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There’s never been a better time to be in the warehouse industry, which has a current value of $1,079.8 billion and boasts a CAGR of some 8.1% between now and 2030.

However, though the industry’s pie may be large, getting a slice can prove difficult. To get ahead, warehouses must be run professionally, diligently, and productively. That all sounds good in theory, but one of them – productivity – is famously slippery and problematic to achieve. In this post, we’ll look at some practical tips for boosting your warehouse productivity, which, when all put together, should lead to tangible results.

Measure KPIs

You might be able to figure out how to improve your productivity levels without taking a data-driven approach, but it’ll be much more difficult. Establishing KPIs is essentially for measuring performance, which in turn should make it easier to identify where improvements should be made.

You can measure everything from fulfilment and inventory accuracy to replenishment and inventory turns. If all of these – and other – KPIs are performing highly, then you can be confident that warehouse productivity is high.

Lean Into It

You’ll likely have heard of lean warehousing; it’s a tried, tested, and effective strategy that can lead to a whole range of benefits, including boosting productivity, elevating employee morale, and reducing downtime. For the sake of this article, it’s the productivity-boosting qualities of lean that we’ll focus on. You can read detailed information about lean warehousing on this page, but the general lean approach is to identify any tasks that take up resources yet don’t add any value.

For example, taking a lean approach may identify overstocking. This would indicate that capital has been wasted, more space is required for items that aren’t needed, and may highlight that the organization has poor inventory forecasting methods.

Onboard Correctly

Your employees are your best asset – or at least, they should be. To be productive, employees must be happy, engaged, and well-trained, and all of those should take place from their very first day. Investing in your staff onboarding processes is crucial for ensuring that your employees get started on a positive note.

Not only will a positive onboarding experience get the new recruit up and running as quickly as possible, but it’ll also reduce employee turnover, which can be a big productivity-zapper.

Employee Feedback

By the time management notices that there’s an issue that’s interrupting productivity, the problem will likely already be pretty pronounced. It’s the employees on the frontline that usually notice that there’s a small issue that could become a problem.

And of course, it’s much easier to fix a small issue than it is to fix a big problem. With that said, it’s wrong to automatically assume that an employee would flag an issue just because they’ve seen it. Some employees wouldn’t know that they should mention it. Other employees might not raise an issue simply because they don’t feel engaged with their role.

Both of those potential problems should be addressed head-on. Measuring employee engagement – and taking steps to boost it – is essential for having a productive workforce. In addition, it’s important to implement open communication procedures that encourage workers to speak up.

Space Optimisation

In a warehouse, space optimisation is about more than storing more goods. Done correctly, it can reduce costs, increase safety, and also seriously nudge productivity in the right direction.

The key to optimising warehouse space is finding the sweet spot between maximizing storage while also retaining full accessibility. Buying pallet racking from a warehouse pallet racking supplier allows warehouse operators to make the most of vertical space while enhancing accessibility and even increasing load/unload time. Once you have your pallet racking, you’ll need to find the optimal layout for your warehouse – while that differs from one space to the next, the layout that’ll work best for your warehouse will be one that brings together the following elements:

• Makes the most of space
• Keeps travel time to a minimum
• Fully safe and compliant.

Cross-Training

Most employees will be trained to do one specific job, but there’s also value in cross-training employees so that they can take care of other tasks on an as-needed basis, such as during peak busy periods or when an employee calls in sick. There’s also research to suggest that cross-training can boost employee motivation and engagement. In many cases, cross-trained employees become invaluable members of the team, since they’re able to handle so many of the organization’s tasks.

Improve Your Customer Service

From the outside, the quality of your customer service might not seem to have an obvious connection to your warehouse productivity. But in actual fact, it does. Poor customer service leads to confusion, returns, and other order issues that may put additional strain on the warehouse team. Working to improve your customer service won’t necessarily mean that there are no returns, but it’ll likely lead to a reduction – and may also buy you more time when you do run into issues.

Managing Equipment

Your staff will rely on a wide range of equipment in order to do their work effectively. And if that equipment breaks, then they simply won’t be as productive as they could be – and in some cases, they may even need to cease working altogether. Equipment is excellent when it works, and a headache when it doesn’t. Taking a proactive approach to your equipment’s maintenance is essential for maintaining uptime. Schedule regular checkups, and ensure staff know to notify someone immediately if there are any issues.

Periodic Reviews

Whatever changes you implement at your warehouse should be given time to show their value. But it’s also important to perform periodic reviews of your operations and see if there are any possible changes that could lead to a boost in productivity. One area in particular worth focusing on is the layout, which usually only gets changed when there’s a major event. Playing around with other possibilities, and then checking to see if they provide cost savings or productivity gains, is an easy and effective way to improve performance.

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