Optimizing the storage capabilities in your warehouse can be a tough challenge without a clear starting point. The most basic place to start is looking at the area between the top of your uprights and the ceiling. Why not start there? or how about starting at the space between your product and the next beam level? or even the distance between your products?
Based on our experience, a storage-type analysis is the most effective method to start this process with. Moreover, a storage-type analysis provides more than just a list of proposed changes and an assessment of your existing storage profile. However, it also offers a roadmap of potential projects that can lead to increased storage capacity as well as higher productivity. Which in turn, can increase your business and lead to profitability.
What should you keep in mind for a storage-type analysis?
For storage type analysis we typically need to know the current storage configuration dimensions, the size of the current pallets used, the size and weight of the products stored, and whether they are stored for full pallet case picking or each picking.
Another thing to keep in mind is the historical on-hand inventory as well as the pick demand rate for every item. And finally, we must categorize or group certain products if needed, for example, (products that are stored in temperature-controlled storage).
Do not worry if you do not have that information at hand. With a site visit, our team can still manage to prepare an ideal configuration.
Those steps vary based on the business type and operations, for instance; facilities that are storing smaller products could incorporate a vertical lift machine, and another solution could be an introduction of dense storage that allows for space minimization between products and improvement of pick efficiency. Also, with regard to businesses leaning toward e-commerce, incorporating automated storage & retrieval systems (ASRS) would be greatly beneficial.
With that being said, the above solutions are merely just instances, as the proper solutions depend on your business needs.
Here’s what to keep in mind; if the storage plan you aim to incorporate is not custom-built for your business needs, you are not fully optimized and are at risk of financial waste!
Also, there are always new ways of storage optimizations and warehouse improvements to assure a better bottom line!
