Three keys to improving warehouse performance and speed

Warehouse owners face numerous challenges due to consumer demands for faster delivery times and rising costs. To address these pressures, an effective warehouse management system is essential in optimizing order processing and reducing expenses.

Logistics specialist Sundip Naik identifies three crucial elements to implementing a new warehouse management system which boosts order processing speed, productivity and efficiency.

Prepare

The primary step is to create a blueprint for a warehouse management system that is in line with the objectives of the business. The ideal system should have a long-term strategy, typically aiming for around a 10% increase in productivity shortly and a 20% progress in the long term.

Measure

The second factor, measure entails assessing and monitoring all pivotal procedures to pinpoint sections that can be improved. Without records of which areas need the most work, it will be much harder to reach maximum efficiency levels in a warehouse.

Sustain

To sustain improvements, it is crucial to establish performance benchmarks for both supervisors and employees, which can be maintained and improved over an extended period.

Sundip Naik recognises that improving warehouse efficiency requires more than technology or the best tools provided by a warehouse equipment manufacturer. He cites research by Ernst & Young LLP that suggests human emotions can account for 73% of a successful business transformation. Workers need to feel engaged in the development of new warehouse management systems rather than have a system imposed on them without their input.

To succeed in transforming a warehouse requires the integration of technology, a working environment that cares for workers’ well-being and a sustained commitment to long term improvement.

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