Warehouses are the central point of your shipping operations considering they receive, store, and ship out all your goods.
Even the most basic order fulfilment processes include multiple steps such as processing, picking, and packing and require the implementation of some kind of quality control. Any delays and lags at a specific step could trip up your shipping process and the associated revenue significantly.
You need a combination of qualified workers and high-quality warehouse tools to facilitate smooth performance.
To begin with, let us look at the primary factors you should consider when trying to smoothen your warehouse operations.
7 Factors to Consider For Smooth Warehouse Operations
1. Safety
A typical warehouse will have a lot of large equipment, and machinery and may even have slippery floors depending on how the facility is built. However, it is the warehouse management’s responsibility to ensure the safety of your staff in the workplace.
Ensure that you have the necessary tools and set up adequate policies in place so that their safety can be managed. Provide safety training to new staff so that they are aware of the safety protocols and prevent any potential safety hazards or disasters in the warehouse.
2. Quality Control
Your warehouse should implement the necessary mechanisms so that the overall operational quality can be maintained consistently. For smoother warehouse operations, you should also improve customer service quality and satisfaction levels by verifying any item that you process and pack.
In case of a discrepancy, establish mechanisms to immediately return the item and ensure that you don’t pile up incorrect products to maintain a large order quantity efficiently.
3. Organisation and Layout
How you organise your warehouse will determine how effective your operations are. The organisation and layout of your warehouse can directly impact parts of your warehouse process and cause delays and lags if done incorrectly.
It is important to visualise the different parts of your process and organise your warehouse layout so that your items are easily traceable. It is a good idea to recognise patterns in your orders to arrange items to be more accessible.
4. Appropriate Personnel
Your warehouse operations are run by your personnel so ensuring that they are properly trained and properly qualified is of the essence. Having a well-trained team working in your warehouse will make the operations smoother, and management easier.
You must also ensure that your warehouse personnel have proper work ethics, professionalism and discipline, and try to maintain a balance of novice and experienced workers.
5. Necessary Software
The modern-day, flexible warehousing processes require you to integrate robust technology and systems to streamline the operations. Most warehouse management systems can assist you with handling and managing labour, shipping and equipment as long as it is tailored to your business.
6. Security
Accidents happen and unforeseeable emergencies may strike warehouses. So it is a good idea to prepare your warehouse in advance to combat a situation like this and minimise potential losses.
Have comprehensive emergency and evacuation plans with designated tools for warehouse to tackle natural disasters, and situations like fires or flooding. Also, have your facility monitored 24/7 so that potential security threats to your goods or warehouse can be identified and eliminated in advance.
7. Adequate Storage
Your warehouse will store all the goods to be sold on your online store, and as your catalogue and orders increase, so does your demand for more storage space.
With that in mind, you must ensure that your warehouse is scalable in terms of storage and capacity. Having adequate storage will help you prevent clutter or overcrowding from derailing your warehouse operations.
Importance of Warehouse Tools/Equipment
Having the right warehouse tools helps ensure that the flow of goods and the overall operations are smoother. You can also reduce the possibility of injuries and security issues by having a comprehensive warehouse equipment list for different areas and processes in your warehouse.
Not having appropriate tools for a warehouse can also prevent you from boosting warehouse efficiency. For instance, if there is no equipment in your warehouse to pick extremely heavy goods, your workers will end up spending a lot of time manually moving them, which can eat into their overall productivity.
Even if you have the best quality workforce and manpower to manage your warehouse operations, their skills and stamina will end up getting wasted on redundant and simple tasks. Instead, optimise your warehouse operations by supplying necessary equipment to your workers.
9 Warehouse Tools & Equipment You Need
Let us now look at the key warehouse tools that you should consider having in your warehouse. Almost every warehouse equipment that you can think of, can be categorised in one of the nine categories below:
1. Lifting Equipment
If you are storing heavy or large goods in your warehouse, you will inevitably require tools and equipment that can help your workers lift those goods. This equipment can be used to reduce picking and packing errors or even just move the goods internally for better organisation.
It is important to ensure the quality of your lifting equipment as unstable ones can cause injuries and damages. Choose the right warehouse tools by considering the height of your shelves and the type of inventory you store. Even though lifting equipment can be expensive, they are highly customisable and pay back in terms of ROI by reducing manual operations.
Here are some of the key lifting equipment you should consider making a part of your warehouse tools list:
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Pallet Jacks: Pallet jacks have twin forks that slide underneath your goods stored in a pallet to lift it. You can choose from manual as well as automatic pallet jacks.
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Forklifts: Forklifts can help the worker or picker reach the level at which inventory is stored and pick the necessary products easily, making the process easier than ladders.
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Hand Trucks: Hand trucks are made of components like toe plates, a metal frame, and handles that help workers wheel smaller items from one part of the warehouse to another.
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Cranes and Hoists: Cranes and hoists are used in warehouses that store very heavy goods and cannot be lifted manually. Cranes can lift and move heavy goods, and hoists travel between two bridges to lift and place items.
