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Having leadership on the floor will enhance the efficacy of the warehouse enormously. Unnecessary and superfluous activities are unavoidable, it is just part of this business (despite of how much effort you put forward to try and avoid them). This leads to bad habits that are not only hard to crack, but tough to discover in the first place (till the time it becomes a big issue).

To discover these habits on time, it’s important that having a member of the company’s leadership walking the warehouse floor is quite valuable. Doing so will let you inquire with your warehouse leaders to find out what the procedure is, how is that procedure taking place and why things are being done. Keeping eyes and ears on the warehouse floor is the best way to find out the problems and find solutions swiftly.

Maintaining track of inventory error costs is a common practice, though many warehouse managers fail to take benefit of the insight available within these records. Error costs are best utilized when seen as a sign of systematic failures inside the organization. To best assess and know problem areas need precise logging any changes in new workers, training process, new technology implemented or any other changes with the warehouse. It is important to have the ability to put these alterations on a time scale when examining errors to determine the difference between the ability to be reactive and proactive.

Focusing on processes that reinforce accountability might certainly raise your warehouse efficiency as when you develop an effective process that build accountability, it also puts stress on the importance of accuracy.

Sometimes when creating a process, the advantages that result in these methods are lost when warehouse workers try to make their own system which in the end affects the whole process. For instance, a mistake can be done at the beginning of the picking process that it is not a concern to the wrongdoer; generally because they know that someone down the line (such as a packer) will ultimately find and fix the issue. Again, focusing on a process that reinforces accountability is vital; compared to that of the packer who finds the mistake fixing the issue themselves, they should tell the picker who made the mistake and hold them responsible for their fault. Near term losses in effectiveness will be regained in the long term with workers that are more thoughtful to the little things.

These strategies will assist you assess your warehouse operations and eliminate ineffective and unnecessary processes. In the end, no procedure is perfect however; there is always room for development and enhancement.