A warehouse is built to house large numbers of products, that much is obvious, but during particularly slow sales periods or when your firm spots a bargain and bulk buys items at a discount, finding enough space on the warehouse floor has the potential to become a real pain point.
Typically, there are three reasons for space shortages occurring in your warehouse, including having large amounts of the right stock, having too much of the wrong stock and utilising your existing floor space poorly. As a result, it’s important to strike the right balance in order to move the firm forward.
But what happens when you run out of space altogether and moving to a new, larger and sexier warehouse simply isn’t an option? Well, aside from trying to get rid of your current merchandise, take a look at our five simple steps to maximising space in the warehouse …
Mezzanine Flooring
Normally installed by mezzanine floor specialists, this type of product is often used in warehouses, distribution centres, manufacturing plants and airports, allowing for better use of space and helping firms to save money and boost profits. Typically freestanding, the system is installed between two permanent stories and constructed from steel, fibreglass and aluminium.
Temporary Storage
When your warehouse is overflowing with merchandise, it can often pay to invest in temporary storage solutions to house your goods. However, this option can often be costly, but may be the only option if your inventory is high for a reason (seasonal demand, for example) and the expected profit is more than enough to cover your costs.
Tunnel Rack
By using the space over your warehouse cross aisles, you can create more storage space with back-to-back racks, which should boost capacity by five to 10 per cent. If you’re utilising this method, though, be careful to add in pallet decking or netting to prevent items falling overboard and injuring unsuspecting employees below.
Sort Out Your Existing Inventory
If you have an abundance of stock, one of the best ways to improve warehouse space is to manage your existing inventory properly. This means having access to real-time information about all products, with a warehouse management system (WMS) an integral part of allowing you to maintain inventory and drill into all associated data.
Learn To Improve
Although the changes above will help free up space in your warehouse, over time the same problems can creep back managed badly. Additionally, it’s important to realise that concerns over space can overtake other issues like the health and safety of your employees and warehouse efficiency, which are also extremely important in ensuring the long term success of the company.
