(Courtesy: Mobile Worxs at flickr.com)
If you inspire to be a warehouse manager, then you need to understand what current managers already know. Things change rapidly and you need to adapt your management operation if you want to keep up.
From the type of products you store and ship, to the type of software you use to streamline your operation, nothing ever stays motionless.
Therefore, it is obvious that warehouse managers need to be flexible and clever to come up with ideas that help keep the warehouse operations up with the competition.
Here are some ideas on how to do that based on current conditions.
· Be flexible with your tracking options. Most warehouse managers may be focusing on tracking what is moving –- the units, the pallets, and other things that constantly are moving around the warehouse. However, don’t ignore the fixed items spread around your facility. They also need to be tracked. By monitoring fixed assets, you can assign and manage destinations better and more easily and come up with strategies when necessary. Think of warehouse inventory tracking as two pronged –- one fixed and the other movable.
· Real-time data eradicates lag time. Perhaps the worst word in an inventory manager’s vocabulary is lag. You want your operation to run efficiently without any downtime. That’s why you need to be up-to-date on the current warehouse systems. The newest systems permits you to tag products and get real-time information on exactly what is happening to them at all times. This makes it easier for you to make decisions and eliminates confusion.
· Monitor the high selling products. Warehouse systems allow you to track each order and sale. This assists you in tracking your best sellers and provides you with a heads up that they need to be located in areas of the warehouse that assure quick and easy picking. This leads to happy customers and will save you a whole lot of time.
· Don’t ignore your individual workers. There may be too much focus on inventory tracking and not enough interest in employee tracking. If you plan to get a new operations system you should include the capability to track employees.
· Change things when necessary. With advanced tracking and software capability, you will get a heads up whenever your operation needs tweaking. When demand and production issues change, then your storage plans should also change to accommodate.
· Assure accurate inventory levels. A new software system will show you in detail how things are moving around the warehouse. If there are bottlenecks the system will identify them immediately and you can develop the appropriate solutions.
· Explore new concepts that could help save money. If you keep up with what’s going on in the market, then you know of concepts like cross-docking and wave picking. There are more that you need to know too. A good warehouse operating system can inform you of these new concepts and how to integrate them into your operation.
Regularly review your warehouse management system to make certain that it is current with the concepts being used by successful warehouses. If your present system appears to be obsolete, don’t be afraid to change it.