You just finished a massive count of your inventory and the results are that there is a significant amount of products that are obsolete, damaged, and spoiled and a small, but significant amount of goods that have been stolen. So how are you going to account for these items that won’t sell and won’t generate … Read more
It is beyond essential that warehouse personnel know exactly where products are so that they can be picked efficiently. Obviously, you should not locate the most popular products in extreme locations and the least popular in spaces with the best access. It should be the other way around. To set up the inventory it is … Read more
There are businesses who can stock a lot of inventory on site and then there are businesses that need to rely on a warehouse for back up. The question begs to be asked. What type of inventory is warehouse inventory? Warehouse managers who have knowledge in inventory management say that raw material; maintenance, repair … Read more
(Editor’s Note: In today’s Thursday Feature, we travel deep underground to a subterranean cold storage facility where operators have been struggling with lighting costs for decades.) Deep below the surface of Johnson, Arkansas, is a former limestone mine and Cold War fallout shelter called “The Cave”. For nearly 50 years, it has served as a … Read more
If you simply work in a warehouse, then you know that there are a number of common issues that seem to pop up now and again. You think that the actions the managers take will solve the problem forever. However, deep down in your mind you know that’s not true. Those problems will continue to … Read more
For a warehouse to succeed its employees need to know what they have and where they have it. Good inventory management is essential. There are five things that could adversely affect the condition of a warehouse’s inventory and could make it nearly impossible for employees to know what they have and where they have it. … Read more
(Editor’s Note: In this week’s Thursday Feature, we take an in-depth look at the most efficient way to do something most companies do every day … loading and unloading truck beds and cargo containers) Not every heavy load requires you to use specialized equipment such as a forklift, power jack, or manual jack to move … Read more
Let’s face it. It is not easy managing a warehouse. All sorts of problems from systemic to outside factors can adversely affect the smooth operation of a warehouse. Systemic problems can include poorly planning slot allocation, bottleneck issues, and over packing. Outside influences can include globalization and eCommerce. Whatever the problem and from wherever it … Read more
In my last two blogs I discussed the general topic of picking and went into some detail about piece picking. In Part III of the series on Picking I will go into detail about the method of Case Picking. Case Picking is collecting full cartons or boxes of product on to a pallet. So if … Read more
One of the most important duties of a warehouse worker is picking orders. That’s because a warehouse spends more time on the outbound transactions than the inbound. Moreover, the labor in performing the task is extensive and could be the largest portion of a warehouse’s labor budget. There is another element that makes picking orders … Read more
