Warehouse operations are critical to keep your costs low, productivity optimized, and customers happy. To maintain a successful business, your operations need to promptly ensure accurate shipments. Ineffective warehouse operations can lead to many negative outcomes including: misallocation of inventory, improper inventory levels, mis-picks and mis-shipments and order inaccuracies, and customer complaints due to errors.
Business owners and warehousing companies must employ certain practices to avoid negligence of warehouse operations. Below are a few of the most important practices that should be addressed in order to keep your operations fine-tuned.
Effective Receiving Standards and Operations
Accurate receiving of inventory is the foundation for warehouse operations. If there is no efficiency or accuracy, there will be problems that will continue afterward. That said, receiving that is quick and timely will always make a positive impact on the warehouse and inventory management process.
Proper Inventory Checks and Balances
Loads of products will reach your warehouse every month or sooner, so it is essential keeping track of your products. Warehouses are centralized locations for all your products, disorganization undoubtedly results in products being misplaced or lost. To prevent this, proper cycle and inventory counts are required to ensure warehouse operations remain on track with the proper inventory processes, procedures, and technology.
Seamless Returns Processing and Management
Many businesses are opting out of brick and mortar locations and choosing to keep their storefront online, so long gone are the days where returns can easily be done in store. When you’re dealing with return products, there is a lot of room for error if your warehouse management system is outdated or inefficient. An effective warehouse management system will streamline the returns process.
Improved Risk Management Increases Credibility
Improving risk management processes can help to increase credibility among customers. Price fluctuations are just one factor that can be controlled thanks to risk managing operations. Risk management also helps deal with any product damage, fire, and theft. With risk management in place, customers have a greater chance of being reimbursed for their potential losses.
How Do Warehouse Operations Work?
With large scale companies like Amazon on the market today, businesses have to put an enormous amount of effort into maintaining their warehouse operations. Whether it means investing in product repricing tools or warehouse management systems, there is a lot of new technology emerging that can be taken advantage of.
There are standard warehouse operations procedures that must be optimized be it through technology or good old fashioned human labor. Leveraging tech in your system can automate and streamline certain processes decreasing the probability of human error. Below is a sample step-by-step of standard warehouse operations procedures.
- Cross-docking
- Freight forwarding services
- Sorting, organizing, and receiving of product
- Inventory management
- Picking and fulfillment of orders
- Packaging of product for shipment
- Maintaining accurate records of all warehouse transactions
- Reverse logistics and returns management
- Maintaining the warehouse
There is a wider spectrum of full-service warehousing operations, but the above list is a set of the most standard procedures.
If You Need Warehouse Services to Better Your Operations, Come to Us
Primo Corporations is an OEM company that offers a number of comprehensive engineering services and large scale manufacturing of products, including warehouse services. To learn how we can apply our expertise to your business, contact us.
