damaged goods are caused by products squeezed together to make space for new ones to arrive. These inconveniences hamper the productivity of work. But there must be a better way to run smoother business hours without getting annoyed over the lack of warehouse storage space.
Should I buy or rent a new warehouse? A common question arises about your claustrophobic storage situation. Before you decide to invest your hard-earned money into a brand-new warehouse, take a step back and try these storage space-reducing hacks to see if they bring you the desired result. There’s no harm in trying a cheaper alternative!
Remove the Debris!
Are there products in your warehouse that have been lying around for decades, drowning in dust? Do go around and have a quick look around the space to count how many. Obsolete products take up more space than you actually think. If you find a few, there’s your answer to congested space. Pick those up, dust them off, and find a new home for those unwanted products.
A Shopaholic Purchase Manager
As the owner, you have to make sure to hire a purchase manager who only preorders with a good estimation of how much will sell in the market. He may be overbuying products that may or may not sell in the next six months, and that’s fine if you have a palace for storing. But if you did, you wouldn’t be reading this article.
Stack In Racks!
A great way to keep warehouse inventory control under check is to store your inventory on extended racks! These add a great deal of space, both horizontally and vertically! If you have fire sprinklers on the ceilings, there’s no need to feel discouraged from using racks because you can still store within 18 inches around that area. The only con to this great space-saving method is that the racking uprights or base plates may not be sized properly. Talk to your structural engineer about the situation and wait for his approval or advice regarding installing extended racks.
Another great form of racks are the double-deep racks. You can convert your single-deep rack into a double-deep rack to achieve higher storage. These racks are extremely strong and can hold higher-density equipment with ease. But for you to store your products, you will need a truck that reaches inside the warehouse to unload your goods. This is why many choose to install push-back or drive-in racks to avoid the hassle of letting a huge vehicle enter their warehouse. You will face one problem, which is the process of placing the products, which will be first in, first out. So once the heavy products are in, it will be difficult to rearrange their positioning once settled down from the truck.
Duplex!
If you’ve got a handsome budget and are in dire need of more storage capacity, then consider installing a mezzanine. It is a procedure of building a floor level above your ground floor! Like a duplex house. These will double your storage capacity, for sure! But be aware of how much your ground floor can take because a mezzanine is quite heavy. If your flooring is fragile, it’s best to avoid this before incurring further damage.
Squeezed!
Your aisle width in the racking area may cause another massive reason as to why your storage space is decreasing. It must be uncomfortable to work in a densely packed space. Why don’t you cut down your racks from anywhere between 5-8 feet? You’ll notice at least 15% of free space has been newly made. But be weary of the space you keep between the aisles for the products to be taken out or kept in. Consult a specialist to make proper measurements before you chop off the extra bits of your aisles. Remember, narrower aisles are an added expense of wire guidance if you sell electronics.
Half Pallets!
Using half-pallets can help your products stack in order and form. The pallets are great for products that come in half-pallet quantities. You can purchase more half pallets to store goods in the same space, up to a good amount, without taking up a lot of floor space.
Neat Work Place
Apply the “directed put-away” rules to your warehouse under the instructions of your warehouse management system. The Directed Put-Away rule is simply to understand the linings of the floors and stack pallets accordingly so they are placed in clean lines and positions, avoiding clutter and clustering. It is a very organized method of stacking products based on their perfect locations according to their weight, size, and shape.
Slotting
Ensuring proper slotting is very important for a warehouse to function efficiently. Your warehouse management team must find the hidden inefficiencies that are causing your warehouse to clog. Slotting is done through tedious labor of arranging, rearranging, moving products around, eliminating debris and setting up new products at the perfect location. It goes beyond just looking for empty spaces and stacking them up. But if done properly, slotting will let your warehouse look more open for the new organized space, reduce the travel time of workers who have to go back and forth through the aisles, reduce errors and mistakes, and even avoid accidents, including minimizing item damage.
Fill Up the Empty Spaces!
There may be various small or slightly large places that remain unused. It is important to use every corner of your warehouse efficiently in order to properly make use of the space you already have. It’s not necessary to fill this space with pallets or racks; use wooden shelves to stock up on lighter materials. But remember to never leave out any space that is unused. At the same time, do not over stock. Nobody likes to work in a place where they do not have enough space to move around. Create a good balance!
If you find these methods useful, then what are you waiting for? Get to work and see how much more open and organized your new warehouse looks! A neat place of work creates efficient workers and great productivity!