Apart from these, lifting equipment in a warehouse may also include service carts, dollies and trolleys to move goods within the facility.
2. Storage Equipment
When you are looking to utilise your warehouse space to its full potential and use up all that space more efficiently, you will need help from the right warehouse storage equipment. These are equipment that are used to store your goods and items and make it easier for workers to pick and pack the items in the warehouse.
Here are some of the main types of storage equipment you will need in your warehouse, depending on the items you store:
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Pallet Racks: Depending on the storage and picking system you execute, there are different kinds of pallet racks you can consider using in your warehouse. Some of these include pallet flow racks, selective pallet racks, drive-through racks, and push-back racks - all of them designed to be used with pallet jacks.
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Shelves: These shelves are rows of storage racks that can store many items, that can be picked with different kinds of lifting equipment.
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Bins and Totes: You can also place smaller bins and totes to store smaller goods and items in the warehouse as they take up minimal space in the facility.
You should also label all the shelves and associate them with item barcodes so workers can easily find and pick products off the shelves.
3. Docking Equipment
You need the right dock equipment to keep your warehouse operations running smoothly. After all, wrong or inadequate equipment can completely ruin your warehouse safety. When you are trying to maintain safety protocols, you need high-quality warehouse loading equipment to load and unload goods to/from trucks.
You can optimise your dock area workflow, by utilising the right docking equipment and making the process more efficient, safer and customisable.
Here are a few examples of docking equipment that a warehouse should consider having:
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Dock Boards & Plates: You can also install metal dock boards and plates as a part of your docking equipment to bridge the gap between your truck and dock.
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Dock Seals: Dock seals create a definitive seal between the truck or trailer so that you can maintain consistent temperatures in the facility and reduce energy costs. Dock seals are typically made of rubber or foam.
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Truck Restraints: These are restraints that bind a truck or trailer to the dock to restrict any kind of movement when it is being loaded or unloaded.
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Dock Bumpers: You can add bumpers to your docking equipment that can protect your building structure and prevent vehicle damage or costly collisions.
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Wheel Chocks: Wheel chocks are made of sturdy and robust materials and are placed against the transportation vehicle’s wheels in addition to the brakes so that there is no accidental movement.
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Dock Levelers & Lifts: Dock levellers are used to create a seal that can prevent accidents and connect the gap between the trailer and the dock. You can choose between vertical and horizontal dock levellers and lifts.
4. Conveyors
Conveyors or conveying devices are warehouse tools that are used for material handling and for moving goods from one part of the warehouse to another. While a lot of warehouses do this movement manually, conveyors are much faster.
As a result, conveyors prevent workplace injuries and improve different processes associated with the warehouse such as picking, packing, and shipping. While conveyors are pretty expensive, they can deliver more than their value in return if used properly and effectively.
Here are a few common examples of conveyors that are used in a typical warehouse:
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Conveyor Belt: A conveyor belt refers to a motor-driven system that is part of a much larger conveyor system. Workers can place items on this belt to take them from one location to another within the warehouse.
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Gravity Roller Conveyor: This a conveyor system that lets workers move products with the help of rollers that use the force of gravity. Gravity roller conveyors are known to be simple and affordable.
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Spiral Conveyor: Spiral conveyors are utilised to move materials and goods vertically and horizontally between different levels of the warehouse. They can help you optimise warehouses where the space is limited but the storage requirement keeps growing.
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Pneumatic Conveyors: A pneumatic conveyor offers all the features that a conveyor belt does and is an alternative to this traditional system. It is used to move dry bulk or powdered items within the warehouse to reduce losses and enable faster deliveries.
Other than these conveyor systems, some of the other types include flexible conveyors, chain conveyors, dustproof conveyors, and automotive conveyors. You must ensure to choose the right conveyor system for your warehouse based on your requirements.
5. Packing Equipment
Packing is an important part of your warehousing and shipping management processes. The process of packing involves wrapping your items with the right materials for better protection and handling.
Your packing equipment needs to be right and help you reduce labour costs and maintain consistency in your packaging. What’s more, it can even help you maintain and improve inventory management helping you process orders efficiently.
Here are some of the primary forms of packing equipment that you should consider having in your warehouse:
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Industrial Scales: Warehouses should also have professional industrial scales to help weigh products and calculate their dimensions.
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Stretch Wrap Machine: The Stretch wrap machine lets you place the product on it to be wrapped by a stretch film. There are turntable stretch wrap machines for smaller packages and pallet stretch wrap machines that wrap entire pallets filled with goods.
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Packing Tables: Packing stations or tables can be used to package all the outgoing goods effectively without incurring much expense and can also help you maintain consistency in your packing process.
Besides the aforementioned warehouse equipment, you should also stock up on all the packing-related materials and accessories so that the entire process is more seamless.
6. Organisational Tools
Organisational tools are pretty self-explanatory and refer to tools that can help you streamline your warehouse operations more effectively. You can use them to track inventory and even order products as required.
Here are some of the organisational tools that you should integrate into your warehouse:
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Barcode Scanners: Barcode scanners have a vital role to play wherever there is inventory and product stock to be managed. Each barcode refers to a specific item which can then help you maintain your inventory accurately.
