A warehouse is the backbone of many businesses. Managers or business owners usually have a checklist for the warehouse. This list should serve as an outline for the facility, it should include must-have equipment, employee logistics, and the operation as a whole.
A well-organized storage area will help you save time and money while providing your customers with an outstanding shopping experience. If you are starting up a new business or need to add some order to the existing one, use this Baumann blog as a guide.
3 Things That Every Warehouse Should Have
An efficient warehouse is critical for customer satisfaction because it helps ensure quick, accurate shipments. If you’re looking for some tips to improve your warehouse operations, consider the following:
1. Safety Measures
The health and safety of your staff should be your number 1 priority, and that’s why it is the top thing every warehouse needs.
The first safety measures are a first aid kit. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and International Safety Equipment Association (ISEA) developed first-aid kit requirements.
Unfortunately, falls and tripping is all accidents that can occur in a warehouse. Warehouses typically have plenty of space, so workers must be protected. Your warehouse should be inspected so such dangerous areas can be highlighted to take extra care or add guard rails and anti-slip tape to reduce the potential cause.
Apart from the warehouse, individuals and employees need to be wearing protective equipment. Personal safety equipment can and in many cases should include helmets, face shields, eyewear, ear protection, respiratory protection, gloves, vests, and kneepads.
2. Sideloaders
Are you moving long loads, pallets or just moving small units of inventory? Do your shelves stack upwards of 20 feet? Making sure you have the right lift equipment for the job is essential to increase productivity and eliminate dangerous situations from arising.
For small, light inventory products we’d recommend that your warehouse needs hand trucks or pallet jacks. If your company require a larger piece of equipment because you need to be able to move concrete, pipes, lumber, and steel we would suggest you purchase a sideloader.
A Side loader truck us a modern innovation on your traditional fork lift truck. Sideloaders provide your warehouse with added safety but guarantee you can move anything at ease. Carrying a long load presents many issues when on a fork lift truck, including lack of width control and potential tipping.
Our sideloaders travel forward with the product on the side, this ensures you have full control over the product, increasing efficiency, safety, and productivity.
3. Asset Tracking
Asset tracking gives managers the ability to monitor and manage physical objects, whether in a distribution center, manufacturing facility, a warehouse, or a healthcare setting, to name a few additional industries.
Warehouse automation/management systems can dramatically improve accuracy, productivity, and efficiency. For this reason, asset tracking earns a place on our list of warehouse needs.
In addition, the system provides automated pick lists that can be sent to mobile readers and devices to help eliminate mistakes and reduce wasted time and paper. Using RFID or UHF tags and readers can improve the accuracy of transactions and reduce picking errors.
In fact, research conducted at the University of Arkansas shows that using RFID increased inventory accuracy by 27 per cent in just 13 weeks.
Baumann: Contact Us
After highlighting the top 3 things that every warehouse needs, you can see that a modern warehouse is composed of machines and humans working together to accomplish an array of processes and tasks. Choosing the right equipment will not only increase the productivity of your warehouse but will also eventually result in higher customer satisfaction.
For more than 50 years, Baumann has been designing and manufacturing world-class sideloaders for a range of industries. If you are interested in buying or renting a sideloader, get in touch with Baumann today.
Our new and used electric and diesel sideloaders are available through a network of trusted sideloader dealers. Find your nearest dealer or see what we currently have in stock at our online store.