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Labelling Systems: It is a good idea to assign labels to shelves and racks which can be associated with the labels on your products. This will help your workers place items on the right shelf, and later to accurately pick items when you receive an order for them.
7. Safety Gear
Depending on the items you deal with in your warehouse, you may need different kinds of safety gear for your workers. What’s more, you must integrate the safety gear as a part of your warehouse’s safety protocols.
While there are some kinds of safety gear you should have in your warehouse, others are more specific to the items you store in the facility. Some of the common types of safety equipment that warehouses should store include:
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Guard Rails: You must install guardrails to protect your warehouse equipment, buildings and personnel from damage and injury. Your guard rails must be high enough to prevent people from falling over it and you should consider the impact of nearby tools and materials.
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First Aid Kits: Every warehouse should have a first-aid kit to help workers get emergency aid in case of unexpected injuries at work.
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Fall Protection Equipment: Some common forms of fall protection equipment used in warehouses include climbing harnesses, anchorage connectors, barrier railings, and lanyards to connect anchors. If you have shelves that go all the way up to the ceiling and require workers to use elevated platforms, you should have fall protection equipment to ensure their safety.
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Hard Hats: Hard hats are considered mandatory safety equipment in warehouses. They help protect your workers’ heads if they fall or from flying objects.
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Safety Apparel: Aside from hard hats, workers should be required to wear safety glasses, gloves, safety shoes with toe caps, and face masks depending on the items they will be handling in your warehouse.
8. Maintenance Tools
The tools required for regular maintenance of your warehouse and the equipment in it are known as maintenance tools. These warehouse tools essentially reduce and prevent any maintenance-related issues in the warehouse.
Some common maintenance tools you might want in your warehouse include:
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Basic Repair Tools: These will be used to fix minor and maintenance-related issues in your equipment and machinery
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Cleaning Supplies: You should also stock and restock basic cleaning supplies to maintain hygiene in the warehouse and to maintain the upkeep of your machines and equipment.
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Maintenance Plan: You need to come up with a comprehensive maintenance plan for your warehouse facility and equipment including schedules for periodic maintenance, cleaning and audits.
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Replacement Batteries and Spare Parts: If a particular equipment runs on batteries (e.g. remotes), it is a good idea to stock up on replacement batteries. Additionally, maintain a stock of spare parts for your machinery that you can easily replace so that your warehouse operations keep running smoothly.
9. Technological Infrastructure
While the aforementioned equipment applies to traditional warehouses as much as modern warehouses, the latter does have additional features.
To ensure that your warehouse is running at optimal capacity and efficiency and to be prepared to tackle the future of warehousing, you need to have a robust technological infrastructure in place. Here is some warehouse equipment you should consider implementing in terms of technological infrastructure:
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Warehouse Management System: A comprehensive warehouse management system can help you automate many of the processes, and even contribute to streamlining the overall warehouse operations.
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CCTV Cameras: CCTV cameras here mean much more than the warehouse security feature as you should also consider implementing the technological infrastructure that is required to monitor a large facility in real-time and store the data.
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ERP: You might want to consider implementing an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software if your warehouse is associated with a large brand, and have multifaceted operations.
Concluding Remarks
Your warehouse is one of the core points of your shipping process and can impact every aspect including the end customer’s satisfaction. While having the right process and personnel for your warehouse operations is great, you also need a decent amount of warehouse tools to boost the efficiency and productivity of the warehouse workers.
If you need some extra aid in streamlining your shipping and order fulfilment process, get a quote from the PACK & SEND website to get started.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. What equipment do you need to run a warehouse?
When running a warehouse, you need the basic warehouse equipment to be used at different stages of the warehousing process such as picking and packing, loading/unloading, and shipping. Aside from that, modern warehouses should also consider implementing safety and technological equipment to maximise the productivity and efficiency of their workers.
2. What type of equipment is commonly used in a warehouse?
Some common types or categories of equipment that may be required for operating a warehouse include safety, loading/unloading, conveyors, lifting, storage, security, packing and technology-related equipment. Most of the equipment you will find in a warehouse can be classified into one of these categories.
3. How I can run a warehouse better?
A modern warehouse needs to be managed with the help of employing the right personnel, designing effective processes, and strategies and organising your facility using a layout that is best suited to your requirements. Once these basics are in place, you can complement them with appropriate equipment that can make the process even more efficient.
4. What are the safety gear in a warehouse?
Having safety gear in a warehouse ensures that your workers can safely navigate their job responsibilities. This safety gear may include, but is not limited to guard rails, safety gloves, hard hats, and other safety apparel.
5. What is needed in a warehouse?
A typical warehouse should have enough storage space to contain all your goods, the necessary personnel to manage the internal operations, a docking space to load and unload vehicles, and technology that helps you streamline and manage the overall operations.
6. What is handling equipment in a warehouse?
Handling equipment, also known as material handling equipment, includes all types of equipment that can be used for warehouse processes that involve lifting, storing, and transporting goods.